Kutztown University has been awarded the designation of Military Friendly School by Victory Media, the premier media entity for military personnel transitioning into civilian life.

As a 2015 Military Friendly School, KU is ranked in the top 20 percent of colleges, universities and trade schools in the country working to embrace military service members, veterans and spouses as students and ensure their success on campus.

This is the second year in a row KU has been given this designation.

KU has a Military and Veterans Affairs Advisory Board with membership consisting of key offices on campus that student veterans work closely with, including Admissions, Financial Aid, Registrar's, Disability Services, Counseling, Academic Affairs, Career Development and Housing.

Since 2009, KU has experienced a 19-percent and higher increased enrollment of student-veterans.

The new Veterans Center is the central hub for student veterans and their family members to obtain resources, study, network and socialize.

The center serves as a referral service to on-campus and off-campus resources.

Current initiatives of KU's Veterans Services are adopting a staff and faculty awareness training program, developing a webpage for incumbent students, planning the annual Military and Veterans Meet and Greet and strengthening relationships with community organizations serving veterans.

Future goals include monitoring the rates of veteran student enrollment, persistence and completion.

KU is also part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Veterans Services group, which meets monthly to discuss how institutions can better serve the student-veteran population.

The 2015 list of Military Friendly Schools was compiled through extensive research and a data driven survey of more than 10,000 schools nationwide approved for VA tuition funding. Methodology, criteria and weighting for the list were developed with the assistance of an Academic Advisory Board consisting of educators from schools across the country.

For information on veteran services, visit 2.kutztown.edu/admissions/veterans-admission.