St. Leo ranks fifth in US as military spouse friendly school

St. Leo University has earned the 2017 Military Spouse Friendly School designation by Victory Media, publisher of G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse, Vetrepreneur and STEM Jobs resources. St. Leo, which has a campus at Naval Air Station Corpus Christi,  ranked fifth in the nation among private institutions with 10,000 students or more.
 
The annual companion list to Military Friendly School, in which St. Leo was named No. 3 in the nation in its category and a Top10 Gold-level Military Friendly School, recognizes higher education institutions that actively recruit spouses of active-duty service members. The list recognizes schools that promote student retention and career development policies and programs that acknowledge and support the unique challenges of military life.
 
This year’s list features 100 institutions across 10 categories, demonstrating the growing success among post-secondary schools for tapping into this group of men and women.
 
“St. Leo University is humbled to be recognized for not only educating those who have served and continue to serve our country, but also for providing educational opportunities for their spouses and other family members,” said Pamela Martis, retired U.S. Army colonel and director of St. Leo’s Office of Military Affairs and Services. “Being designated as a Military Spouse Friendly School is an honor for us because we value the sacrifice of our military families and want to support those spouses who are juggling the demands of family, military life, work, PCS [permanent changes of station] moves, and going back to school—all at the same time.”
 
Since it may be difficult for a military spouse or other family member to continue their higher education or to complete a degree program because of moving regularly, St. Leo offers “the flexibility that those military spouses need to be able to take a course at one of our teaching locations as well as at our Center for Online Learning,” Martis said. “This is so critical to ensure there is not a break or further disruption in achieving their educational goals.”
 
“Military spouses are expert problem-solvers. They thrive under pressure, and are highly educated and mobile,” said Daniel Nichols, chief product officer at Victory Media’s Military Friendly division. “Colleges and companies recognize these attributes and want to bring them on board. And, companies that employ both veterans and their spouses see even stronger retention and employee loyalty. Who better to train military spouses for successful careers than a Military Spouse Friendly School?”
 
The latest Military Friendly Schools survey included questions that not only evaluated whether a school’s admissions, retention, career counseling, and mentoring programs are better for veterans, but also whether they address concerns of military spouses and families. Colleges earning the Military Spouse Friendly School designation were evaluated using both public data sources and responses from Victory Media’s proprietary survey.
 
St. Leo University is featured along with the entire list of 2017 Military Spouse Friendly Schools in the April issue of Military Spouse Magazine and on militaryfriendly.com.
 
St. Leo University (www.saintleo.edu) is a Catholic teaching university that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts tradition and the Benedictine understanding that seeks balanced growth of mind, body and spirit. The St. Leo University of today is a private, nonprofit institution that creates hospitable learning communities wherever our students want to be or need to be, whether that is a campus classroom, a web-based environment, an employer’s worksite, a military base or an office park.