Study Abroad for Military and Veteran Students

By working with the Study Abroad Office and Veterans Services Office at SUNY Geneseo, you can learn how to apply your veteran/military education benefits to a study abroad program. The benefits for veterans studying abroad have a wide ranging impact.

Being abroad may not be a new experience for you but studying abroad can be a freeing experience from certain demands and expectations you had before. You will find the skills you have obtained in the past useful while also discovering a whole new set you never anticipated. Furthermore, you can have a chance to expand and interact with your host country more deeply than you did before.

It is important that if you plan to study abroad and want to use any VA benefits, ROTC scholarships, or other forms of aid related to military service, please be sure to plan ahead and work closely with our study abroad advisors and the Veterans Services Office at SUNY Geneseo

 

Video prepared by SUNY Geneseo student Samson Mckinley. This was an information session for veteran students interested in studying abroad. Prepared for International Education Week 2022.

Resources Before You Go

  • Find out how you can use VA benefits to cover your tuition and fees. This site tells you what benefits you can get, how to get it and even a GI Bill Comparison Tool!
  • Checkout this quick fact sheet provided by the U.S Department of Veteran Affairs. This provides a brief overview of how to apply the Post-9/11 GI Bill to study abroad programs. 
  • If you are a visual or audio learner, this is another great tool on how to properly use your GI Bill to study abroad by Shannon Miles, the Associate Director of Financial, and Alton Johnson, Financial Aid Counselor, Veterans' Representative at UNCW.

The Student Experience

Blogs & Articles

  • As an ROTC cadet it may seem unrealistic to cut time out in your semester for an opportunity abroad. Susan Fisher believes these are barriers that can be overcame through planning and communication. She believes that study abroad and ROTC go hand in hand and can enhance your skills to new levels.
  • Brooks Herring, a Navy veteran, shares an honest, intriguing, and daily blog about his experience abroad in Australia.

Videos

  • Military Bottom Line is a Youtube channel that focuses on ways you can leverage your military contract. In this episode, Lauren talks about her experience studying abroad. 

  • In this video, we hear the story of one man who served in the military and developed a business thereafter which helps veteran students study abroad.

Scholarships

You can use your GI Bill for study abroad benefits, however, Geneseo works to help make traveling abroad an affordable and accessible opportunity for all students through numerous scholarships as well as financial advisement. Visit our Scholarship webpage to access a list of possible scholarships.