Military Friendly
The measure of whether or not an institution is military friendly is based on an objective survey with a variety of different metrics. Being military friendly means an organization is committed to providing sustainable opportunities for the entire military community, including active duty, reserve and guard service members, veterans, and military spouses.
Military Friendly Schools Survey
The Military Friendly® Schools Survey is developed with the help of an independent research firm and an Advisory Council—both developing methodology, criteria, and weightings for the survey. Using public data about the institution and proprietary data gathered through the Military Friendly Schools survey, rankings and awards are then given out to the institutions.
Our School
The University of Missouri-Kansas City received a Gold Award for Military Friendly Schools, meaning its programs scored within 20 percent of the 10th-ranked institution within a given category. UMKC was also designated a 2021-2022 Military Friendly School. Military Friendly® is the “standard that measures an organization’s commitment, effort, and success in creating sustainable and meaningful opportunity for the military community.”
Along with that, Military Times ranked UMKC No. 70 in the United States for being a best school for military veterans, out of 366 colleges and universities reviewed. According to the publication “2021 Best for Vets: Colleges,” “UMKC is the largest comprehensive, fully accredited university in the Kansas City area and has a 16:1 student-to-faculty ratio, which means professors know their students' names and take mentorship seriously.”
The publication mentioned the new UMKC Student Veteran Support Services office and At Ease Zone (Veterans Center) through which UMKC serves the student veteran and military population. The publication noted a UMKC statement that the university “values the qualities and strengths this student population brings to campus and the community and has top-down support to ensure we are implementing best practices to show maximum support for the overall success of our student veterans.”
“These two distinguished rankings go a long way as far as seeing how we match up to other institutions across the country,” said Eric Gormly, assistant director, UMKC Student Veteran Support Services. “Although many factors play into the ranking systems for student veteran programming, one crucial piece is having a one-stop shop for student veterans to seek out resources, build community, and make their presence on campus known, which we have in the new At Ease Zone in the Student Union. The top-down support has helped to achieve many goals that were envisioned that ultimately contribute to not only the academic success, but the all-around student success for these transitioning service members.”
