UNI receives Military Spouse Friendly School designation

For the past four years, the University of Northern Iowa has earned a gold status Military Friendly School designation for its efforts to welcome and support veteran and active-military students to help them achieve academic success. Now, UNI has earned a Military Spouse Friendly School designation for its efforts in creating sustainable and meaningful education paths for military spouses.

UNI was one of 346 schools chosen from a list of more than 1,200 institutions vying for military friendly designation. The schools that made the 2022-2023 list were those that have instituted policies to address the concerns and needs of military spouses and their families. Additionally, they have constructed their admissions, retention, career counseling and mentoring programs to help alleviate the difficulties faced by military spouses, and are offering flexible learning options and degree continuation programs that are designed to accommodate deployments and relocation.

"We are committed to the education and success of each military or veteran student or family member," said Chiquita Loveless, director of Diversity, Inclusion and Social Justice at UNI. "We want to make sure each student is heard and each need is met in order to ensure each military-affiliated student's voice is heard and they are empowered to achieve success in class and beyond."

UNI's Military and Veteran Student Services is designed to support military members, veterans and their families as they transition between military duty, college and new careers. Loveless said the service includes a range of programs to help military and veteran students — and their family members — succeed on and off campus.

Compiled annually by Viqtory with input from the Military Friendly® Advisory Council, the Military Spouse Friendly® Schools list is based on extensive research using public data sources for more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly® Schools survey from participating institutions.