Portland Community College

1. Portland Community College Veterans Services Program Review Report Wendy Kilgore Peter Schmidt June 27, 2008

2. Project Overview Portland Community College (PCC) engaged AACRAO consultants Wendy Kilgore and Peter Schmidt to conduct a review of the College’s Veteran Affairs (VA) program, and to assist PCC in its service program review of the unit with particular focus on a “blueprint” guide for the Veteran Affairs program to follow in the upcoming year. The review included a review of the current practices both in person and on the web, a review of the documents associated with the services and discussions with administrators, staff, advisors, counselors and students. 2 2 2 2

3. Visit Deliverables Two-day campus visit. Review of policies and overall practice of Veteran Affairs referencing the following (but not limited to):  VA ONCE, educational benefits, electronic reporting and data exchange, archiving and all other veteran processes and practices. Evaluation of office work flow, staffing levels, position functionality and technical assessment for the department.  A critique of information provided to the public: web, forms, accessibility, etc. 3 3

4. Visit Deliverables, Cont. Customer service assessment and student self efficacy. An executive summary and written report with observations, critical analysis (including SWOT) and recommendations that align with national standards and best practices. 4 4

5. Visit Outline • Visit: June 16-17, 2008 • Meetings with: • Dean of Enrollment Services • Director of Financial Aid • Veterans Specialists • Admissions Staff • VA students • Registrar • Records Lead • Credit Evaluator • Advisors • Counselors including OSD 5 5 5 5

6. Executive Summary Over the course of the two-day visit, the consultants observed that there is a great deal of institutional history and area expertise between the two Veterans Services staff members and that this history and expertise is not known by anyone else interviewed for this review. These two staff members demonstrate a passion for their work and a desire to serve VA students in the best possible manner. However, there is a very strong overall belief by the Veterans Services staff that there is a lack of anyone outside of their office that can effectively help the VA students and this includes advisors, counselors and records. In light of limited number of staff with Veterans Services expertise, several strategic changes can be employed to enhance Veterans Services a) additional staffing within the office; b) professional development for staff in the area 6 6

7. Executive Summary, Cont. of technology in order to streamline office processes and procedures; c) increase education and communication between Veterans Services and other offices and satellite campuses about varying veterans benefits programs; d) make available various electronic forms and resources on the web so that veterans can complete paperwork without having to start within the Veterans Services office. The remainder of this report is structured in an observations and recommendations format with the following key for the observations: (S) strength, (W) weakness, (O) opportunity, (T) threat and (N) neutral. 7 7

8. Organizational and Structural Observations • The two Veterans Service Specialists have a combined 35 years of professional experience between them, adding to the expertise and exemplary service provided by the office. One person shared, “I’ve never had a problem with them” and another reported, “My experience has been positive overall.” (S) • There appears to be a sincere interest by all offices interviewed to serve students. (S) • Each office operates autonomously with little communication and collaboration between the other. (W) • PCC used to have a VA Services Coordinator. (N) 8 8

9. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. 9 A budget crisis 8-12 years ago impacted staffing and as a result currently limits the successful operation and expansion of Veterans Services. (W) There are only two classified staff members to serve about 1200 students annually including over 200 vocational rehabilitation students. (W) Veterans Services has an ongoing relationship with 16 case managers for those veterans under vocational rehabilitation. (S) One of the VA experts is nearing retirement. (T) Loss of staff would critically impact service. (T)

10. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. Veterans Services has a solid working relationship with the VA Educational Liaison. (S) The staff expertise is partially documented in procedures but not thoroughly. (W) Staff have a high level of competence regarding VA educational benefits procedures. (S) The high personal touch available to students by the Veterans Services staff members is an asset to the college. (S) Staff value their ability to establish and maintain close relationships with the VA students. (S) 10 10

11. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. The Veterans Services staff maintain a high level of pride and ownership in their ability to serve the entire population of VA students. (S) No one outside of the Veterans Services staff appears to have a working knowledge of VA Educational Benefits. (W) VA Work study students intermittently augment the support available for VA records processing. However, to date, these work study employees have been limited to basic filing services. (W)(O) The Office of Veterans Services is a member in good standing with the Western Association of Veterans Education Specialists and National Association of Veterans’ Program Administrators. (S) 11 11

12. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. • Recent audits performed by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Education revealed excellent compliance reviews. (S). • Of the 1200+ veteran students, there is 50% attrition from the first to second year. (W) (T) • Less than 40 students are receiving advance pay. (N) • The current Veterans Services staff is in basic “survival mode” due to the workload and do not have the time to be strategic or proactive in addressing VA student services. (W) 12 12

13. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. 13 The Veterans Services is housed solely at the Sylvania campus but serves all PCC campuses and locations including service for Columbia Gorge and Tilamook Bay colleges. (W) Current physical location neither allows privacy for confidential student discussions nor adequate wheelchair access. (W) PCC anticipates a physical remodel of the Sylvania campus location in the next 2-3 years. (O) PCC has been informally asked to have a VA service center at its college. (O) 13

14. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. • However, the current physical space restrictions rarely allow for even occasional visits from state representatives. (W) • Veterans Services staff give the impression that they like to be the “trusted source” for almost all issues related to VA student services including those normally outside of VA educational service expertise such as advising and degree auditing, (W) • This culture contributes to the staff’s inability to feel like they can take a vacation and turn to others in the college to help support VA educational student service. (W) • The staff “. . feel like we are being taken advantage of.” (T) 14

15. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. 15 There appears to be a reluctance or hesitation by the Veterans Services staff to provide information to advisors, counselor and other interested parties about how the VA process works, thus resulting in very little information for students outside of the VA office itself. (W) Increased demands placed upon leadership have limited contact with Veterans Services staff, in addition to understanding the organizational needs and processes of the area. (W) (T) There appears to be a very hands-off supervisory style for towards the Veterans Services staff and this is resulting in feelings of unimportance and devaluation. (W)

16. Organizational and Structural Observations, Cont. 16 The unit supervisor has not participated in any VA educational benefits training. (W) The supervisor used to be a back-up certifying official but has not been one in many years. (W) Most offices are unfamiliar with information provided by Veterans Services. One employee shared, “I’ve been on this campus for 21 years and it is a black hole. They need to have a workshop and information sheets available for other staff to use.” (W) There are 15 certified counselors available for students across the college. (S)(O) Counseling is decentralized across the district. (S)(O)

17. Organizational and Structural Recommendations Add staffing to the Veterans Services Office including a staff member who could roam to other college locations or free up the existing staff to do so. Currently veterans are directed to contact the PCC Sylvania Campus, creating a hardship for students who live a distance away from campus and frustration for employees on those campuses who desire to better serve students. Consider a reclassification of current staff to a higher level because of the level of work they are doing. Upgrade manual and forms to include step-by-step procedures for completing materials and forms. Collaborate with college marketing to enhance appearance and consistent look of all forms (use of college letterhead).

18. Organizational and Structural Recommendations, Cont. Using the Veterans Services staff expertise, provide regular training for advisors, counselors and OSD counselors on the basics of VA Educational Benefits. By demystifying the processes and procedures of Veterans Services this will empower other departments to provide better customer service, ease the workload of Veterans Services staff, enhance collaboration, communication, and e spirit de corps within student services. Expand the use of the VA Workstudy students beyond basic filing to answering the phones and addressing FAQs. Create a veterans club for students. Create a resource table and invite various veterans agencies to visit campus at one established location and time.

19. Organizational and Structural Recommendations, Cont. Create a Veterans Support Team (VST), comprised of leadership and key stakeholders within student services to include participation from community agencies such as the VFW, American Legion and Veterans Affairs, to assist as an advisory team on how best to address the needs of veterans. The VST would also promote the interaction of Veterans Services staff with other offices and personnel i.e., counselors, advisors, OSD staff, admissions, etc. Establish liaisons to each office. Provide a work space as soon as possible where all students have the ability to hold confidential discussions with the Veterans Services staff. Send the unit director to VA educational benefits training as soon as possible. We are recommending the WAVES conference because it is in Portland in July.

20. Organizational and Structural Recommendations, Cont. Have the unit director meet with the Veterans Services staff on a regular basis. Assign at least one other person as back-up to be able to access VA-Once and to serve as Certifying Official and send this person or persons to training. Promote professional development opportunity of Veterans Services staff. This would include the opportunity to practice self-care since the staff can be burdened by the complex histories and stories shared by veterans. Once infrastructure and processes are in place to support population increase, conduct a campaign to educate the community about Veterans Services to promote Portland Community College as being the “College of Choice” for veterans.

21. Document and Procedural Observations 21 Documents Veteran files are complete and well documented. (S) There is a strong culture of using paper files and manual processes within the unit. (W) Veteran files are currently not stored in a secure fashion and left open for viewing or removal by unauthorized personnel. This is a violation of FERPA. (W) (T) All documentation including the web page directs all VA students to make contact via phone. (W) Forms for accessing services are unavailable in electronic format. (W).

22. Document and Procedural Observations 22 Comments about veterans are currently being kept in an non-secure manner and hardcopy. (W) (T) The staff were unaware of the ability to store student comments in both SGASTDN and SPACMNT. (O) The student files contain handwritten notes which are duplications of data in either VAOnce or Banner. (W) The student files also contain print-outs of data stored in Banner. (W) The Add/Drop report currently has redundant lines and is difficult to read. (W)

23. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 23 The “green sheet” that is required each semester for recertifying students is a reproduction of data already in Banner. (W) Degree Planning sheets are not available in one location and this is a source of great frustration to students who desire to better plan their academic or professional/technical training. (W) Much of the material in these paper files is maintained because of the belief that the state level representatives do not support electronic records and require hardcopies. (W)

24. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 24 The website link “Important phone numbers and website for Veterans” gives personal e-mail addresses of the staff instead of the generic veterans@pcc.edu. (W) There is no step-by-step PCC guide for VA educational benefits. (W) The VA educational benefits application information is not contained on the admissions step-by-step guide. (W) The catalog reference for how to articulate military credits is not part of the VA section of the catalog. (W) The educational program benefits checksheets are well prepared. (S)

25. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 25 Specific Statements about DANTES, SMART, and CCAF are not included under Veteran Services information in the catalog and at their website. (W) It is not clear to most of those we talked with that program checksheets reside on the web in one single place for the transfer programs and in the various department websites for the professional/technical programs. (W) Procedures Currently the volume of veteran students seeking assistance from Veterans Services exceeds the realistic scope, practice and mission of the office. (W)

26. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 26 The VA educational benefits procedure from intake to recertification is an almost entirely manual paper-based process. (W) Students are not encouraged to use VONAPP (Veterans On Line Applications). (W) This lack of guidance towards self-service results in limited student self-efficacy for his/her educational benefits. (W) The term based certification procedure requires students to submit a hardcopy form requesting certification and includes a handwritten copy of the classes they are already registered for. (W)

27. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 27 Once a student makes contact with the office, he/she is given or sent a hardcopy packet of materials including many that are already available on the web at www.gibill.va.gov. (W) Each student is required to participate in a one-on-one orientation which take 15-20 minutes each. Which if we assume 50% new students each year at 600 students this means a minimum of 150 or (3.5 weeks) staff hours are spent on one-on-one orientations each year. (W) Group orientations were attempted 10 years ago but none since. (N) One staff member serves all vocational rehabilitation students. (W)

28. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 28 The other staff member does not know the vocational rehabilitation process well enough to serve in the absence of the other staff member. (W) Students are strongly encouraged to see the same staff person each time even if this means waiting while the other staff member is free. (W) Students are not provided with the required program check sheet at the start of their program. (T) Veterans Services staff are reluctant to send students to see counselors.

29. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 29 The staff do not have trusted contacts in the other student services areas (advising, OSD, counseling, admissions). (W) VA Staff are serving as program advisors because of their reluctance to rely on accurate advising by the college advisors. (W) It was reported it may take over a month to evaluate a veteran incoming academic transcript, and this process occurs at the Rock Creek Campus. (W) Advisors are not allowed to initiate the evaluation of credit for VA students. (W)

30. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 30 VA students are being advised by Veterans Services staff to send official transcripts to the program office instead of the Records office because of a staff perception of delays in evaluation without their personal intervention. (W) The practice above results in official transcripts residing in the Veterans Services office instead of in the Records office. (W)(T) If Vets provide a DD 214 students are automatically awarded two credits of PE but this is not publicized or advertised. (W) Admissions keeps Deferral Form and produces an Early Out Letter for veterans with no copy sent to the VA office. (N)

31. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 31 Military orders needed for withdrawing from the college are stored somewhere in the admissions office. (W) The admissions staff indicated that they did not know where the box of military orders was at the time of the interview and they indicated that it was just sitting out by some desk but that it was not there at the time of the interview. (T) The reasons for why veterans are withdrawing from classes are kept with the Bursar and Admissions and not shared with Veterans Services. (W) Students expressed a wariness of completing VA forms online because the process does not result in a receipt of submission. (N)

32. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 32 The same wariness applies to faxing documents to the Veterans Services office and students will call just to confirm the fax has been received thus taking valuable staff time to address receipt of faxes. (W) A separate spread sheet is being kept on local harddrives in the VA Staff office and possibly in the Bursars office for those students for third party billing purposes. (T) The hardcopy VA student files contain printouts or handwritten duplication of data that resides in Banner. (W) Veterans Services appears to hold to the principle that “It is better to give no information rather than wrong information.” (W)

33. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 33 There is a technology gap between that staff and the rest of the college as well as the staff and the students they serve. (W) Staff are also unable to take advantage of learning about and employing technology, and strategizing services and collaborating with other offices and satellite campuses. (W) The staff feel that there is very little Banner system support for their needs. Repeated requests for enhancements. (W)

34. Document and Procedural Observations, Cont. 34 No time is available to determine why veterans are leaving PCC. (W) Catalog changes are not well communicated with the Veteran’s Office. (W) Although a report exists for incomplete grades, this report is not shared with the Veterans Services staff and they are manually tracking incomplete grades for all VA students. (W) The staff is choosing to not comply with the 30 day deadline for reporting non-punitive grades in lieu of VA certifications. (T)

35. Document and Procedural Recommendations Document Recommendations Enhance Veterans Services website to include sections: on frequently asked questions, highlight various VA Chapters, direction to VA resources and links, link to credentials evaluator and appropriate forms, provide an opportunity to complete forms electronically. Remove the personal e-mail addresses from the web pages. Make the educational program information sheets widely available to both students and other PCC departments. Create a 1607 program information sheet. Publish a monthly newsletter for internal use. Clearly advertise services at all campus locations.

36. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Secure the paper files as soon as possible. Use Banner comment screens to record information about students. After confirming with your state VA liaison, transition away from storing comments and images from Banner screens in the paper files. Ideally, the paper files should contain documents that are not able to be reproduced from or stored in Banner and that do not exist in VAOnce. Simplify the drop add report. Eliminate the need for the “green sheet” by developing online certification processes or at the very least an online submission of a request for certification.

37. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Create a step-by-step guide for VA educational benefits and distribute widely. Update the VA section of the catalog to include information on credit articulation and earning credits with the DD214. Add language to catalog and other documents regarding DANTES, SMART and CCAF. Educate the college as a whole as to the location and availability of accurate program checksheets on the web. Continue the current process of centralizing the degree checksheets into one single web location.

38. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Create a brief video introducing staff and vet services that can be available to vets on-line and for those waiting for assistance. Publish or advertise Student Military Bill of Rights provided by Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Consortium.   Organize and label resource rack outside of Veterans Services office. Provide a decision tree regarding VA educational benefits on web.

39. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Procedural Recommendations Refer students to VONAPP to apply for educational benefits online. Allowing for the option for students to file in person if they have questions or concerns. Eliminate Green Schedule Form and automate receipt of courses enrolled for the quarter. Offer group orientations or online orientations for most students and allow for one-on-ones if needed. Train all Veterans Services staff to serve vocational rehabilitation students. Discourage the staff from encouraging students to see the same staff member regardless of wait time or general availability.

40. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Ensure that each student receives his program check sheet within the first few weeks of his first term. Assign blocks of time where one certifying official is able to perform voc rehab processing and work with the regular vet population rather than keeping the functions separate between staff. Use the backup certifying officials during peak time to help certify students in a timely manner. Create a referral form veterans can take to other offices in order to clarify purpose of visit. Use the VST as trusted sources for services outside of the Veterans Services staff.

41. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Discontinue allowing Veterans Services Staff to serve as program advisors outside of normal VA educational benefit services. Allow advisors to initiate evaluation of transcripts. Assign a credential evaluator as point of contact to the Veteran Services Office. Assign veteran transcripts priority status for evaluation. Send military orders received in admissions/registration to the Veterans Services office.

42. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. If it has not already been done, find the missing box of military orders and also send that to the Veterans Services office. Once veterans have submitted information electronically, acknowledgement of receipt would ease the mind of the veteran that the information has been received. This applies to campus as well as federal paperwork.. Rather than have one memorandum per person, add list of names to the Release of Advance Pay memo. Use Banner to record and store information currently kept on spreadsheets and to prevent faxing of information.

43. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Utilize the student portal to send custom e-mails through portal. For example, it would be helpful to send a reminder about when documents are due. Develop a veteran’s tab for the portal. Learn technology to automate reports i.e., automate incompletes. Approach Institutional Effectiveness Office to run annual reports. Communicate catalog changes to Veterans Services staff. Use incomplete grade report instead of a manual process.

44. Document and Procedural Recommendations, Cont. Submit all required reports on time. Begin a program to assess attrition of veterans. Create a program that monitors the tuition dollars brought to campus by veterans. Routinely survey veteran students who access the Veteran Services web site and Office about their experiences with the service and the campus. Provide Banner training and technology training for Veterans Services staff.

45. Additional Observations • One employee shared, “Military competence is not wide spread or deeply rooted and there is an anti war sentiment such as ‘I’m for the troops but against the war.” There is a need for diversity training around veterans issues. (N) • Previously there was a budget dedicated to Veterans Services and it was reported there is not one currently. (W) • Veteran Services does not have a mission statement that articulates vision, purpose and core values. (W) • The staff have not made contacts or best-practice sharing with any other Oregon college/university. (W) 45

46. Additional Observations 46 The Rock Creek Campus established a VA educational services task force on their own as a result of student complaints and lack of shared knowledge from the Veterans Services staff office. (W)(O) The Rock Creek Task force does not include either of the Veterans Services staff members even though they were invited to participate. (W)

47. Additional Recommendations 47 Offer diversity training on veteran’s issues in multiple venues to reach a broad audience. If possible and not already occurring, earmark funds for Veterans Services staff training and other professional development opportunities. Create a mission statement that clearly articulates the vision and purpose of Veteran Services. Communicate this mission and educate other offices about veteran policies and procedures, i.e., various educational benefits, required forms etc. Involve the Veterans Services staff in the Rock Creek task force.

48. Additional Recommendations 48 Encourage the Veterans Services staff to seek continuous improvement and professional relationships by communicating regularly with other Oregon colleges and universities.

49. Respectfully Submitted Wendy Kilgore, Ph.D. – Senior Consultant Peter Schmidt, Psy.D. – Consultant June 27, 2008 49 49 49 49