Veterans have a tough time relating to young students

At 26, Adam Fus isn't a curmudgeon. But the junior at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va., said he prefers night classes filled with working adults in their late 20s and early 30s - people he can relate to better than the 18-and 19-year-olds in his daytime classes.

Fus, a Virginia native who served in Afghanistan and Iraq for the Marine Corp infantry, isn't alone. Interviews with military veterans and service members around the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. region showed that adjusting to interaction with younger students is a central part of transitioning from military life to campus life.

"With having the experience I had in the military, and in life in general, there's a communication barrier with a lot of younger students," said Fus, who left the military in 2007. He added that the barrier often takes digital form. "A lot of kids are either playing on Facebook or Twitter. I prefer face-to-face communication, the way people used to talk to each other."

Veterans returning to the classroom after their military service begin their pursuit of a degree the same way a recent high school graduate would: in introductory classes. That puts veterans in classrooms and lecture halls with students almost a decade younger. Teenagers lack the life experience of a military veteran who has served overseas, students said, making it difficult to chat with classmates, or work with them in group projects.

"The reality is that even at 25 or 26, you may be the oldest in the class by several years," said Olayta Rigsby, veterans affairs coordinator at Howard Community College, a 10,000-student campus in Columbia, Md. "They realize that these are kids sitting next to them, and [veterans] express concern about their maturity level sometimes."

Forming friendships with recent high school graduates who might goof off in class - arriving late and leaving early, sleeping during lectures - is difficult for military veterans who risked their lives in battle zones so they could attend college and advance their careers, Rigsby said. "They find that some of the younger students are intimidated [by professors] or just not interested in what's happening in class."

"Veterans made a sacrifice to get into the classroom, so they take it very, very seriously," he said.

Student veterans said they find themselves participating in class while younger students keep their heads buried in books or laptops. Justin Willis, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran and a homeland security major at Anne Arundel Community College, said that at 30 years old, he's more comfortable with raising his hand during class discussions than kids fresh out of high school.

"Instructors don't get a lot of participation, so I have to step in a lot," Willis said. "He'd be pulling teeth trying to get people to answer his questions, and it seems like some [students] just refuse. I don't know if they need coffee or what."

Willis said he would "definitely recommend" night classes to veterans returning to college. Being surrounded by classmates who juggle family life and a fulltime job with college courses makes for a smoother transition into higher education for service members.

Fus said his spring semester schedule doesn't allow for night classes, however, in William & Mary's business school, he says even the youngest students participate in class.

"It can be difficult at times, but it really depends on the type of students you have," he said. "You always have immature young students, but you also have mature 21-year-olds who think they're ready to leave college and run a company. It really varies."

Rigsby said many veterans transitioning into Howard Community College don't begrudge their younger classmates for being immature or failing to participate during discussions with instructors. Instead, military veterans catch a glimpse of who they were before their national service.

"They come back from the battlefield and they say,'Hey, that's what I was like,'" Rigsby said. "They understand where they're coming from."