Military Times Best for Vets: Colleges

The Best for Vets: Colleges survey questions and scoring rubric have been honed and developed in consultation with representatives from several schools covering the range of institution types. 

Student success metrics are the most important factor in determining the relative ranking of schools on the list, followed closely by the range of military-specific resources and the level of financial assistance schools offer. Admissions and registration policies, human resources and assorted miscellaneous considerations also factor into the scoring rubric. 

In 2024, we introduced a deeper level of categorization in the scoring that better distinguishes the different levels of educational opportunities at each institution. Success metrics for each level of education (certificate, associate, baccalaureate and graduate) were compared against each other for all the schools that offered these levels. This adjustment, combined with a significant number of respondents new to the survey, resulted in a fair amount of fluctuation in the rankings compared to 2023. 

It’s important to note that schools are scored not by the sheer number of “points” in the rubric they earned, but by the percentage of points they earned out of the potential number of points achievable by that type of school. (For example, matters of in-state tuition are moot for private schools; therefore points related to in-state tuition were only counted for public institutions.)