Tommy B. Baker Veterans Fellowship

The Tommy Baker Veterans Fellowship fund will create ten fellowships for the 2014-2015 academic year and continue for the following four years. With an eye toward making this fund a permanent feature of The Citadel Veterans Program. Through this program, fellowships will provide a $5,000 stipend for tuition and eligible educational expenses. Anecdotal evidence from Veterans Services, a division of The Citadel’s Office of Financial Aid, indicates that many veteran students, even those eligible for full VA benefits, run out of funds during their senior year. This lack of funding places a particular burden on students who also use VA benefits to cover living expenses. Currently, The Citadel’s Associate Provost/Dean of the Graduate College has few resources to assist students who are in jeopardy of not completing their degree programs. The Tommy Baker Veterans Fellowship fund will bridge the gap for these students by allowing them to complete their degree without interruption. In a larger sense, the fellowship program provides a more complete portrait of how Citadel alumni might assist veteran students in their chosen careers.