Work-life balance has become a hot topic among higher education professionals, students, and scholars. Work-life balance involves the idea of minimizing work-related stress to establish a stable and sustainable home life, general well-being, and overall health. School has become a new, increasingly important component in work-life balance literature among those doing research on campuses nationwide. While many students must balance obligations from school, work, and life, student veterans may carry additional responsibilities differing from the traditional undergraduate student.

Unique Military Environment
The military work culture is unlike any other in the way that it consumes one's life. The community can only truly be understood by those that are in the military environment. Therefore, there is very little work-life balance that can be maintained while also achieving highest accolades from the service. Many student veterans come to school immediately after discharging from service, or even remain active duty while starting a degree plan. Sometimes, it can be difficult to configure exactly how to be successful as student veterans navigate their new and existing responsibilities, especially when work and life had been so closely intertwined in the past (and sometimes the present). Student veterans may need to continue to work while attending school and taking care of their families.

Adding another component to an already busy life can be draining. Burnout, causing negative physical and mental health issues, can also be an effect of not practicing work-life-school balance. Therefore, it is especially important to help student veterans find ways to navigate this addition to daily life. Campuses should work with student veterans to help them understand the importance of work-life-school balance by providing guidance on how to maneuver the many responsibilities that they hold.

Maintaining Student Veteran Clubs on Campus
The added layers of responsibility held by military-affiliated students can often be only understood by other military-affiliated students. Therefore, it is critical to sustain a robust veterans club on campus. Although these can be hard to maintain over the years, its advantages far outweigh the challenges associated with sustaining this type of club. Institutions of higher education should designate a staff member to focus on program development for these students. At many institutions, it may be unrealistic to hire a new individual to lead these initiatives due to the number of student veterans and size of academic programs. If possible, institutions may consider allocating these responsibilities to someone within their programming department to work with student veterans ensuring these clubs continue to exist on campus.

Additionally, it is important that these clubs can cater to their population. When student veterans arrive on campus, almost half work while also earning a degree. This means that their time is further limited, making it harder to remain active in on-campus clubs and activities that they may want to be involved in. When clubs can plan events that their students want (and are able to attend based on scheduling), event attendance and retention rates will increase. In addition, student veterans may be more willing to help new student veterans if they know that they are appreciated by those like them and the community at large on campus.

Leaning on Support Systems
Advisors can encourage students to rely on their personal and professional support systems to better learn how to navigate multiple obligations. Students can speak with family and friends about how they can better assist them in this situation. This could prove worthwhile as they may be taking on secondhand stress from a family member. Continuing to be communicative about how the balancing act of school, work, and life could save relationships and friendships down the road. Professional networks can also be extremely important in the development of establishing this new normal. Mentors with similar backgrounds may have experience that could provide distinctive insight on a student veteran's situation. Schools can help foster these connections by preserving a collection of student veteran alumni that are willing to help emerging student veterans in this transition. Professors and other faculty and staff can also be considered part of a student's professional network. Office hours are a great resource that students should take advantage of if they are able. However, the ability to make connections through this time also relies on professors' and teaching assistants' flexibility with office hours.

Designating Time
Time management is a skill necessary to be successful in most, if not all, fields today. With constant distractions and pressure to always be available, it is crucial to utilize time well. While some jobs, such as the military, do not allow for service members to "turn off work," prioritizing time must be done to complete all tasks by designated due dates. As previously mentioned, multiple years may have passed since the last time a student veteran has stepped foot in a classroom. Therefore, it is essential to provide resources on how to best manage time while also performing a balancing act of multiple other responsibilities.

While sustaining a work-life-school balance can and will be difficult most of the time, learning now to successfully navigate all these obligations is critical for success on and off campus. Preserving student veteran clubs, communicating with networks, and prioritizing time management can be implemented to increase the overall well-being of student veterans and those around them.

Article Topics

Military Friendly Institutions Serving Military in HigherEd Veterans Academic Success Women Veterans Workplace Inclusion

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