by our College Data Analytics TeamIf you’re a veteran who is thinking about going back to school, it’s important to see how well the school treats its students with prior military service first. This report rounds up what we know about Sonoran Desert Institute veterans and their studies to help you in your research.
Looking for GI Bill® or Yellow Ribbon details? Visit: Sonoran Desert Institute GI Bill® Information
What’s Covered in Our Report on Sonoran Desert Institute:
When many veterans attend a school, its faculty and staff tend to be more experienced at meeting the needs of former service members. Per VA data, there are 4,599 GI Bill® students at Sonoran Desert Institute. Because the school enrolls 4,763, roughly 96.6% of the student body is using the GI Bill® to help pay for their education. To put that into context, the Student Veterans of America estimates that roughly three to four percent of all U.S. college students are veterans.
All GI Bill® chapters are included here: Post-9/11, Montgomery, Reserve Education Assistance, and Veteran Readiness and Employment. Active-duty service members attending via Tuition Assistance are not counted, so the overall military population could be higher. Veterans make up 11.4% of all students at Sonoran Desert Institute, based on College Scorecard data.
How a school’s veterans persist, transfer, and graduate is a useful signal of how well it serves them.
| Outcome | Veterans | All Students |
|---|---|---|
| Graduation rate | 66.4% | 38.6% |
| Transfer-out rate | 9.4% | — |
Rates are reported via the VA’s GI Bill® Comparison Tool.
Sonoran Desert Institute participates in the following veteran programs and offers the services below.
| Federal Program | Participation |
|---|---|
| Principles of Excellence | Yes |
| DOD Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) | Yes |
| Eight Keys to Veterans’ Success | Yes |
| Yellow Ribbon Program | Yes |
| Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) | Yes |
What does this mean for you? The commitments tied to each program this school joined are listed below.
| Career and Vocational Support |
|---|
| Accommodate Military Service Members and Reservists absent due to service requirements. |
| Align institutional refund policies with those under Title IV, which governs the administration of federal student financial aid programs. |
| Regionally or Nationally Accredited - view all accreditations |
| Provide information that increases accountability and transparency. |
| Participate in the Military Voluntary Education Review (MVER) |
**Sonoran Desert Institute has a student veterans group on campus.**Sonoran Desert Institute provides a dedicated staff member to assist veteran and military students. Learn more.
Veterans with specialized military training may be able to earn college credit at Sonoran Desert Institute. Reach out to admissions for the specifics. Credit for prior learning can shorten your time to a degree, so it’s worth asking about. Check with Sonoran Desert Institute about credit for life experience, CLEP and similar exams, or other prior learning beyond military training.
Sonoran Desert Institute does not offer Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs.
The VA has 5 complaints on record for Sonoran Desert Institute. The reasons for these complaints are summarized in the table below. Keep in mind the per-type counts may not sum to the total, since one complaint can fall under more than one category.
| Complaint Type | Number of Complaints |
|---|---|
| Financial Issues | 4 |
| Quality of Education | 3 |
| Refund Issues | 1 |
| Recruiting/Marketing Practices | 3 |
| Accreditation | 0 |
| Change in Degree Requirements | 0 |
| Student Loans | 0 |
| Grade Policy | 1 |
| Credit Transfers | 0 |
| Post-Graduation Job Opportunities | 1 |
| Release of Transcripts | 0 |
| Other | 1 |
Notes and References
More about our data sources and methodologies.
GI Bill® is a registered trademark of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). More information about education benefits offered by VA is available at the official U.S. government website at http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill.