Concorde is Commitment to Easing the Military to Civilian Transition

At Concorde, our students come from all walks of life to start their health care training program. We are proud to take an active role in each journey knowing that no matter when our students start, the end goal is the same: a satisfying, long-term career in health care.

One population that we find to be particularly suited to join the Concorde family, through a health care training program, are our active military and veteran students.

"Many of the veterans we work with have a very strong desire to help people," said Alicia Brandon, Director of Financial Aid & Military Central Liaison, at Concorde's campus in Orlando, Fla. "What better way to do that than joining the healthcare field? We also work with a lot of veterans who have real-world training in the military. Some were combat medics; some worked in hospitals."

"But unfortunately," she notes, "that training doesn't allow them to enter the civilian workforce and get a job doing the same thing. They have to have specific certifications or licensures to do the same things they were doing while in the military. Until laws change in favor of veterans in this regard, Concorde is able to fill the gap, so that they can start working doing what they know and love."

Serving those who sacrifice with a health care training program

While we find that military skills translate well into pursuing a health care career, the transition from military to civilian life isn't always as straightforward.

That's why we formed Military Central - a safe place where military members and their families can work with our team members to ensure access to resources, information, and opportunities as they pursue their health care training program.

Part of that safety, Mina Lopez, Assistant Director of Financial Aid, VA Certifying Official and Military Central Advisor at Concordes San Diego campus, notes is the commitment of our campus teams to be transparent and communicative.

"We prepare prospective military and veterans students for an appointment by providing them with a checklist of items needed, chat about possible scholarship options and the financial aid processes," Lopez said.

We let them know that if they are having difficulty locating anything on the list, not to stress over it. We are here to help, and we can assist with this, she said. "When they come back to their appointment, we go over the certification process in detail. We talk about breaks between modules or terms -- any break that exceeds five days or longer. We do this so they could plan their budget accordingly. We are transparent regarding all of our processes, and we assure them frequently that we are here to help."

A spirit of recognition

"Across all of our Concorde campuses, we have a veteran recognition week in November," Brandon said. "The entire campus gets involved. We volunteer in our communities, we adopt platoons and send care packages, and we honor our student veterans as a campus."

"... There is a special ceremony specifically for veterans at every graduation ceremony. The students and the audience love it. It's always a highlight at the graduation ceremonies."

In addition, "we recognize our veterans/dependents/spouses by providing them with a military patch to place on their uniforms. We have Veterans-on-Campus training for our staff and faculty to complete.  We want to make sure we are trained regarding assisting our military students," said Lopez.

Brandon encourages those considering Concorde.

"Concorde employs a lot of veterans," she said. "Teachers, admissions representatives, campus administration, etc. They get it. Use them as a resource. Build relationships with them. [Alongside Military Central] they are perhaps the best support system our veterans have!"