Mississippi university leaders tell joint committee private funds and tailored services underpin veteran student success

At a joint meeting of the Mississippi Legislature's military affairs committee and the Institutions of Higher Learning (IHL) committee, leaders from the University of Southern Mississippi (USM), the University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) and Mississippi State University (MSU) described programs aimed at helping military-connected students enroll, transfer credit and graduate.

The universities emphasized a mix of privately funded facilities, dedicated staff and formal credit-transfer processes — including the Department of Defense's Joint Service Transcript (JST) and the post-9/11 GI Bill (Chapter 33) — to support veterans, active-duty members, National Guard personnel and their dependents.

Why it matters: committee members said they want clearer statewide data and a better sense of funding gaps before deciding on new legislation. Senators on the panel raised concerns that broad policy language could unintentionally limit services that rely on a combination of private gifts, institutional waivers and federal benefits.

University of Southern Mississippi: intensive, hands-on support

Chad Driscoll, director of USM's military programs, introduced retired Major General Jeff Hammond, who said USM built a campus program over roughly a decade that now serves a substantially larger student-veteran population than it did at its start. "We made the investment. We started this program about 10 years ago with about 300 kids. We're over 1,870…