Brookdale Veterans Center Helps Military-Affiliated Students Navigate College and Civilian Life

For veterans returning to the classroom, college can involve more than choosing courses and completing assignments. It can mean navigating complex education benefits, adjusting to civilian life, and finding a place where others understand their military experiences.

At Brookdale Community College, Andrew Clayton is helping veterans make that transition because he has experienced it himself.

Clayton, Associate Administrator of Brookdale’s Veterans Center and a retired New Jersey Army National Guard Sergeant First Class, recently joined Monmouth County Commissioner Sue Kiley on the “Veterans Corner” segment of Monmouth in Focus to discuss the resources available to veterans and military-affiliated students at Brookdale.

Kiley, liaison to the Monmouth County Division on Aging, Disabilities and Veterans Services, opened the interview by thanking Clayton for more than two decades of military service.

Clayton’s career included deployments to Iraq in 2008, Afghanistan in 2011, and the Horn of Africa in 2019, as well as service closer to home during Hurricane Sandy. Today, he draws on those experiences, along with his own return to college as an adult student, to help others navigate the transition from military service to higher education.

“The Brookdale Veterans Center is really the hub for the veteran student coming into the College, on their way in or while they’re there,” Clayton told Kiley.

The Center serves a broad military-affiliated community, including veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, and their dependents. Students can get help navigating VA educational benefits and other resources from when they consider enrolling through their entire Brookdale experience.

Clayton emphasized that available benefits can be complicated to understand, especially because programs and eligibility requirements can change. The Center helps students explore benefits such as the Post-9/11 GI Bill and Veteran Readiness and Employment, as well as benefits available to active-duty and National Guard members.

He encouraged veterans who may have looked into benefits in the past to check again and speak with Brookdale or the Monmouth County Veterans Services Office about their current options.

But the Veterans Center provides something equally important: a place to belong.

The Center offers students a comfortable space between classes to study, use computers, relax, or spend time with people who understand their experiences. For veterans returning to school later in life, that sense of community can make an important difference.

Clayton said students often begin sharing stories and discover that they served in the same places or had similar experiences, sometimes forming friendships almost immediately.

“They realize, ‘Okay, I have friends here. I have people that shared my experiences,” Clayton said.

That connection can help students become more comfortable on campus, persist in their studies, and ultimately complete their degrees.

Clayton understands that experience personally.

Before coming to Brookdale, Clayton founded the Student Veteran Organization at Kean Ocean and served as its president, building on his earlier experience reviving a veterans association at Ocean County College.

Finding a veterans center changed that experience.

Clayton became involved in student veteran leadership and worked to support other veterans on campus. He continued that work after transferring to Kean, building experience that eventually led him to Brookdale.

“When I saw the Brookdale job posting, I was like, ‘This is what I need to go do now,’” he told Kiley.

His National Guard experience also gave him a perspective particularly suited to the role. For more than two decades, Clayton moved between military and civilian life, giving him firsthand knowledge of how skills developed through military service can translate into education and the workforce.

For veterans leaving active-duty service, that transition can sometimes be difficult. Clayton works with students to recognize the value of their experience and see the possibilities ahead.

“You know, it’s always a part of you, but it doesn’t have to be the end of you when you get out,” Clayton said. “It doesn’t have to be all of you.”

For Clayton, education can become the next mission. He encourages veterans of every age to consider what college could make possible, whether their goal is a Brookdale degree, transfer to a four-year institution, or preparation for a new career.

“It’s never too late to go,” he said. “I implore everybody to give it a shot.”

Military-affiliated students interested in learning more about Brookdale’s Veterans Center, educational benefits, and available support can contact the Center at veteraninfo@brookdalecc.edu.