NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — It's back-to-school season, and social media has been flooded with pictures of little ones smiling in hand-picked outfits or teens showing off decorated dorms.
Harder to find are the pictures of handfuls of non-traditional students making their way onto campus.
Many are these students that are getting their education for free, after years spent navigating their way on a military base.
For some, like retired postal worker and army veteran Cynthia Evans, the prospect of returning to school was daunting.
"I've always wanted to get a college degree, but I was scared," said Cynthia Evans after two days of classes at the University of Arkansas - Pulaski Tech. "It's scary. They're talking about stuff I had never heard of before and never seen before."
She said that it took her almost 40 years to overcome that fear and fulfill a promise to herself thanks to a program called Veterans Upward Bound.
"We go out there, and we look for veterans who might be in academic need, low income, or just struggling with academics," said Joe Barnello, the coordinator of the program at UAPTC.
The Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program is one of eight federal TRIO programs. It provides money for colleges to identify veterans and fund classes designed to get them up to speed.
At the bustling office on the North Little Rock campus, a handful of students spent the morning learning the latest in computer science and math.
There are also courses available that teach English as a second language— and all of the lessons were free to anyone who honorably served.
"I tell everybody when I go and try to recruit them out into the program that age doesn't matter," said Barnello. "I go to meetings and hear 'I'm too old. We're too old. Why is he here?' I tell them you're never too old to go back and get a little bit of education."
Upward Bound students aren't obligated to just go to Pulaski Tech— ideally, the program will get veterans ready to attend any school they want.
There are similar chapters at Arkansas Tech and the University of Arkansas flagship in Fayetteville available.
Even after 20 years as a mechanic in the Air Force, Barnello said that he didn't know about the boost that Upward Bound could provide.
He said that his wife helped push him to go back to college when he returned to civilian life.
Now he's been working every day to spread the word to other veterans about this free option that they can take advantage of.
"Getting any veteran and making that first step is the hardest step," he explained. "But once we get them in here, they see what the program is all about."
At the end of the day, it's all about veterans like Evans who were looking for a new path in life.
"It's been different, it really has," she said. "But it is a challenge, and I like it, and I'm still here."
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