Pitt-Johnstown is expanding outreach efforts to military veterans through its new MountainCat Veterans Program.
The program was created to help veterans make a transition to college.
“We have tremendous respect and appreciation for our military veterans who have given so selflessly of themselves in defending our freedom,” university President Jem Spectar said in announcing the program.
“We owe them an enormous debt of gratitude. Our MountainCat Veterans Program is one more way of saying ‘thank you’ to all of our military veterans.”
The MVP program is available to former members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force and Coast Guard who had served on active duty and were discharged under conditions that were other than dishonorable.
A support group will be led by Alan Teich, interim vice president for academic affairs. The program also offers an accelerated admission review, priority registration and deferred tuition payments.
Under the accelerated admission review, a one-stop application process is available with the fee waived.
Students may enroll on a part-time or full-time basis and receive personalized academic advice.
Priority registration allows veterans to register before the general student population, offering the opportunity to register for popular classes first.
Tuition payments may be deferred until funding is received from the government. In addition, credits earned from previous course work – including through military service – will be evaluated to maximize the number of transfer credits.
Additionally, specially trained people will serve as primary points of contact for students.
MVP participants also will benefit from free parking, discounts on clothing, free tickets to the Pasquerilla Performing Arts Center and an annual President’s Veterans Day Dinner.
In addition, the university’s staff has been involved with a program that provides combat-wounded veterans with an opportunity to acquire valuable employment resources as well as life-planning skills to assist with their re-entry to civilian life.
The staff also has a rap group, led by Robert Yaskanich, a Vietnam veteran and the university’s Personal Counseling Center director.
For further information, call the university at 269-2078 or visit www.upj.pitt.edu/MVP.
Local News
UPJ program reaches out to veterans
- Local News
-
-
Focus on Section 8 questioned
Some Moxham community leaders are concerned that one subject – Section 8 housing – is receiving too much focus in the ongoing discussion about crime in the Johnstown neighborhood.
-
Clean sweep efforts: Downtown group targets crime, litter
The Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership is working to clean up the city’s central business district in two different ways.
-
In Northern Cambria, 13 battle for four slots
With four seats on the Northern Cambria school board up for grabs, a long list of residents have lined up hoping to capture one of the slots.
-
Standardized test debate: Lawmakers disagree about use as graduation requirement
The typical Pennsylvania student will spend more than 46 hours taking standardized state tests during his or her academic career. That is the equivalent of more than a week’s worth of school and does not take into account the amount of time that schools spend specifically preparing for tests or helping students who have failed a standardized test.
-
Local grad hurt in Afghanistan
A 2009 graduate of Greater Johnstown High School is recovering from a head injury received Monday while serving in Afghanistan.
-
Health care firm moving production back to Somerset
A local health care equipment manufacturer's experiment in shipping jobs to China will end, thanks in part to a $1.8 million federal loan guarantee.
-
Johnstown man charged with indecent assault
A Johnstown man was jailed Friday after authorities alleged he had indecent contact with a minor.
-
In brief: Country club offers free golf for veterans
A free golf day for veterans will be held Monday at Somerset Country Club, 416 Plank Road.
-
The story behind Johnstown’s viral video
The way John Porter tells it, some of his co-workers now call him “John Deer.”
-
Event honors Korean War vets
Thanks to the Korean War veteran, the tide of communism on the Korean Peninsula was stopped with a free South Korea able to become one of the world’s economic giants, an Army colonel told hundreds of Korean War veterans and guests on Thursday in Johnstown.
- More Local News Headlines
-
Focus on Section 8 questioned



