TOLEDO, Ohio — Adam Fisher isn’t your typical college freshman.
At 25, he’s older than most of his classmates. He’s married, too. And while most of his fellow students spent the past couple years in high school, Fisher was dodging bullets and roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Now a civilian, Fisher is trying to make the transition from the battlefields to the classrooms of the University of Toledo.
About two months into a new mission, he is far from alone.
Some 1 million veterans and their dependents have enrolled in U.S. colleges and universities over the past four years, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs. This influx of veterans has come with the drawdown of U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and more generous financial incentives that generally cover a veteran’s tuition, housing and books.
Many veterans face an array of challenges in making the transition to college life.
Some are medical. Fisher, who heard the screams of a soldier burning to death and had a buddy die in his arms, participates in group therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder. He also has some hearing loss.
