Arcadia University celebrates and supports its veteran students, faculty, and staff, as well as members of military families across our community on this Veterans Day. 

Currently, Arcadia has 45 students receiving benefits because of their veteran status or because they are part of a military family. This includes funds through the GI Bill and the Yellow Ribbon Program. 

Career resources for students who are veterans can be found here.

The University also takes pride in being recognized as a “Military Friendly” school, earning 100 percent military friendly standards in Academic Policies & Compliance, Admissions & Orientation, Culture & Commitment, Financial Aid & Assistance, Graduation & Career, and Military Student Support & Retention.

Veterans attending Arcadia have been stationed around the country and the world. Some continue to live there today. 

Megan Godsey, a veteran of the Coast Guard living in Sitka, Alaska, with her husband and sons, is a student in the Hybrid Doctor of Physical Therapy program planning on graduating next year. 

After following in her father’s footsteps in joining the Coast Guard after high school, Godsey was looking for a career in physical fitness. 

She earned her bachelor’s degree in 2012 after leaving a seven year active duty stint, and then earned a master’s degree while starting a family with her husband.  

“Growing up, I never thought for a minute I’d be joining the military; I really wanted to be a doctor or work in healthcare in general,” said Godsey. “But I joined the Coast Guard after high school because, at that point, I couldn’t bear the thought of being in school for eight to 12 more years.

“Deciding to join the Coast Guard was terrifying; I really couldn’t have done it without my father’s guidance,” she added. “After I joined, I fell in love with exercising and exercise science. I started taking classes through American Military University and eventually got my bachelor’s. I knew I wanted to continue that path.”

During her military career, Godsey was stationed in Alaska — where she met her husband — California, Oregon, Michigan, and North Carolina. Her husband is still on active duty, but plans on retiring in 18 months. 

After completing her master’s degree in Exercise Science, Godsey became a personal trainer. She wanted a career with more job security, but wasn’t sure what that would be. 

That changed after seeing a physical therapist. 

I was going to a physical therapist after my second pregnancy, and the office had a student who was in a hybrid program,” said Godsey. “I didn’t know such a thing existed. That’s when I started researching programs, and one of the first that came up was Arcadia.”

One of the things that stood out to me immediately was that Arcadia has an accredited hybrid program,” she added. “That wasn’t the case at a lot of other schools I was researching.”

Godsey said some of the other things that stood out about Arcadia was the help she received from representatives at the university when it came to applying for benefits.

“The VA rep from Arcadia was really helpful over the phone and spent a lot of time asking all of my questions, and I had a lot,” Godsey said. “Dealing with VA benefits can sometimes be a challenge, but the school really helped with that. 

“It’s been such a rewarding experience and I love my classmates,” she added. “A lot of people’s first reaction to a hybrid program is ‘how do you meet and interact with other students and teachers?’ But we meet all the time and are in the clinic in the first semester. That’s different from other programs. They really bring it all together and are very set apart from the traditional PT program. All of the faculty are very available to us and we feel as part of Arcadia as any other student that goes to the school.”