Central Georgia Technical College was recently ranked No. 24 by the Military Times as a top technical college for troops and veterans. With a service area nestled alongside Robins Air Force Base, this award reflects the onus state, local, and College leadership has placed on serving military personnel.

The methodology behind ranking the nation’s “Best for Vets” recipients, or top military serving technical colleges, is largely survey-based with a combination of federal data and key metrics from the Department of Education, Veterans Affair, and the Department of Defense.

Military Times , a trusted leader in news and information and aggregate publication for the Airforce Times, Army Times, Navy Times and Marine Corps Times,  stated that while much less information on how veterans do in school compared to traditional civilian students is available, those agencies have made efforts to increase and improve their collection of veteran-specific data.

In 2016, more than six in ten career and technical colleges were able to provide academic outcome measures for veterans, four of them belong to the Technical College System of Georgia.

“With the high number of military personnel and their families in Georgia, we have made it a priority to be proactive in facilitating their transition to civilian life and work,” said TCSG Commissioner Gretchen Corbin. “Each one of our colleges has a designated military affairs representative that organizes the military relationship within their community.”

During the 2015-2016 academic year, 334 military and veteran personnel enrolled at CGTC. The College met five broad categories including, university culture, student support, academic outcomes/quality, academic policies, and cost and financial aid in order to be included in the publication’s rankings.

The College’s most recent efforts to meet the educational needs of veterans and troops came with the opening of the Georgia Veteran’s Education Career Transition Resource Center in August, a collaborative effort of the College with the University System of Georgia, the Technical College System of Georgia and Middle Georgia State University to offer a “one-stop shop” for college courses and educational resources to veteran and active-duty military personnel.

The opening was followed by an announcement earlier in November that CGTC will begin offering Cisco Networking courses at the VECTR center, which provides training and industry testing of employable skills in the computer networking field.

“We’re very happy that the College has once again been designated as military-friendly, said Dann Webb, executive director for Military and Veterans Services. “Veterans and their families have long had a special place at Central Georgia Tech. This designation helps veterans and their families make the best decisions regarding their education.  We will continue to serve the men and women who have served our country.”