Posted 11:15 a.m. Friday, May 20, 2022
UWL veterans benefit coordinator helps address a challenge she sees for the students she serves
As UW-La Crosse’s veterans education benefits coordinator, Jane Brannan works with student veterans daily who have great financial need. However, she can’t find enough financial aid to assist them with their college dreams.
Brannan and her family — who make up three generations of military veterans — saw the problem as an opportunity to contribute.
They created a new scholarship through the UWL Foundation that supports student veterans, current service members, or those with military spouses or who have a parent who is a veteran or service member.
"Students are bearing more of the cost of college themselves, so there is more need,” says Brennan. “Everything we can do to help these students so they are not burdened by debt is helpful. Every bit counts.”
Brannan served as a Signal Corps Officer in the Army. Brannan said a scholarship was fitting because being a veteran is an identity she holds dear and education is valued in her family.
“I believe in the power of education to transform lives, open doors, and assist people in goals they are pursuing,” she says.