BOSTON — There are more than 3,600 veterans attending public higher education institutions in Massachusetts, and a state lawmaker from Westford is pitching a bill he says will help those students and active-duty military members transition to life on campus.
Rep. James Arciero’s bill would task the University of Massachusetts Medical School with implementing a continuing education program to train counselors at state colleges and universities in recognizing and responding to post-traumatic stress disorder in active-duty and veteran students.
Arciero, whose brother and brother-in-law served in Iraq and Afghanistan, told the Veterans and Federal Affairs Committee on Tuesday that more than 750,000 veterans have used their education assistance benefits to enroll in college courses in the past decade, and that veterans will become “a major part of the future workforce of the Commonwealth.”
