SEMO ranked top 10 military friendly school

Southeast Missouri State University has been listed as a top 10 military friendly school.

Surveyed by the program Military Friendly, SEMO was ranked No. 4 in the category of Large Public schools.

According to a news release from SEMO, the university moved up in rankings from last year's list. Southeast has been a Gold category school for the last two years.

"This award highlights the dedication that Southeast and its Office of Military and Veteran Services has toward supporting our military-affiliated students," said Carlos Vargas, president of Southeast Missouri State University. "The entire university goes above and beyond to ensure our students are supported throughout their education and after they move on from Southeast to successful careers."

Per its website, military friendly.com, the Military Friendly program is the standard that measures an organization's commitment, effort and success in creating sustainable and meaningful benefit for the military community.

Per SEMO's release, schools are evaluated with both public data sources and responses from a survey completed by the university. Survey responses are weighted according to six categories, including military student support and retention, graduation and career outcomes and financial aid and loan repayment. Schools are then placed into one of four categories: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Top 10. Nearly 2,000 schools are surveyed each year.

"We have continued to improve on our Military Friendly ranking every year, first being a Gold school and now making the Top Ten," said Amanda Woods , Military and Veterans Services officer with SEMO's Office of Military and Veteran Services. "The continuous improvement shows the effort that has been made by everyone on campus to keep making our university a great place for our military-affiliated students."