Hennepin Tech Works to Help Vets Access Education Benefits
Hennepin Technical College has around 150 veterans on campus and 70 of those veterans use benefits earned while serving. To help students utilize those benefits, Hennepin Tech offers one-on-one help to help navigate resources.
“We have all the services offered for them,” said Tara Clinkscales, veteran certifying official at Hennepin Tech. “We are there for them for that paperwork piece. We have a veterans resource center open during college campus hours and are just being able to show them that support.”
This year for Veterans Day, the college is encouraging veterans to use the benefits they have earned. Some of those benefits could also include tuition, books, fees and even housing expenses.
Tyler Herbruck
An example of that assistance can be seen in Clinkscales helping a new veteran named Tyler Herbruck who has been a civilian for about six months.
“I helped Tyler figuring out veterans benefits,” explained Clinkscales. “He needed assistance with where do I start? He’s in that big room once they get discharged and they tell him he has all these benefits, and doesn’t know what to do with them.”
Herbruck calls the transition between the military and civilian life “flawless,” only because of the systems in place both in the military and at the college.
“Because you are looking at all these options seeing where to go, so having that person in the background to help you out, big changer to the game when you are out there and actually starting to go to college,” said Herbruck.
Herbruck served in the Marines for six years and is now looking forward to a career in fluid power.
“Being in the military, I knew I wanted to do hands on. It’s where I’ve always excelled,” said Herbruck. “Just being able to see a physical process turn into something that I’ve created has been rewarding for me.”
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