'It's just a slap in the face'

Scott Wilson owes his life to an Iraqi dump truck.

On the sergeant's first tour in Iraq, a roadside bomb exploded as he rode by on the top of a Humvee, completely exposed. Luckily, a dump truck pulled up and stopped between his vehicle and the bomb as it blew up, sending pieces of shrapnel flying into the side of the truck. Wilson made it out completely unscathed.

"I saw two of my friends get hurt real bad from suicide car bombs," Wilson said. "I was so lucky. Three times, a roadside bomb exploded within yards of my vehicle. I literally risked my life for this country, for this state. And to come home and not get any recognition by the state - it's just a slap in the face."

Wilson, despite being a Virginia native, has served six years with the Maryland National Guard and has been denied in-state tuition repeatedly for not filling state requirements that Wilson said could not be met on account of his two deployments to Iraq.

"I wore the Maryland flag on my sleeve and when people asked me where I was from, I always said 'Maryland,'" Wilson said. "I would never go into it and explain how I grew up in Virginia. I was proud to be part of the Maryland National Guard. Everyone else over there [in Iraq] knew the boys from Maryland were doing an awesome job, and I was part of that."

But Wilson, who signed up for the Maryland National Guard knowing he wanted to go to school here, said upon returning to the United States, he was confronted with piles of paperwork and stringent requirements for in-state tuition. He knew the requirements would be impossible to fulfill on account of his two deployments.

"I knew I wouldn't meet those requirements," Wilson said. "But there should be something in place that allows soldiers who served on behalf of the state of Maryland to receive in-state tuition."

Wilson, whose military contract expired in June of this year, was deployed not once, but twice, an unusual occurrence for soldiers in the National Guard that student veterans say is becoming more commonplace as military resources are being stretched.

"With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the [Army] Reserve and National Guard are being used so much more than anyone could have anticipated," sociology graduate student and student veteran Kirby Bowling said. "Now, you can serve wherever there's an opening. We have people from D.C., Virginia, Maryland all serving here because typically, people like to drill where they live or go to school."

Bowling said that by working with the Veterans Program Office and other student veterans, they raised their grievances to university administrators and state leaders last month by approaching the Bohanan Commission - a group working to determine a long-term funding model for higher education in the state.

"Any veterans, regardless of their home of record, should get in-state tuition," Bowling said. "And certainly anyone who serves in the Maryland National Guard or [Army] Reserve should be granted in-state tuition. Other states, like Wisconsin, do that."

But administrators said this issue is out of the university's hands.

"We tried to get them in-state tuition," Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs Warren Kelley said. "It's a big deal, we just don't have the authority to do anything about it. It either requires a change in the Board of Regents policy or state legislation."

University President Dan Mote said that though student veterans could not apply for in-state tuition based on service, according to state regulations, there are many scholarships available.

But Bowling and Wilson said that veteran scholarships are designed for those receiving in-state tuition, and therefore cover very little of out-of-state costs - which amount to about $10,000 more per year.

"The Iraq/Afghanistan scholarships need to be expanded," Bowling said. "Especially because more vets are going to be coming to the university over the next bunch of years."

Ultimately, Wilson said that he hopes the issue can be resolved for future veterans who might run into the same problems as they return to the university from overseas.

"Even if I don't see another cent from this college, I don't want someone else to get screwed," Wilson said. "I'm ready to move on with my life, but hopefully they can straighten this thing out for the future."

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