All KU campuses named 2025-2026 top Military Friendly Schools
LAWRENCE — All University of Kansas campuses have received top rankings among Tier 1 research institutions in the annual “Military Friendly Schools” survey, the longest-running review of college and university investments in serving military-affiliated students.
The KU School of Medicine-Wichita campus was named the No. 8 Military Friendly and No. 8 Military Spouse Friendly School, and the KU Lawrence campus was ranked the No. 9 Military Friendly and No. 9 Military Friendly Spouse School. KU Medical Center, the School of Medicine and Nursing-Salina campus and the Edwards Campus in Overland Park all earned Gold designations as Military Friendly Schools and Military Spouse Friendly Schools.
Institutions earning the Military Friendly School designation were evaluated using public data sources and survey information. More than 1,800 institutions participated in the 2025-2026 survey, with 830 earning special awards for going above the standard.
“I believe this is the first time all schools’ campuses were considered for separate designations,” said April Blackmon Strange, director of the Lt. Gen. William K. Jones Military-Affiliated Student Center. “And to have every KU campus receive high rankings is a testament to the university’s dedication to serving our more than 2,200 veterans, service members, spouses, dependents and ROTC students.”
The Military Friendly Schools list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources from more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly Schools survey from participating institutions. The survey questions, methodology, criteria and weighting were developed with the assistance of an independent research firm and an advisory council of educators and employers. The survey is administered for free and is open to all postsecondary schools that wish to participate. Rankings and survey criteria are available online and will be published in G.I. Jobs magazine's May and October issues.
The Military-Affiliated Student Center at KU — a nearly 3,000 square foot center in Summerfield Hall — serves as a centralized resource for KU’s military-affiliated community. It includes a lounge with 24-7 access, study spaces, headquarters for the KU Student Veterans of America student organization, VA Work Study opportunities, staff to help with GI Bill benefits, military tuition assistance and more.
The university is one of just 104 campuses nationwide to have the Department of Veterans Affairs VetSuccess on Campus program with a dedicated VA VSOC counselor.
In addition to the center, KU has several scholarships and an emergency fund for military-affiliated students as well as a Veterans Upward Bound program. KU also has a series of National Defense Initiatives facilitating education programming, research development and strategic partnerships. This includes being one of more than 50 universities to have all branches of ROTC and one of eight universities designated as a Department of Defense Language Training Center, which educates hundreds of service members in strategic languages and regional area studies.
In 2024, the KU School of Law received a $1.6 million federal grant to establish a free legal aid clinic dedicated to serving veterans – the first of its kind in the state. The clinic is expected to open later this year.
The KU Edwards Campus has a Veterans and Student Leadership Lounge. Additional KU academic programs and certificates are available both on Fort Leavenworth and in Leavenworth for military and civilians in the area. KU also has a 4,000-member Veterans Alumni Network.