Campus Life

‘Aggie Shields’ Helping Student Veterans With Textbook Costs

The organization has created a textbook lending program for Aggie veterans and their dependents.
By Lesley Henton, Texas A&M Marketing & Communicationse September 13, 2016

Zack Butler
Zack Butler, junior economics major and Navy Veteran, in the lending library.

(Texas A&M Marketing & Communications)

Aggie Shields, a Texas A&M University student organization, is easing the burden of textbook costs for student veterans. The organization has created a textbook lending program for Aggie veterans and their dependents. This semester, veterans and dependents have saved over $36,000 on textbooks, say organization officials.

Founded in 2012, Aggie Shields has developed a lending library housed in the Veteran Resource and Support Center (VRSC), located in the Koldus building.

Patrick Creighton, a master’s student in agricultural leadership, is the IT and historian officer for Aggie Shields. Creighton said that the organization’s laser focus is what prompted him to join. “Aggie Shields had a specific problem: textbooks are a huge variable cost. And they had a specific solution to that problem.”

Lynne Muller-McIntyre, a vocational rehabilitation counselor at the VRSC, emphasized the strain that the variable cost of textbooks places on veteran students.

“They’re in the middle of their lives,” said Muller-McIntyre. “They’re married, they’ve got kids, they’ve got mortgages, they’ve got automobile payments, utilities, kids in school. So it really presents a completely different picture than traditional students,” she said adding, veterans on the post-9/11 GI Bill receive $1,000 a year for books and supplies, or $500 a semester.

Muller-McIntyre explained that programs like Aggie Shields can especially help students in disciplines such as engineering and math, where textbooks can cost upwards of $300. “So if they’re an engineering student, for example, that $1,000 stipend can be completely exhausted in just one semester.”

She added that the organization also provides a unique opportunity for traditional students and veteran students to connect.

Junior economics major Zack Butler is a Navy veteran who utilized Aggie Shields’ lending library. Butler said he has saved over $800 on books, thanks to Aggie Shields.

Butler said he has always enjoyed interacting with Aggie Shields volunteers. “Any time I come in, they’re smiling, happy, and always willing to help me,” Butler said. “Even if they’re doing something important, they’ll drop everything and make sure I know where my books are and help me get them and I really appreciate their positive attitudes.”

Tyler Shannon, a sophomore history major and Air Force veteran, used three books from the lending library.

Shannon said the extra help from the organization eased the transition from the military to life as a student. “It kind of lessened the stress of finding the books and fighting with all the other students going back to class, and I got my books faster and it made the first week a whole lot less stressful.”

Currently, the lending library has over 1,300 books, obtained through both purchasing and student donations of used textbooks. Creighton said that the organization has come a long way in just three years, and he hopes it continues to grow to increase its support of veterans.

“Last semester was the first semester that we actually calculated up how much impact we were having, and it was $10,000 that we were able to provide in textbooks, and this semester it’s $36,000,” Creighton said.

The organization is currently recruiting new members to support its effort. Students interested in joining can attend an information session tomorrow (Sept. 14) at 5:30 p.m. in Rudder 407.

Applications are due Sept. 21 at 5 p.m. via http://www.aggieshields.org.

Media contact: tamunews@tamu.edu.

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