The University of Toledo again was named one of the best schools in Ohio, the Midwest and the nation for its support of military-connected students.
For the 2025 survey, UToledo ranked 48th nationally — up 55 spots from 2024 — and moved up to No. 7 in the Midwest in the recently released Military Times 2025 Best for Vets: Colleges rankings.
In the annual Military Times national survey, UToledo jumped to 48th in the U.S. and seventh in the Midwest for its support of military-connected students, and remains at No. 2 in Ohio.
The University remained in second place in Ohio. A total of 355 colleges and universities made this year’s list.
“This ranking is a direct result of UToledo’s commitment to our military-connected students,” said Eric Buetikofer, director of military and veteran affairs. “The Military Service Center staff, including our new coordinator and [Department of Veterans Affairs] work-study students, create a knowledgeable and comfortable space for our students who seek assistance, advice and understanding.
“The Military Service Center works collaboratively with on- and off-campus partners to make sure our students receive complete support,” he added. “Our office also is part of the Division of Student Affairs, which provides us with an incredible amount of support offices that round out the student experience that we can turn to to help students in and out of the classroom.”
The Military Times’ Best for Vets survey is the most comprehensive military school ranking survey in the country, Buetikofer said, with more than 200 questions requiring information on retention, persistence and graduation rates as well as services offered and programming. “These are all areas that The University of Toledo has increased in recent years.”
Aside from the metrics of success for UToledo’s military-connected students, the rankings also reflect the University’s services and programming available to those students such as the VALOR peer-to-peer mentor program.
“The VALOR peer-to-peer mentor program has been one of the Military Service Center’s great successes,” Buetikofer said. “It connects our new military-connected students using a military benefit for the first time with our peer-to-peer advisors to ensure that a student’s needs are being met in their first term at UToledo. Our peer advisors maintain weekly communication with our new students that are in the form of personal phone calls, email and newsletters.”
That program’s success coupled with others were important contributing factors to UToledo’s largest class of military-connected students: 140 for fall semester, which is the highest number of new military-connected students since the Military Service Center was created in 2012, he said. Currently, there are a total of 440 military-connected students attending the University, an increase of 82 students from fall 2024.
Additionally, UToledo recently retained its status as a Collegiate Purple Star school, an award created by the Ohio Department of Higher Education along with the Ohio Veterans Education Council four years ago. Award considerations include 2014 HB 488 compliance, Department of Education Keys to Veteran Success, VA Principals of Excellence as well as university policies regarding military and veteran issues.
“The Collegiate Purple Star was designed to raise the bar for military services in all schools in Ohio who have earned the award, and UToledo was a member of that inaugural group of schools that received the award,” Buetikofer said. “Schools are required to re-apply for the award every three years and we recently went through that process this year earning the award a second time.”
The Military Times’ Best for Vets ranking is the largest and most comprehensive annual list recognizing the top colleges and universities for military service members and veterans.
The rankings are based annual survey of schools that looks at student success, military-specific resources and financial assistance available for military-connected students, as well as a detailed review of public data collected by federal agencies.
