XGI Veterans Scholarship Supports Those Who Served and Their Families
At York College of Pennsylvania, military service is recognized in meaningful, practical ways, including through a fund created by alumni who are veterans.
Bill Balmer ’75 was just 20 when he returned from the Vietnam War in 1970. The next year, he began working on an English degree at York College of Pennsylvania. The College had transitioned to a four-year school in 1968 and was welcoming Vietnam veterans into the Spartan ranks.
But many veterans felt out of sync with traditional students, Balmer says. Their wartime experiences set them apart from students entering college right out of high school. Fortunately, Balmer and his fellow Vietnam veterans found a sense of camaraderie and shared interest in the York College chapter of Chi Gamma Iota, or the XGI Veterans Fraternity.
“If there wasn’t a veterans fraternity at York, I might not have made it through college,” Balmer says. “It was tough coming back from the war and integrating back into normal life.”
Little did Balmer know then that more than 50 years later, those same veterans would be helping another generation of soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines complete their York College degrees with the help of the XGI Veterans Scholarship.
Launching and expanding the scholarship
In the early 2000s, Balmer talked with the Alumni Relations Office about organizing York College graduates who were veterans. The goal was to establish a scholarship to support student veterans on campus. That effort evolved into the XGI Veterans Scholarship.
After earning a degree in English/Communications, alumna Elise Reesey-Herman ’74 served as an adviser to the fraternity while working as the Assistant Director of Admissions at the College. While not a veteran, she had been a social member of XGI while a student at York College and began organizing reunions for alumni veterans in 2006 as Balmer reached out to the same group to garner support for the scholarship fund.
Over the last three years, the scholarship has expanded to better meet the needs of today’s student veterans and their families. Initially, it was underutilized because many students received educational benefits through the federal GI Bill, so the XGI committee worked with Associate Professor of Human Services Robyn Maitoza, Ph.D., and others to expand eligibility for and the focus of the award.
Now the scholarship can help cover the costs of housing, child care, and other essential needs and is open to dependents and grandchildren of veterans.
“We’ve tweaked it over time to broaden the action,” says Balmer. “Veterans don’t always think they need the extra $2,000 or $3,000. Then there’s the veteran who doesn’t want to go to college but their grandchild does.”
Associate Professor of Geography David Fyfe, Ph.D., a veteran who chairs York College’s Military and Veterans Advocacy Committee, sees the scholarship as a key part of the broader effort to support student veterans.
“Our veteran population is fortunate that they have their GI Bills, but they’re also typically nontraditional, older students,” Dr. Fyfe says. “Anything we can do to help get them through our doors in a timely manner benefits everybody.”
Dr. Fyfe and his committee play a direct role in administering the scholarship, reviewing applications, and recommending applicants to the Financial Aid Office. This year, the committee received a record number of applications.
Meet two 2025 XGI Veterans Scholarship recipients
Matt Wile ’26, an Early Elementary Education major, served in the Army from 1998 to 2001 as a combat engineer, operating an Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge. After years in the workforce, he returned to college thanks to his wife’s encouragement. The transition from worker to student hasn’t been easy, but support such as the XGI scholarship has made a positive difference.
“This scholarship has been a tremendous help,” Matt says. “There have been times when I thought maybe I should just go part-time, but the scholarship is for veteran students who are in school full time, so this scholarship was pretty motivating to not quit and keep on pushing through.”
Abby Markel ’26, a Nursing major and Navy veteran who served as a nuclear electronics technician from 2014 to 2018, also received the scholarship this year. Living in York with her husband, also a veteran, Abby says her military service gave her valuable life experience that translates well to nursing. She looks forward to putting that knowledge to work after graduation.
“Receiving it has helped me upgrade my decade-old laptop in order to be more effective in school. I have four kids, and it is hard to justify purchasing things for myself sometimes,” she says.
Abby aims to become an intensive care unit nurse at York Hospital. Receiving the XGI Veterans Scholarship has helped to provide materials that will make that objective more attainable.
Doctoral student Steve Yang and sophomore Medical Imaging student Jeffery Segarra also received the scholarship this year.
As the XGI Veterans Scholarship evolves, Balmer and Reesey-Herman hope to see the legacy of veteran outreach at York College grow. Meanwhile, Reesey-Herman is planning the next alumni veterans reunion on campus for October 2026.
For more information about applying for or contributing to the XGI Veterans Scholarship, students can check their Scholarship Universe account to see if they qualify.
