For the fourth year in a row, the University of Iowa made Victory Media's list of Military Friendly Schools. The list honors the top 15 percent of colleges, universities, and trade schools that are doing the most to embrace America's military service members and veterans as students and ensure their success on campus.

The UI was one of 47 schools in Iowa to make the list. Schools on the list range from state universities and private colleges to community colleges and trade schools.

Now in its fourth year, the 2013 list of Military Friendly Schools was compiled through extensive research and a data-driven survey of more than 12,000 VA-approved schools nationwide.

Ernst and Young LLP independently verified the survey tabulation process, methodology, and weightings that comprise the 2013 list. Each year schools taking the survey are held to a higher standard than the previous year via improved methodology, criteria, and weightings developed with the assistance of an Academic Advisory Board (AAB) consisting of educators from schools across the country.

The UI is an attractive institution for the estimated 518 veterans currently on campus because of the combination of a high quality but affordable education and the availability of resources for disabled veterans, according to Larry Lockwood, assistant provost for enrollment services. Forty percent of UI veterans have a disability of some sort, Lockwood adds.

Criteria for making the list included efforts to recruit and retain military and veteran students, results in recruiting military and veteran students, and academic accreditations.

The complete list can be found at www.militaryfriendlyschools.com/mfsList.aspx.

A full story and detailed list of 2013 Military Friendly Schools will be highlighted in the annual G.I. Jobs Guide to Military Friendly Schools, distributed in print and digital format to hundreds of thousands of active and former military personnel in early October.

Victory Media is a service-disabled, veteran-owned small business founded in 2001. Victory’s free, data-driven, Military Friendly lists can be found at www.gijobs.com/2012Top100, www.militaryfriendlyschools.com, and www.militaryfranchising.com. Victory’s lists are also published in G.I. Jobs, Military Spouse, Vetrepreneur magazines, republished in national and local periodicals, and are frequently cited on national and local TV stations.

To view information specifically about the UI, visit veterans.uiowa.edu.