will open later this year.

[MUSIC] There is a new ranking of the top military friendly universities across the U.S.

and one Kentucky institution has risen to the top.

Our Emily Sisk takes us to Eastern Kentucky University to learn about their support for military students.

>> Eastern Kentucky University is home to nearly 2000 military affiliated students, which represents about 12% of the total student body.

The resources offered to those students led the university to be named the number one military friendly school in the country for the first ever time.

>> We're really honored to get the distinction.

>> Josh Maynard works as the director of Veterans Upward Bound at EKU.

Serving military students is a profound mission for him.

As an Army veteran and two time EKU alum.

>> A lot of people in our office are veterans or military members, so we kind of have firsthand knowledge on how that experience goes.

>> But this month, the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs learned their support, earned the university national recognition as the number one military friendly school out of all large public universities in the country.

Military friendly gave out that ranking.

It's an organization that evaluates employers and universities based on their resources for veterans and active duty military members.

>> They asked questions about retention, graduation rates, services that we provide for military students.

>> EKU had received recognition as a military friendly school before, but this year's distinction marked a first.

>> We've been in the top ten several times over the past few years, but this is the first time we've been at number one.

>> So what sets the Colonels apart when it comes to their support for military students?

The Office of Military and Veterans Affairs has a handful of full time staff members to help students navigate many facets of college life.

>> Help applying to the university, navigating benefits like financial VA benefits they might have, or applying for scholarships.

>> This has been especially helpful for students like Mackenzie Doyle, who started her first semester at EKU, then learned she'd have to take a leave to fulfill her service to the National Guard.

>> I get to my unit and within the first drill, they tell us that we're deploying.

>> The Owensboro native spent nine months deployed in Iraq.

She's now in her second semester at EKU and said the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs helped make the transition smooth.

>> It's actually quite common from a National Guard member or a member of the reserves to get activated while they're in college, whether it's helped with drawing from the class that no penalty or resuming where they left off once they come back, our office can help facilitate that.

>> Now that Mackenzie is back on campus, she's been able to transfer credits from basic training to go toward her degree.

>> So I'm military police and my degree is in criminal justice, and a lot of my classes in that stage of my training were transferable to the school just by like bringing up my joint service transcript.

I think it was like 18 to 22 credit hours that I got from basic training alone.

>> Receiving these types of general education or degree specific credits is not uncommon at EKU, Maynard says.

>> We offer more military credit than any other school in the state for for military training.

>> And Eastern offers discounted tuition for military spouses, active service members and those in the guard or reserves.

The special military rate is $250 per credit hour, about $100 less than the regular tuition rate.

>> A lot of universities nationwide are going away from that due to rising costs.

Or maybe it's less of a discount than it has been, but EKU has kept that discount steady for the past few years.

>> When it comes to the number one ranking director Maynard said the Office of Military and Veterans Affairs is just doing their job to support students in Richmond for Kentucky edition.

I'm Emily Sisk.

>> Many thanks to you.

Emily EKU also offers counseling services and academic advisors