The upstate consortium is being led by the University at Albany, and Associate Professor of Social Welfare Lynn Warner says the placements will develop students' skills and give them specialized training in working with veterans.

Warner says the three year grant, worth close to half a million dollars, will go mainly toward student stipends. The financial incentives are to encourage trainees to work in challenging rural settings where services for veterans are scarce.

Warner says better support for the veteran community will translate into earlier job placements and a smoother transition into civilian life: "The health, the mental health, the behavioral health issues certainly have to be attended to so that people can resume all of those other social roles that we would hope they would be able to fully engage in, so including their family roles and their work roles."

Universities are currently choosing candidates for the program which will begin next summer.