Sixteen colleges, trade schools and universities in San Diego County were designated "military friendly" schools in an annual list released Thursday.
Pittsburgh-based Victory Media, which operates military publications, put out its seventh annual list of military friendly schools, and 13th annual report on military friendly employers.
The organization rates companies and colleges on their programs to recruit and retain veterans and military spouses.
San Diego-area schools included on the list were Alliant International University, American Council on Exercise, Ashford University, Cal State San Marcos, the Design Institute of San Diego, Kaplan College in Chula Vista and San Diego, National University, Platt College San Diego, Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego Christian College and UC San Diego.
The San Diego Community College District's City, Mesa, Miramar and Continuing Education campuses were also on the list.
"As Americans, we owe a lot to our veterans for their selfless and often heroic service," said SDCCD Chancellor Constance Carroll. "We give them priority at all of our campuses and I am very pleased to see our practices honored by the military friendly designation."
The SDCCD served 3,522 veterans last year, a number equal to 6 percent of the district's total student enrollment.
Numerous companies on the military employer list have extensive operations in San Diego County, including AECOM, BAE Systems, Cubic Corp., Kaiser Permanente, Northrop Grumman, Qualcomm, Walmart and Waste Management.
