Despite roughly 21.2 million veterans living in the United States (U.S. Census Bureau, 2012), only 2 million service members and their families were eligible for benefits under the Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (American Council on Education [ACE], 2008). Furthermore, less than 1 million beneficiaries received education benefits during fiscal year 2012 which included active duty and reserve veterans as well as survivors and dependents of military veterans who used educational benefits that were transferred to them (U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2012). Although service members have many educational benefits and training opportunities available to them, relatively few veterans take advantage of the educational support that is offered by each branch of the military. Veterans who attend higher education post service seem to have unique skill sets that set them apart from their peers. As such, research regarding student veterans in higher education can serve as a guide for college and university administration, faculty, and staff who may lack a solid understanding of the strengths and unique skills of this student subpopulation, as well as information on how to best serve and work with these students. The purpose of this study was to explore the academic motivation, hardiness, and coping styles of U.S. military veterans who are currently enrolled in a college or university. The relationship between these variables and the demographic background of the student veterans are explored using an ex post facto design. This study used a web based survey composed of the following four instruments: a Personal Data Form, the Academic Motivation Scale College Version (AMS C-28; Vallerand, Pelletier, Blais, Briere, Senecal, & Vallieres, 1992), the Dispositional Resilience Scale (DRS15-R; Bartone, 1995), and the COPE inventory (Carver et al, 1989; Carver, 2013). This study contributes to the literature on student veterans and may be helpful for military veterans pursuing a degree in higher education and for faculty and staff working with and educating student veterans. This study also provides valuable information to the families and communities to which military veterans belong. Much of the previous research on student veterans has focused on the struggles of student veterans while the current study seeks to explore and uncover the hardiness and coping strategies used by service members who seek higher education. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]