In a perfect world, any and every institution of higher learning would be ideal for a military veteran applying his or her GI Bill, or simply starting their long post-service career journey through. Unfortunately, the real world begs to differ, and recently the popular website Military Times conducted an intensive survey to uncover the very best colleges and universities for vets to attend.

They not only highlighted schools with four-year tracks, but ones online and “nontraditional” — as well as two-year institutions.

On their criteria:

To be considered, colleges had to fill out an exhaustively detailed, roughly 150-question survey. We evaluated institutions based on their survey responses as well as on data collected by three different federal agencies.

As in years past, competition to make the list was intense, and most colleges that filled out the survey didn’t make the cut.

More than 90 percent of institutions responding to the Military Times survey have signed on to major federal education agreements related to military and veteran students, such as the White House’s Principles of Excellence and the Defense Department’s Memorandum of Understanding.

What the following list all have in common: For one, with their benefits, vets can attend the schools with “little to nothing out of pocket” (Yellow Ribbon program, Post-9/11 GI Bill as well). Second, they identify those with military ties who enrolled, and have in place support programs and other resources to encourage success and ultimately graduation. They also offer peer-to-peer assistance and allow vets to acquire credit for skills and things they already know (or might’ve picked up in the military).

The Top 20, in ascending order:

20. University of Texas at Arlington — Arlington, Texas

19. Northwest Nazarene University — Nampa, Idaho

18. California State University, San Bernardino — San Bernardino, California

17. Eastern Kentucky University — Richmond, Kentucky

16. Stockton University — Galloway, New Jersey

15. The University of Southern Mississippi — Hattiesburg, Mississippi

14. Western Kentucky University — Bowling Green, Kentucky

13. Western Illinois University — Macomb, Illinois

12. Lipscomb University — Nashville, Tennessee

11. Florida State University — Tallahassee, Florida

10. The University of Kansas — Lawrence, Kansas

9. University of Nebraska at Omaha — Omaha, Nebraska

8. South Dakota State University — Brookings, South Dakota

7. Georgia State University — Atlanta, Georgia

6. Colorado State University — Fort Collins, Colorado

5. D’Youville College — Buffalo, New York

4. Armstrong State University — Savannah, Georgia

3. Syracuse University — Syracuse, New York

2. Rutgers — New Brunswick, New Jersey

1.  University of South Florida — Tampa, Florida