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The United States veteran student cohort presents the potential to increase representation of underrepresented groups in engineering program across the country. Unfortunately, discontinued and dismissal rates among veteran students are significantly higher than traditional engineering student attrition. Additionally, there is a lack of data-driven research to understand and quantify retention of veteran students in engineering. The objective of this research is to increase veteran student retention by investigating associations between retention, social responsibility in the military and in engineering, and demographics. Social responsibility is generally understood as acting to benefit society. When practicing engineering, it is the responsibility of engineers to evaluate the implications of their calculations and designs for society’s safety, welfare, and the environment. All military branches promote social responsibility through core values, putting the welfare of others before themselves and working for the greater good of society. There is a common theme between the core ideals of the military community and why many students select engineering to pursue after a successful military career. This work in progress paper will discuss the preliminary survey to measure social responsibility attitudes in veteran and first year students at Kansas State University. The developed survey was reviewed by an expert advisory panel of veterans prior to pilot testing with an identified group of veteran and first-year students. The research team anticipates launching the full survey next fall. The goal of this research is to determine if concepts of social responsibility positively influence veteran student retention. The results of this research will be used to design an intervention, likely in the first-year, which will increase veteran retention in engineering programs.