UCF’s Veterans Academic Resource Center officially opened Wednesday, Nov. 10, the eve of Veterans Day. The center, located in the UCF Arena across the street from Barnes and Noble, serves as a one-stop shop for student veterans and their eligible dependents.
The 3,400-square-foot space includes offices, study rooms and a lounge area. The center offers students services such as VA certification, enrollment, advising, counseling, career services, disability accommodations, tutoring and other academic support services.
Under the direction of the Registrar’s Office, the center is a collaboration among university departments that are uniting to better address veteran needs. The center is among many campus-wide initiatives that aim to ease the transition from boots to books for the nearly 1,000 veterans who attend UCF each semester.
Earlier this month, UCF unveiled a new campus landmark, the Veterans Commemorative Site. Located at the south end of Memory Mall near the Student Union, the site features seals of the five branches of the U.S. Armed Forces on marble columns that unite around an 80-foot pole flying a U.S. flag.
UCF’s next outreach will be the creation of a virtual Veterans Academic Resource Center that is designed to provide enhanced services for veterans at UCF’s Regional Campuses. The virtual center will be supported by a U.S. Department of Education grant awarded to nation’s Centers for Excellence for Veteran Student Success. UCF was the only Florida public university to receive the designation and accompanying $367,000 grant.
UCF has also been honored as a “military friendly” school by G.I. Jobs magazine for the past two years. The list recognizes the top 15 percent of universities, private and community colleges and trade schools in the country that make recruiting and offering services for student veterans a priority.
In 2008, the Chronicle of Higher Education ranked UCF 18th on its list of national institutions that enroll the most students with veteran benefits. UCF is one of only two large public universities on the 25-school list and is also one of the only institutions not located near a military base.
To learn more about UCF Veteran Services, visit https://varc.sdes.ucf.edu/.