Troops, returning from war, expand their horizons at UCLA
For many U.S. troops returning from wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, there's a new destination: the University of California.
UCLA is among the leading UC campuses where hundreds of service personnel are pursuing undergraduate courses aimed at helping them further their careers and resume normal lives after active duty. This fall, UCLA will welcome some 80 veterans, adding to a list of 111 personnel already enrolled in undergraduate courses on campus in everything from political science to neurobiology.
The cross-campus effort is similar to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Troops to College" program, which began offering educational services to veterans last year at UC's 10 campuses as well as the California State University and the California Community Colleges.
The UC initiative also coincides with a new G.I. Bill of Rights that President Bush signed June 30 to increase college benefits for veterans. The measure, expected to become effective in 2009, is the largest expansion of educational services for military personnel since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the original bill in 1944. The bill provided education or training programs to 7.8 million World War II veterans over the next 12 years.
Educational benefits for veterans have not kept pace with skyrocketing costs. The new benefits will cover tuition and fees, living expenses, books, supplies and other educational costs. To be eligible, veterans must have served a total of at least 36 months on active duty after Sept. 11, 2001, or be legitimately discharged or released.
Each UC campus has a designated veterans services coordinator who helps veterans avail themselves of a wide range of campus services. The coordinators met with some of the UC regents at UCLA recently in an effort to "harmonize our services and have a centralized and coordinated outreach for veterans," explained Enku Gelaye, an executive officer in the Office of the Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs.
Almost all the veterans currently enrolled on campus are transfer students from community colleges. Although slightly older than the average undergraduate on campus, they're exceptionally focused, driven and have a remarkable range of perspectives and experiences that are vital in an academic setting, according to Gelaye.
UCLA is an ideal campus for educating veterans, not least because it's a stone's throw from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in West Los Angeles as well as the Federal Building. The campus also has a dynamic and ethnically diverse undergraduate group of veterans that plays a vital role in peer mentoring and networking. "We constantly ask them to tell us about their experiences at UCLA — what's working and not working," said Gelaye.
Veterans follow astonishingly hectic schedules and many show up in classrooms straight from active duty. "Some call us from overseas to fill out their applications," Gelaye said. To make their lives easier, all veterans admitted to UCLA will be entitled to priority enrollment as early as the winter of 2009, she added.
Campus officials are also planning to meet regularly with VA officials to help veterans cut through the VA's legendary bureaucracy to obtain their benefits. A veterans' support group of trained staff was set up this past spring to offer a range of services on career and student counseling, financial aid and disabilities, among others.
"We have people in key areas who understand the needs of veterans, and more importantly, veterans know they can go to them," Gelaye said, adding: "There's a culture of inclusiveness for veterans at UCLA."
The best proof of that came this week when Gelaye got a call from a serviceman in the Middle East. He told her he wanted to join the campus because he had heard "UCLA was making a special effort to make the campus a more welcoming place for veterans," Gelaye said.
