A $1.3 million grant is aimed at helping Boise State University’s Veteran Services Center increase retention and graduation rates of first-generation, low-income, and/or disabled Veteran students.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Veterans Student Support Services program within the Veteran Services Center was awarded the renewable grant from the U.S. Department of Education. A total of $1.3 million over the next 5 years is a big success for student support, and it has allowed the Veteran Services Center to hire its first director, Eluterio L. Escamilla, who started last year as the Veteran Services Center coordinator.
The staff also has grown from one full-time staff member to six, with two veteran educational specialists still to be hired. Working with Admissions and New Student Programs’ staff, Escamilla helped develop a new logic model to better identify incoming Veterans and other military-affiliated students to better prepare them for the orientation process.
Escamilla’s goals for the Veteran Services Center are to increase the persistence, good standing and graduation rate of Veterans by 5 percent. With the grant, and as a permanent member of the Division of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management’s leadership team, he also will facilitate the support, education and empowerment of students, faculty and staff for the success of Veterans.