Chez Veterans Center

Transition & Academic Services

From our own military experience and working with our current Veterans and military-connected students it has become clear that the transition from a military environment to a college or university can be difficult. This is particularly true of Veteran students with a disability. Our transition services will help you set up your VA benefits, find suitable housing, connect you with your program’s academic advisor and more! We also provide individualized academic coaching, tutoring, student veteran orientation course, and disability self-management. We understand that colleges and universities often are not set up to properly meet the needs of non-traditional military-connected students, This is why we work with students to transition and be comfortable at Illinois.

Undergraduate Admission

If you're a Veteran or military-connected student interested in pursuing an undergraduate degree at UIUC, you can visit this page. Military-connected students include active-duty members, veterans, and dependents of those in the US Military Service

Benefits & Outreach

Navigating the student-veterans benefit programs can be overwhelming and frustrating. The Chez Veterans Center will partner with you to work with the university and different government agencies to make sure that you receive every veteran benefit you are entitled to. This includes the Post-9/11 GI Bill, the Montgomery GI Bill, the Illinois Veterans Grant, and strategies on how to maximize your benefits each year.

Our office will also work with you to better understand any disabilities you may have and ensure that you have the proper accommodations to succeed at Illinois through collaboration with DRES.

Peer Mentoring

Incoming students are connected with trained Vet Connect mentors who are academically successful students that have been on campus for at least one year. These peers have already experienced what you are now and are trained to guide you through the transition to campus and help you make one of the largest universities in the country feel smaller and more comfortable.

Health & Life Skills

One of the most significant changes in your transition out of the military is going from an environment filled with structure and routine to one with almost no structure at all. If we aren’t mindful of this transition its possible to fall behind on a number of healthy habits. The Chez Veterans Center provides nutritional counseling, fitness opportunities, mindfulness and yoga exercises. We also have services to assist student veterans with newly acquired injuries and how to physically adapt to life with the injury and understand how this disability may impact their learning and integration to their new lifestyle.

Career & Employment

Many student Veteran leave the military unsure of the kind of civilian career they want and can go into. The Chez Veterans Center provides services that will help you identify a career path that interests you, understand how to translate your military experience into job skills, connect you with internship and job opportunities, as well as connect students with employers interested in hiring Veteran students.

Counseling & Family

Lifestyle changes for a student Veterans and military-connected students impact the entire family. The family’s adjustments and transitions need attention as well. We provide individual, couples, family and group counseling to support our military-connected students overall well-being.

Giving Veterans and military-connected students opportunities to succeed after the military.

Financial gifts in support of the Chez Veterans Center helps to ensure that veterans and military-connected students coming to campus facing difficulties with transitioning to higher education and out of military service have the same opportunities for success as anyone else. We understand that these students have sacrificed much on behalf of this country and its people and the least we can give in return is an opportunity to level the playing field.

We believe that Veterans and military-connected students at the University of Illinois are on a trajectory of greater success because the Chez Veterans Center exists.