S. 5582
Veteran Education Empowerment Act
Sponsor: Jacky Rosen
1 cosponsor
Official summary
Written by the Congressional Research Service.
Veteran Education Empowerment Act
This bill reauthorizes through FY2034 and otherwise revises a Department of Education (ED) grant program for student veteran centers.
Specifically, ED must make grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs) or consortia of IHEs to establish, maintain, improve, or operate a student veteran center. A student veteran center is a dedicated space on a campus that provides students who are veterans or members of the Armed Forces with (1) a lounge or meeting space for themselves, their spouses or partners, their children, and veterans in the community; and (2) a centralized office for student veteran services that serves as a single point of contact to coordinate comprehensive support services for student veterans.
Text of the bill
Congress finds the following:
(1) Almost 1,000,000 veterans attend institutions of higher education each year.
(2) Veterans face unique challenges in transitioning from the battlefield to the classroom and eventually to the workforce, including age differences, family obligations, significant time away from academic life, and service-related disabilities.
(3) Studies have found that student veterans can feel lonely and vulnerable on campus and that connecting student veterans can effectively ease this isolation by bringing together new student veterans with those who have already successfully navigated the first few semesters of college.
(4) Student Veteran Centers are recognized as an institutional best practice by Student Veterans of America.
(5) The Department of Education included as one of its 8 Keys to Veterans’ Success that colleges and universities should coordinate and centralize campus efforts for all veterans, together with the creation of a designated space for them.
(6) Budget constraints often make it difficult or impossible for institutions of higher education to dedicate space to veteran offices, lounges, or student centers.
(7) The 110th Congress authorized the funding of Student Veteran Centers through the Centers of Excellence for Veteran Student Success under part T of title VIII of the Higher Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1161t). Congress has appropriated funding for this program in subsequent years.