Without Penn’s Veterans Upward Bound (VUB) program, Glenn Forte Jr., an Army veteran, says he wouldn’t “in a million years” be where he is today—working as an Independence Blue Cross financial investigator, and only a year away from earning his master’s degree from La Salle University.

“I was leery going back to college, I had been out of school for many years,” Forte says. “I was on the fence, [thinking] it just wasn’t for me.”

Karen Ball felt similarly. After serving in the U.S. Air Force, and working for several years in administration, Ball knew she needed a boost before trying her hand at college.

“I heard about Veterans Upward Bound and thought it’d help me hone my skills and prepare me to go to school,” she says.

Ball became a VUB student last summer, and will graduate in December, with hopes of attending Penn next fall for a degree in legal studies and business ethics, with a concentration in finance.

VUB students—military veterans ranging in age from their mid-20s to mid-60s—are on campus just about every other day, learning math, science, English, computer science, and Spanish from dedicated instructors, tutors, and volunteers. It’s a free, non-credited, pre-college program run out of Penn’s Division of the Vice Provost for University Life, and federally funded by the U.S. Department of Education. Most classes are held in the David Rittenhouse or Leidy laboratories, and VUB participants—dubbed “visiting students” on their very own Penn identification cards—have access to the University’s academic amenities, including the entire library system. VUB staffers also help students figure out the career paths most suitable to their interests and skills, and consequently, their best college options.

Diane Sandefur, who’s been director of Penn’s VUB for the past 14 years, says VUB has an additional instructional team teaching courses at the Coatesville Veterans Affairs Medical Center and in the near future at a shelter in Camden County.

To keep things interesting, VUB offers academic and culturally enriched activities such as local college tours, field trips, seeing plays at local theaters that are related to the VUB English literature classes, or visiting museums. Thanks to grants from the Pennsylvania Humanities Council and funds raised by a team of Wharton Management 100 students, they’ve also been able to visit educational and historical landmarks in New York City and Washington, D.C.

But, the program, which had its 37th graduation ceremony in August, has a deeper mission than solely expanding knowledge to prepare for college, Sandefur notes. It’s all about “increasing the hope for one’s future.”

“We give our veterans a second chance toward reaching their dreams,” explains Sandefur. “We encourage them every step of the way no matter what is going on in their lives. We let them know that they are valued as a human being. If you don’t have that, you can’t accomplish anything.”

Tyrell McCurbin began studying mechanical engineering at Penn right after high school, but dropped out after freshman year. He entered the Army as an intelligence analyst, and four years later went to culinary school.

In the back of his mind always was his desire to finish what he started at Penn, he says. So, in 2012, he enrolled in VUB for five months to help with his transition back to college.

“I got a lot out of it, in that I was able to get into the rhythm of academics, challenge myself, and also work with other veterans who had similar backgrounds, goals, and ambitions as far as getting back into the swing of things after not being in school for a while,” McCurbin says.

McCurbin is on track to graduate next year with his master’s in robotics from Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science.

“One of the things that made VUB so rewarding was the sense of community that we built,” McCurbin says. “Everyone has a different, biggest challenge in getting through VUB, but we all have one thing in common: that we served this country. That automatically makes us family, and we look out for each other. That’s something that I remember most.”

As for the future of VUB, Sandefur hopes to continue reaching out to veterans of all ages in the Philadelphia region, lifting their confidence and offering the necessary tools for success.

“Veterans are such a valuable part of our community, and being part of VUB, being on this campus, just makes them feel really special,” she says.