KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – Grant money is helping furnish the Veterans Resource Center on the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville. It offers students who are veterans a quiet space for studying and for developing a support system with other veterans on campus. It includes the Veteran Student Services office.

The center is located in Dunford Hall this fall while the permanent space on the ground floor of John C. Hodges library is still under renovation.

“A student veteran center is important,” said Brent Bennae, of Clarksville, Tennessee, who served in the Marine Corps and the Army, and is now a junior studying animal science at UT. “It gives us a place to escape the pressures of college, or rather escape to a place with like-minded people.”

UT’s chapter of Student Veterans of America received a $4,784 grant to help furnish the center. This was through Student Veterans of America and the Home Depot Foundation.

“More than 475 veterans and more than 375 military spouses and dependents are enrolled as students at UT,” said Jayetta Rogers, veteran student services coordinator. “The resource center is going to be a place where they can find important student success services and also enjoy a camaraderie with other student veterans.”