By Wyatt Crosher, Assistant Director of Communications for Student Affairs
UNC Charlotte has earned a 2025-26 Military Friendly School Gold Award for its commitment to military service members, veterans and their dependents.
This is the fourth consecutive year the University has earned a gold designation, but it is Charlotte’s first time while listed as a Tier 1 Research Institution, made possible by the University's recent achievement of Research 1 — or R1 — status by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education.
Of the more than 750 universities to earn Gold, Silver or Bronze status in the 2025-26 survey, Charlotte is one of 37 schools to earn Gold status as a Tier 1 Research Institution.
"I'm incredibly proud of the Military & Veteran Services team for earning the Military Friendly Gold Award for the fourth consecutive year,” Chris Brasel, director of MVS, said. “This achievement is a representation of our unwavering commitment to our military-affiliated students at Charlotte."
The University’s newly rebranded Military & Veteran Services (formerly Veteran Services Office) changed its name to better reflect the desire to be more supportive of Charlotte’s active duty, reserve and guard communities, as well as students classified as veterans.
This year, MVS has hosted multiple events on campus, with an effort to bring in off-campus VA resources that assists its student body. The department has also facilitated approximately $30 million annually. The results have shown in enrollment, which has increased for military-affiliated students by 65 percent since 2017.
The Military Friendly Schools list is created each year based on extensive research using public data sources from more than 8,800 schools nationwide, input from student veterans and responses to the proprietary, data-driven Military Friendly Schools survey from participating institutions.
The survey questions, methodology, criteria and weighting were developed with the assistance of an independent research firm and an advisory council of educators and employers.
“UNC Charlotte continues the institution’s founding purpose of serving North Carolina’s military affiliated students,” the Military Friendly report states on the “Why You Should Attend” section of Charlotte’s page. “This is accomplished by facilitating educational opportunities while consistently providing outstanding customer service and providing opportunities for our military affiliated students to help enrich their lives while building a strong sense of community among Charlotte students. These efforts are supported by a faculty, staff and student body that militarily affiliated students have, year-in and year-out, identified as welcoming and contributing to making their choice to attend UNC Charlotte as a good choice.”
Charlotte’s support of active duty service members, veterans and their families has also been recognized in the US News & World Report, which lists the University as 106th among all national universities, and third-best in the state, in Best Colleges for Veterans.
More information on the services provided for Charlotte’s veterans and active-duty military members can be found on the MVS website.