Chris Gregory, UNC Greensboro’s director of Military Affiliated Services, has been with the University for more than 20 years and has helmed the office since 2022. But when his department is recognized for excellence, as it was once again this year by MilitaryFriendly.com, he’s quick to credit our military-affiliated students — veterans, active-duty service members, and military family members.
“I think the Top 10 recognition really belongs to our students,” he says. “Their success stories are the real measure of the excellence we’re trying to achieve on campus. So anytime we get one of these accolades, it’s great for us, but I also think it just reflects how successful our students are.”
For the fourth year running, UNCG was named among the Top 10 schools nationwide for military friendliness and ranked No. 1 in North Carolina. The outlet also designated UNCG as a Military Spouse Friendly School for its accommodations and services to military families.
These are two of six military accolades the University has been granted during the 2025-26 academic year. US News & World Report recognized UNCG in its Best Colleges for Veterans category, as well as Best Online Bachelor’s Degree for Veterans and Best Online Master’s Degree in Education for Veterans. Military Times ranked UNCG at No. 3 in NC as Best for Veterans.
A Place for Veterans and Their Families
More than 10 percent of UNCG’s student body has a military affiliation. During the Spring 2026 semester, 501 of more than 17,000 students are veterans. Another 87 of them are on active duty in the National Guard or Reserves. And 1,244 of them are part of military families.
UNCG has several programs that cater to members of the military and their families, all channeled through Gregory’s department. Military-affiliated students get prioritized class registration. The Veterans Access Program in the School of Nursing grants students with military medical specialties an accelerated path to a B.S. in nursing.
Gregory and his staff help with federal tuition assistance through the GI Bill and other programs, scholarships, health services and counseling, career development, recreation, accessibility resources, civic engagement, and even housing. Any veteran who chooses to live on campus qualifies for the upper-class residence halls regardless of their year.
Additionally, UNCG’s Division of Student Affairs established a faculty fellow position in 2024 — the first of its kind in the UNC system — focused on expanding support provided to student veterans
“Chris and I recognized a need for more meaningful faculty connections with student veterans,” says Dr. Erin Reifsteck, UNCG’s Faculty Fellow for Student Veteran Well-Being. “The faculty fellow role was envisioned to not only advocate for student veterans through tailored research and programming, but also to serve as a bridge with other faculty who want to be more inclusive and supportive of student veterans in their teaching and mentoring.”
Military Life vs College Life
There’s a social aspect to military affiliation as well.
“I think any time you have a group with the same kind of lived experiences, that helps bring a commonality to that community,” Gregory says. “For dependents, if you grow up moving every couple of years, you get pretty good at navigating new spaces and learning new things, making new friends quickly. And obviously, that can be a real benefit in college. For our military students who have served or are serving, there will be many shared experiences. They may have been in the same branch, served in the same area or the same country of the world, or the same base. Whatever the case may be, those experiences give them a different understanding of life and of each other.”
The Veteran’s Resource Center in Gregory’s office acts as a physical space where students with military affiliations can gather, swap stories, share information, and otherwise build community.
“There’s always coffee on the kettle, to speak. We really want it to be a place where folks can come and interact,” he says. “Military students can print documents for free. My favorite conversations are when the older students who have been here a year or more help the newer students transition to university life.”
Gregory’s office organizes social events like the annual cookout at Piney Lake, works with academic programs to help faculty understand the nuances of military-affiliated students, and coordinates with other student groups, such as the UNO Club, all of which help establish a sense of community.
‘A University commitment’
“Maybe our office leads the way,” Gregory says, “but it is definitely a University-wide commitment to make us a welcoming place for military-affiliated students.”
He is proud of the accolades UNCG has gathered during his time here and recognizes their impact in exposing this population to the school.
“The awards definitely help people looking to transition out of the military to find us,” he says. “Any time we get one of these accolades, it’s great for us. But really, it reflects just how successful our students are. These rankings are largely based on graduation and retention rates, as well as other student performance metrics. So I think they are a reflection of our wonderful students.”
Story by Brian Clarey, University Communications
Photos by Sean Norona, University Communications
