History of the UF Division of Student Affairs | Page 20

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Readjustment Act of 1944, better known as the G.I. Bill. Enrollment jumped to
6,334 by 1946 and 8,778 by 1947. The UF campus and the Gainesville community
were not prepared for UF enrollment to double from a pre-war enrollment
of 3,300. In addition to the increase in students, the post-WWII UF campus
community expanded to include the spouses and children of veterans.
To address the rapid enrollment growth, the initial plan was to erect temporary
facilities on campus or to rent and manage existing facilities in Gainesville for
five to ten years until permanent facilities could be built or until the enrollment
growth stabilized. In many cases, the temporary facilities were former military
buildings and served as classrooms, offices, and student housing. There are
examples of many of these “temporary” facilities that were still in use in the
mid-1970s — nearly thirty years later! One of the most famous temporary
facilities was Flavet III, temporary housing for veterans that was constructed
from abandoned WWII military buildings in 1947. Flavet is a contraction for
Florida Veteran. This facility was in use as veteran housing and/or graduate and
family housing through 1973 when Tanglewood Village was purchased.
Changes in student demographics required changes in student services and in
the way classes were taught. Returning veterans were in a hurry to complete
their degrees and move forward with their lives. They approached higher
education more pragmatically and more maturely than typical eighteen-year-old
freshmen. They had “lost” three to five years of their lives to war. Many had seen
combat and traveled outside of the southeast United States to other countries.
Many were married. Many had children. These students brought new and
different needs to address that often involved emotional, mental, financial, and
physical challenges. Plus, there were shortages of faculty, housing, classrooms,
cafeterias, and recreational facilities.
U F B e c o m e s C o e d , S o r o r i t y a n d F r at e r n i t y R o w s
A r e C r e at e d , a n d t h e “ Stu d e n t P e r s o n n e l” P o i n t o f
View Is Embr aced
The GI Bill further opened opportunities for higher education to the general
population — including women veterans interested in being admitted to UF.
Female spouses of UF students were also interested in being admitted to UF.
Add these numbers to the women who took classes at UF in the summers before
1925 and women “of a mature age” taking classes not offered at FSU during the

H i st o ry o f t h e U F D S A