WATCH: See the 60-Second Video from UC Ceremony Saluting Our Veterans

The number of student veterans at the University of Cincinnati now numbers

close to 1,500

, the second-largest student veteran population in the State of Ohio.

UC’s student veteran population has grown rapidly in recent years, up from just 500 student veterans in fall 2008. As such, UC is part of a national trend that, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, has seen more than 1 million veterans and their dependents enroll in colleges and universities over the past four years, an influx due in part to the troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan.

These student veterans – and all veterans – were honored in a ceremony on UC’s McMicken Commons in advance of the Nov. 11 observance of Veterans Day.

After the ceremony, UC hosted a Veterans Fair where local veterans, both students and non-students, could obtain information from local and regional veterans-oriented groups and services. Also on display and open for tours during the fair were two 40-foot long mobile medical units, one operated by the Cincinnati Veterans Administration Medical Center and one operated by the Dayton Veterans Administration Medical Center.