CONTACT: Michelle Eubanks, UNA, at meubanks@una.edu, 256-606-2033 or 256-765-4392 May 1, 2020

FLORENCE, AL – Student Orientation, Advisement, and Registration, or SOAR, at the University of North Alabama will be a virtual experience for students entering for the Fall 2020, and officials at UNA said the move comes as a result of social distancing guidelines amid the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.

“While incoming students and their parents won’t physically be on campus, the virtual SOAR experience will be very personable and informative,” said Dr. Tammy Jacques, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs. “We’ve designed videos and website tools, along with Zoom meetings with SOAR Counselors, which should provide details students and parents need to be ready to come campus and begin their UNA experience.”

Since the decision to create a virtual SOAR experience was made, Jacques and others have been involved in ensuring the process works as efficiently and as effectively as when students and parents are physically present for the two-day campus-based experience. The fee for participating in SOAR was also decreased to $25, and there is now no fee for parents to participate. Registration for any one of the five freshman and two tranfer summer sessions is still open and accessible at www.una.edu/orientation.

Jacques said SOAR Counselors are having a SOAR Q&A Live on May 8 at 4 p.m. via Instragram. This will be an opportunity for students to ask questions about the virtual SOAR experience. The Instagram address to participate is @una_admissions.

“We are very excited to welcome students to UNA,” Jacques said. “SOAR gives them the tools they need to succeed, whether they’re first-year freshmen or transfer students.”

UNA is still taking applications for Fall 2020 admissions, according to Julie Taylor, Director of Admissions, and this applies for traditional, online-only, international, transfer, and adult learners.

“There is still plenty of time to apply for admission to UNA, and scholarship consideration is still being given to applicants,” she said. “There is not a deadline to apply for admission, and the

admissions fee has been waived. Also, for new students interested in one of UNA’s online-only programs, their first course this fall will be free.”

Applications for admission can be made at www.una.edu/apply.

About The University of North Alabama

The University of North Alabama is an accredited, comprehensive regional state university offering undergraduate and graduate degree programs through the colleges of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education and Human Sciences, and the Anderson College of Nursing and Health Professions. Occupying a 130-acre campus in a residential section of Florence, Alabama, UNA is located within a four-city area that also includes Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia. UNA Athletics, a renowned collegiate athletics program with seven (7) Division II National Championships, is now a proud member of the NCAA Division I’s ASUN Big South Conference. The University of North Alabama is an equal opportunity institution and does not discriminate in the admission policy on the basis of race, color, sex, religion, disability, age, or national origin. For more: www.una.edu and www.una.edu/unaworks/