The VOLScholar curriculum is designed to promote students' academic success by ensuring that students are equipped with skills necessary for achieving success at the college level. The curriculum also seeks to encourage and develop students' enthusiasm for learning and the awareness that they are part of the wider university community. The curriculum is student-driven, encouraging students to take ownership of their own academic course.

VOLScholar freshmen participate in either Foundations or Learning Community experiences. Foundations classes allow students to work intensively in one-to-one tutoring sessions, mastering the academic skills that will serve them throughout their college careers. In Learning Community classes, students from many different teams come together to inquire of and teach one another. Learning Community classes might investigate the social implications of popular song lyrics, delve into a particularly interesting new piece of information presented in biology class, or brainstorm to help students consider new ways of dealing with test anxiety. The ideal Learning Community is just that: a community in which students feed off one another's excitement for learning, depend upon one another for encouragement, and take responsibility for their own educations.

VOLScholar offers upperclassmen the opportunity to explore academic and cultural opportunities afforded by campus-wide activities. Each semester, various campus organizations present films, speakers, concerts, and other activities geared to developing student awareness and insight about diverse cultures, social issues, and the arts. VOLScholars attend some of these presentations and participate in facilitated discussions about them. This upperclassman opportunity allows VOLScholars to connect with the broader university community as they situate themselves in a wide-ranging social context.