by Bradley Hood
Contributor, In Military Education
I have previously written on the importance of taking the time to see what your school will accept as transfer credit from your military experience – and it is something I want to continue to urge based on a pattern of states directing their schools to accept military credit. For those students in the American Public University System, there is little concern about whether APUS will accept some or all of military service credit. Because the credit value of military experience and training is evaluated universally by the American Council on Education (ACE), some universities like AMU/APU go out of their way to ensure as much credit as possible is applied towards a veteran’s education. However, ACE recommended credits are just that – recommendations. Just as many schools will refuse transfer credits from another school, so many schools refused to accept some or all of military credit, even towards electives. I will admit my frustration when AMU denied my Rutgers Science credits due to a conflict with the original lab requirement, but it was more than offset by the acceptance of a over 20 credits of military service and DLPT based language skills. Rutgers, on the other hand, did not accept any of my military credit.
For those of you seeking degrees outside APUS like me, you should be happy to hear that there is a growing trend among states to promote acceptance of military ACE recommended credits. According to Matthew Smith, a policy analyst, since 2012 all the following states have passed policies to award credit for military service: Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Massachusetts, Montana, Oklahoma, Oregon, New Hampsire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Utah, Virginia and West Virigina. They join an addition 7 states which possessed such policies prior to 2012. Seven Midwest States have actually formed a Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit in order to explore the issue and share best practices. While ACE credit for military experience and training is by no means a guarantee that a school will universally accept credit, there is certainly a trend at the state level to push for acceptance of credit, easing the transition for veterans seeking to earn a degree before entering the civilian work force.
Unfortunately for those of you who are pursuing graduate degrees like myself, there is often very little graduate level credit recommended, and a Master’s or Doctorate usually requires very specific and focused coursework. Still, I would not be where I am today without APUS accepting my ACE recommended military credit, and I recommend you investigate using your own military credits! For those of you who do not know how to do this, look up my previous article on getting the most out of your military service, or speak with anyone familiar with the military transcript process in your command.
See the original article on Military Credits by Adrienne Lu here:
http://www.pewstates.org/projects/stateline/headlines/military-service-translates-into-academic-credit-in-many-states-85899507793
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