Get College Credit for your Military Training

Get College Credit for your Military Training

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Congratulations, you did it! You successfully completed your first tour of duty and have decided to pursue your education degree. Imagine the excitement as you begin to research the different academic opportunities and options available to you. Regardless of whether you plan to continue with your current service or transition to the civilian workforce, completing your educational goals is an important step in your future development both personally and professionally. At this point in your career, you have undoubtedly completed numerous military training courses and your “On the Job” training experience is at an all-time high. So how do we get the academic colleges and universities to recognize your accomplishments? After all, any academic institution should be able to look at your military experience and apply it to meet the degree requirements for your academic area of study. Piece of cake, right? In a perfect world, the answer would be yes, but the reality is that it’s often difficult to align and apply military training and occupational experience to post-secondary institution requirements.

Military Training Evaluation Program

Have no fear! The Defense Activity for Non-Tradition Educational Support (DANTES) has your six. The mission of DANTES is to provide no-cost education and career-planning programs for the U.S. Armed Forces military member. More importantly, our Defense programs can assist military members at every stage of their career, from entry into the service to the final stage of civilian transition to their next career. Under DANTES, the Military Training Evaluation Program (MTEP) was established to help service members earn college credit recommendations for knowledge gained through military training and occupational experiences. DANTES works with the American Council on Education (ACE) to evaluate military training and occupational experiences and make academic credit recommendations at the lower, upper, and graduate levels that are then documented in the ACE military guide and on your Joint Services Transcript (JST). For those who may be unfamiliar with the JST, it’s an academically accepted document, approved by ACE, to validate a service member’s military occupational experience and training along with the corresponding ACE college credit recommendations. The JST provides colleges and universities with a description of military schooling and work history in civilian language. It also serves as a counseling tool for academic and career counselors in advising service members and veterans. It can also help you in preparing resumes and explaining military work experience to civilian employers. Today, more than 2,600 colleges and universities accept ACE recommended credit through the JST. These college credit recommendations, by way of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), help to reduce the number of classes a service member needs to satisfy degree requirements, thus saving you both time and money.

Benefits of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)

According to a recent ACE Survey, “Students who sought credit for PLA (including service members), college administrators in institutions that award credit for prior learning, and industry representatives found that credit for prior learning programs are used to effectively increase the likelihood of students earning a degree or certificate, especially among adult learners. Students who receive credit for prior learning are also likely to graduate with less student debt than peers who did not receive credit.” Mr. Tom French, DANTES Education Programs Department Head, said, “The goal is to continue to modernize and improve our capacity to evaluate, document and communicate military training and occupational experience to ensure maximum credit is accepted by colleges and universities across the country. He continued, if you look at this from a holistic view point, the awarding of prior learning assessment credits is a win/win for both service members and academic institutions looking to achieve success.”

What's next?

Remember to review your JST often to ensure individual content accuracy. Additionally, you are strongly encouraged to contact the admissions office at your chosen academic institution to discuss specifics about transfer credits. Each school has different resources, benefits and acceptance polices for military credit.

Start your education journey off on the right foot, visit the DANTES website. You’ll find detailed information and no-cost programs including College and Career Planning with Kuder Journey, Academic Skills Training, Credit-by-Exam testing with CLEP and DSST, and a whole host of other voluntary education (VolEd) support assistance. Bottom Line, do your homework, be engaged, and let us help you attain success in your educational goals. Good Luck!