Military training often counts toward degree - Marine Corps News, pay, benefits, careers, entertainment, photos - Marine Corps Times HOME

Military training often counts toward degree

During his five years in the Marine Corps, Ed Lawson completed several military training courses to advance his knowledge as an aircraft mechanic and climb the enlisted ranks.

“Everybody complained [about taking those courses],” said Lawson, who separated from the service in 2002 as a sergeant, then spent two years in the Army National Guard.

But the guys who went on to further their education aren't complaining now, Lawson said.

That’s because they received credit for that military training and experience — credit they can apply toward the total number of credits required to earn a college degree.

Many new service members may not know they can earn college credit for training and experience they receive while in uniform. But Sharon Lewis, education services officer at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., said that after a couple of years of service, most military members have heard about this valuable benefit.

“It’s a great benefit,” Lewis said.

Lawson is working on a bachelor's degree in emergency and disaster management through American Military University, a distance-learning institution that has more than 18,000 students worldwide. About 80 percent of AMU’s students are service members or veterans, said Jim Sweizer, the school's vice president of federal programs.

When he enrolled at AMU, Lawson received 18 credits for courses he completed as a Marine on aircraft-related topics, training he received as a new recruit, and classes he took on personal finance and leadership.

Those credits, combined with 27 academic credits Lawson had earned for course work completed through Southern Illinois University-Carbondale and Northern Virginia Community College, have put him far down the path toward earning his bachelor’s degree.

“I should be done somewhere between 16 and 20 months,” said Lawson, who started his bachelor’s program at AMU in November 2006. “I’m at [Transportation Security Administration] now, screening luggage at Dulles [International] Airport. It’s a good job; I’m glad I have it. But I want something more.”

How is the awarding of such credits determined? The American Council on Education evaluates military training and experience and provides recommendations for the number of credits that should be awarded. More than 2,300 colleges and universities recognize these credits, which are documented through the Army/ACE Registry Transcript Service and the Sailor/Marine/ACE Registry Transcript. ACE does not evaluate technical training for the Air Force, which has its own accredited program that awards associate in applied science degrees.

Fort Huachuca’s Lewis said most schools evaluate the AARTS transcript after a student has completed six semester hours at a particular institution.

The school then determines how many credits will transfer to the degree program. Usually, she said, the credits are applied to the total number of elective credits required. Sometimes, however, credits can be applied to the core area, where a larger number of credits are needed.

For example, Lewis said that soldiers at the U.S. Army Intelligence School who complete training for military occupational specialty 33W, an electronic warfare occupation specialty, can receive credit for most of the core courses required to earn an associate of applied science in electronics technology degree from Cochise College in Arizona.

ACE makes recommendations, but schools don’t necessarily take all the credits. The number of credits a school accepts depends on the degree program a service member chooses and how well that program meshes with the student’s military service.

Sweizer said AMU accepts up to 90 hours of transfer credit. However, some service members may have a lot of credits that do not fit into the degree program in which they are interested.

“The more technical the training, the harder it is to match it up [with a degree program],” he said.

Tracy Cosker is director of transfer credit for AMU. She said students usually need about 121 credits to earn a bachelor’s degree. “A lot of times, it’s just a matter of figuring out what is the best program for students to be in so that they can maximize that transfer credit,” she said. “Where we see students really excel in their transfer credit awards are in business management applications.

“If a service member has been in the management or recruitment field, and then they’re going for a business administration degree with us, they’re going to have more credit ... that can crosswalk than if they went for a homeland security degree, because their previous military job experience and course work would be more related to management programs than it would, obviously, to homeland security,” she said.

Mike Bibbee is vice president and director of the military division for the University of Phoenix, the largest distance-learning institution with more than 300,000 students. He said that, on average, students transfer in 15 to 30 credits for military training.

“If you consider three credit hours a class, it’s anywhere from five to 10 classes that they don't have to take,” he said. “And that’s a dollar savings as well as time savings.”

Jason Himsey can relate. Himsey, who has been in the Coast Guard for 10 years, earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice last year from AMU. Earning that bachelor’s degree made him competitive for Officer Candidate School, Himsey said. He was accepted the first time he applied and will graduate in February as an ensign.

Himsey had almost 30 credits earned from military training and experience to apply to his bachelor’s degree. Those credits “helped me as far as costs were concerned, first of all,” he said. “Two, they virtually took an entire year off my education.”

The credits also “relieved a lot of stress in that they took care of a lot of my general studies electives,” he added. “They permitted me to jump right into my field, directly into what I wanted to study.”

As AMU’s Cosker said, “The more transfer credit students get, the closer they are to that degree, and the closer they are to that promotion or that change in career.”