Investing in the Service and Sailor
The Navy College Program helped students earn 5,171
degrees in FY 2007—with the promise of more on the way.
By Marty Kauchak
Since October, 1999, the Navy College Program (NCP) has enabled sailors to earn college degrees by providing academic credit for Navy training, work experience and off-duty education. In fiscal year 2007 alone, the program helped service men and women earn 5,171 degrees—with the promise of more degrees on the way.
The good news for Navy learners is NCP is funded for FY08 to meet their rising expectations of completing a degree and becoming more competitive for promotion.
Backed by Policy
The NCP is the umbrella organization for the various components of voluntary education (vol ed). This is a natural progression of the Navy’s vast cultural changes that were accelerated by former Chief of naval operations (CNO) Admiral Mike Boorda in the mid-1990s that allows the service to incorporate civilian education into sailors’ careers and their lifelong learning continuan.
Today, the program helps sailors obtain a college degree while on active duty and integrates all components of vol ed. While the NCP is primarily geared toward enlisted sailors, the Officer Scholarship Program and other components are available to officers and help them in obtaining specialized knowledge.
The opportunity and processes that allow sailors to pursue advanced education through vol ed programs are etched in policy—by the Navy secretary (in his instruction 1560.4A) and the CNO (in his instruction 1560.9). With the backing of the service’s senior leaders the sailor-learner can chart his or her course for achieving education milestones.
Getting Started
Prospective learners should contact the Navy College Center (NCC) (see accompanying sidebar article) and their nearest Navy College Office (NCO) when they are initially interested in obtaining a degree.
While the NCC is the program’s central location for responding to queries from across the service and providing answers, the college offices are the program’s backbone and local face at naval bases and stations. The NCOs are a network of professional education services specialists, education technicians, and guidance counselors located at 54 installations around the world. With locations on naval facilities from Bahrain to New Orleans to Atsugi, Japan, the closest office may be obtained by accessing https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/ncp/findnco.cfm and entering the unit identification code of the learner’s current command in one of the data entry fields.
The NCO staffs, consisting of an office director and education specialists, counsel and advise Navy members on all matters relating to academic programs, authorize tuition assistance, and administer all on-base education programs. With that portfolio, the offices tend to be very busy venues. “In FY07, NCOs conducted 183,000 counseling sessions and counseled more than 150,000 sailors; briefed more than 10,000 personnel concerning various Navy College Programs; and authorized more than 127,000 tuition assistance documents and conducted more than 28,000 tests,” reported Dr. Mary Redd-Clary, executive director, voluntary education, Center for Personnel and Professional Development.
The NCP participant must also become conversant early-on with two terms to navigate his or her way through program bureaucracy and develop their short-term and long-term milestones. “Rating roadmaps identify the American Council on Education (ACE) recommended college credit for Navy training, and rating specific work experience across a Navy career in a specific rating. Degree roadmaps are rating relevant degrees that make the most of recommended credit for Navy training and on-the-job experience,” stated the NCP homepage. Of particular note, the Navy has partnerships in different programs with colleges and universities that offer degrees through distance learning for all enlisted ratings (see “A Degree in Their Sights,” in this issue).
The roadmaps for a fire controlman (FC) were randomly selected to illustrate the wealth of information in these two virtual products.
The rating roadmap illustrates the credits received for lower and upper division associate and baccalaureate and graduate degree programs, and for vocational certificates after completing service courses and other enlistment milestones. The degree roadmap lists the colleges and universities that provide associates or bachelors degrees tailored to the rating. In the case of an FC, Empire State College, Florida Community College at Jacksonville, and Fort Hays State, Old Dominion and Vincennes Universities offer degrees that optimize the sailor’s management, technical and academic in-service accomplishments.
Prospective or enrolled students who have been away from a traditional or virtual learning environment or need to gain specific academic skills can take advantage of the program’s instruction in basic subjects. Sailors “may work on English, mathematics and reading skills ashore at either the Navy College Learning Centers (NCLCs) computer labs or in the Navy College Learning Program (NCLP)-instructor taught classes,” noted the NCP homepage.
There are “28 NCLCs located at various locations all over the world. We have NCLCs in our Navy College Offices in Naples, IT, Japan, Hawaii, Washington State, California, Great Lakes and Virginia,” said Redd-Clary.
The learning centers supply diagnostic tests so that the prospective student will begin instruction at a level appropriate to his or her needs. Aspiring students also may sharpen their skill sets in other subjects: “algebra, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, chemistry, physics, science, social studies, life and job skills and parenting skills,” reported the NCP Website. Instruction in the academic skills is free to the student and the parent command.
The learning centers allow the prospective learners to complete test preparations for the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, General Equivalency Diploma and Scholastic Assessment Test. College Level Examination Program examinations are available for use.
The new or returning student must also start or update their Sailor/Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript (SMART). The transcript documents ACE-recommended college credit for military training and occupational experience. “SMART is an academically accepted record that is validated by ACE. The primary purpose of SMART is to assist service members in obtaining college credit for their military experience,” according to NCP homepage.
For the seasoned sailor approaching retirement, he or she needs to be aware that SMART has replaced the DD295, the Application for Evaluation of Learning Experiences during Military Service. The DD295 is the form submitted to colleges by several generations of servicemen and women to verify their military experiences. The document may still be necessary to document some training and experience that is not contained in, and cannot be added to, current service personnel and training databases.
More information about SMART may be gained from NCC or the nearest NCO.
Enrollment Decisions
The sailor-student should now be ready to earn a degree through an NCP sub-program, some of which are highlighted below.
Eighty-five accredited colleges have joined the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Navy (SOCNAV) program to offer associate’s or bachelor’s degrees to Navy members worldwide through resident courses or distance learning. “Colleges taking part in each curriculum area guarantee to accept each other’s credits for transfer. The ‘home’ college issues an official evaluation of all prior learning on a SOCNAV Agreement. This agreement serves as the student’s long range degree plan,” noted the SOCNAV homepage.
A benefit of the program is that participating colleges offer associates or bachelors degrees in many different areas, or networks. Much like reciprocity agreements that allow the transferability of credits between four- and two-year state institutions, SOCNAV-enrolled students do not lose credits as they enroll in network institutions. Residency, duplicating courses and other traditional impediments to highly mobile service members completing degrees are minimized.
Twenty-eight network associate degrees and 25 network bachelor degrees are supported by SOCNAV. Two guaranteed transfer networks for associate degrees are accounting and aviation maintenance. Two representative core member colleges in the SOCNAV college list for two-year institutions are San Diego City College, Calif., and Tidewater Community College, Va.—both in close proximity to major Navy hubs.
The complete lists for two- and four-year institutions and associate’s and bachelor’s degree networks are available at the SOCNAV homepage.
Two other NCP options include NCDLP and Navy College Program for Afloat College Education (NCPACE) which “provides shipboard personnel the educational opportunities comparable to those available to personnel assigned to shore duty,” pointed out Redd-Clary. Participating NCPACE institutions are accredited and SOCNAV-affiliated instruction is through distance learning and classroom teaching. While NCPACE courses are tuition free, students must pay for textbooks and other educational material.
Return on Investment
The Navy’s investment in NCP provides dividends for the service and its participating members.
“Navy College Program has a positive impact on recruiting and retention. Educational benefits are a top reason cited for both joining and staying Navy in several surveys conducted. Educated sailors advance and reenlist at higher rates. Sailors completing 60 college credits have a 35 percent greater chance of advancement. Sailors completing 60 college credits reenlist at a 24 percent greater rate,” concluded Redd-Clary.
Master-at-Arms First Class Sherman Copeland, an NCP student at Fort Hays State University, provided a personal perspective.
“I enrolled in the general studies degree program with a concentration in justice studies. The NCP has made a lifelong dream come true by being both affordable and time efficient based upon my primary occupation. My academic goals are to achieve two master’s degrees, one in diplomacy the other in intelligence. One day I would like to give back to the service by helping someone achieve their educational goals. I pray that my work ethic will encourage those who have doubts about taking online courses and getting their degree. For my family, I will be the second child to earn a degree.
It means a lot to them,” he said. ♦
On The Front Lines
By Marty Kauchak
- Help is literally a phone call, email, fax or envelope away for the sailor-student who has a question about Navy College Program (NCP). The Navy College Center (NCC) is the NCP’s focal point for receiving and responding to toll-free telephone, electronic mail, fax, and U.S Postal Service-sent inquiries dealing with all off-duty voluntary education programs and services. A center director and 14 agents are on the service’s front-line for responding to queries immediately upon receipt. “If the request requires research such as Sailor and Marine Corps American Council on Education Registry Transcript [SMART] corrections, NCC staff responds within 24 hours,” remarked Dr. Mary Redd-Clary, director, voluntary education, Center for Personal and Professional Development.
- The NCC, as a call center, is open seven days a week, 15 hours a day. This availability contributed to the center’s staff responding to 149,931 contacts in fiscal year 2006 and 146,977 in FY07. The range of topics in the service men and women’s queries to the center most often includes educational and academic advising, testing, SMART, Navy-rating specific roadmaps, tuition assistance, the Navy College Office (NCO) network, NCP partner institutions and other topics in the service voluntary education portfolio.
- The center also serves as a hub for requesting the SMART.
- At first glance, the NCC duplicates some of the functions of the NCO. Not so, according to NCP leadership. “The call center augments and supplements the NCO functions. NCC is open 15 hours-a-day, seven days a week. Sailors are able to contact the call center on weekends and during off-duty hours. NCOs are open Monday to Friday,” pointed out Redd-Clary.
The NCC may be contacted through the following media:
- Call toll-free at 877-253-7122 or DSN 922-1828. Be ready to listen and respond. When MAE contacted the number, the automated operator provided a menu option that allows the caller to be connected with different offices. The NCC call center is open between the hours of 6:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m. Central Standard Time, seven days a week (except Christmas, New Years, Thanksgiving and July 4th). While servicemembers are encouraged to use their DSN if available, the NCC homepage provides toll-free numbers for use in 17 countries—from Australia to the United Kingdom.
- NCC may be contacted at email address This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . They encourage the sailor-student to use the formatted, online assistance form available on the NCC homepage.
- Faxes may be sent to DSN 922-1281 (commercial 850-452-1281) or DSN 922-1051 (commercial 850-452-1051).
- NCC’s mailing address: Navy College Center, VOLED Detachment, N211,Center for Personal and Professional Development, 6490 Saufley Field Road, Pensacola, FL 32509-5204 ♦