Where Credit is Due
Written by MELANIE SCARBOROUGH
MAE 2010 Volume: 5 Issue: 7 (September)
Military Training Often Relates Into Credits
Useful for College and Career Enhancement.
Whether a servicemember plans a career in the military or a return to civilian life, on-thejob training can prove invaluable for excelling in the chosen path. All branches offer courses—and in a multitude of subjects. Some are highly technical, such as the Navy’s training in nuclear engineering and the Army’s instruction in satellite targeting. Others focus on so-called soft skills, such as human resources management. Among the most popular overall are security, information technology, management, business administration, health care and logistics.
“Everyone thinks of a soldier as carrying a rifle, but that person might be a medic or a communications expert,” explained Ileen Rogers, director of the Army Continuing Education System, Human Resources Command, TAGD. “Almost anything you can find in the civilian work force, you’ll find in the military service.” Soldiers may be trained in one of hundreds of military occupation specialties: as linguists, to act as translators and interpreters; as engineers, to build structures and civil works programs; as communication specialists, to make sure crucial signals are transmitted; as paralegal specialists, to assist Army lawyers and unit commanders.
Similarly, not all Marines are trained for the infantry or ordnance detail. Depending on their aptitude, they might be trained as postal clerks, rescue vehicle mechanics, dog handlers, combat photographers or piccolo players for the Marine Corps band.
As medical science has advanced, so has the military’s need for health care technicians. Because every combat unit has a medical station, the Army needs not only doctors, but soldiers trained in support specialties like respiratory therapy and medical equipment repair. “There are hundreds of Army military occupation specialties, and they run the full gamut,” Rogers said. “We run hospitals and education centers. The unit is being sent to Pakistan right now has been trained in water purification.”
LEARNING BY DEGREES
Because the wide-ranging instruction given in military schoolhouses may be academically equivalent to college courses, servicemembers often receive degree credits for what they learn on the job. The coordinating agency is the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), which works with higher education associations and the Department of Defense to broaden the avenues for earning a college degree while in service.
The SOC consortium consists of about 1,900 institutions that enroll hundreds of thousands of servicemembers, their families and veterans in degree programs. Because participating colleges reduce residency requirements for military students, servicemembers can take courses in their off-duty hours on or near the base where they are stationed and through long-distance methods. SOC also brokers partnerships between academic institutions and various branches of the military that allow members of the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard to earn career degrees tailored to their military experience and training.
A crucial component is the military programs office of the American Council on Education (ACE), which evaluates specific military training and recommends whether it should be applicable toward college credit. Cynthia Bruce, director of military evaluations for ACE, takes teams of professors knowledgeable in specific subjects to military installations to assess what’s being taught. “If we’re reviewing courses at a police school, I take professors who teach in that field and who look at that course and make recommendations,” she said. “Engineering courses would be engineering faculty; business would be business professors, and so on. We evaluate courses and make credit recommendations.”
It is up to individual colleges and universities to determine whether to accept the teams’ recommendations, which is why ACE counselors advise degree-seekers to check SOC’s Website for the list of universities that accept military training as academic credit. “A misconception is that everything a servicemember earns will transfer, and that’s not true,” Bruce said. “Colleges and universities have different policies as to how they treat experiential learning.”
If the ACE team decides that certain schoolhouse training is not equivalent to any academic course, it makes a recommendation of no credit. Most often when that happens, it is because the military course does not parallel any offering in higher education. “Basically, some do not receive credit recommendation because the nature and scope of the content of the course is too military-specific,” Bruce said.
FINDING A NICHE
Yet universities that offer military-specific degrees may accept such training. Students at American Military University (AMU) can select from more than 100 online degrees and certificates—not only in such traditional fields as business administration, education, history and psychology, but in military-specific specialties such as asymmetrical warfare, intelligence analysis and explosive ordnance disposal.
The university, not ACE, decides which professional training counts as credit for its nichedegree courses. “For AMU degrees, we’ll send out our own people,” said James Sweizer, vice president of military programs. “We’ll be approached by a military training schoolhouse to evaluate their program to see if we can offer credit. It doesn’t necessarily mean that another school will accept what we’ve decided internally.”
Not only does AMU boast programs that can’t be found at other schools, the school has a strong tradition of offering military-specific degrees. “We had a degree in homeland security before 9/11,” Sweizer said. “We had those niche degrees that appeal to the military, and they’re still extremely popular.” Because of the surge of students drawn to AMU, other schools are now offering similar programs that are popular among the military.
Among them is Bellevue University, which takes extraordinary steps to accommodate servicemembers. The school accepts all the ACE recommended military training as credit towards a degree. Bellevue also accepts credit by examination, credit for classes from other accredited schools, credit for job-related certifications and—through its Experiential Learning Assessment program—credit for life experiences.
“Our military customers are a big part of who we serve at Bellevue University,” said Willie Woolford, assistant director for the school’s military programs. “We serve as the home institution for students to allow them to keep all their credits banked with us so they don’t have to re-matriculate into another school every time they transfer military assignments. At the same time, we are keen to their needs.” He cited as an example the Kirkpatrick Signature Series, which is the capstone of Bellevue University’s bachelor’s degree program. “It is designed to encourage an awareness and appreciation for the visions and values of our society—important attributes for military members.”
SERVING THOSE WHO SERVE
Bellevue strives not only to maximize the amount of transfer credits, but to minimize the time it takes for servicemembers to complete a degree. One way it does that is by sparing students the time-consuming details of course-planning. “The student does not have to search for classes each time or worry about getting signed up for the next class; we take care of that for them up front,” Woolford said. “This way, the student concentrates on the academics and not the administrative part of getting a degree.”
In tailoring its programs to servicemembers, Bellevue relies on the expertise of those who have been there. When it developed its accelerated programs, the university consulted students from nearby Offutt Air Force Base to understand the roadblocks they encountered trying to earn a degree. Moreover, fully 30 percent of Bellevue University’s faculty and staff are drawn from the military or military-related professions. “We developed our own military programs department to ensure we are giving the military student the best possible chance at a good experience while working on a degree,” Woolford said.
Yet despite the advantages offered by militaryfriendly universities, students must remember that earning a degree is only a derivative benefit of their job. The principal purpose of military training is to help them perform their roles in the service. “Soldiers’ needs are important, but the primary needs are those of the Army,” Rogers said. “We try to keep our career degree program in lines with what the Army’s needs are.”
Projecting its critical-needs requirements for future missions, the Army plans accordingly— for instance, by creating schoolhouses to teach specific skills and setting the capacity based on anticipated need. “The Army plans the structure of the force,” Rogers said, “and we take our cues from the Army.”
REMEMBERING THE BASICS
Some servicemembers seeking degrees take their cues from misinformation. The most common misconception among military students, according to Sweizer, is that all of their on-the-job training will transfer to a degree program. “They know through their guidance counselors and what they read that their military training is worth college training,” he said. “What they universally don’t understand is how that transfers into a degree program.” For example, a servicemember may have accumulated 60 hours of technology credits, but if he decides to major in business, all those courses are not going to transfer. While some of the classes may count as electives, it is rare that all of them do. Degree-seekers also occasionally don’t realize that they must fulfill core requirements—English, science, humanities, etc. “None of the technical schoolhouses in the military teach that,” Sweizer said. “So students rarely will meet their general education requirements with their military credits.”
For servicemembers who would like to earn a degree but need preparation for college courses, tutorial assistance is available. Navy College Learning Centers, for instance, provide instruction in basic subjects such as English, math and reading at the appropriate level indicated by diagnostic tests. Students also may work on algebra, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, chemistry, physics, science, social studies, life and job skills and parenting skills. When they feel prepared for college-level work, they consult with an academic counselor who will advise them about degree programs. FORGING A CAREER
Servicemembers earn degrees and certificates for a variety of reasons. If they are planning a military career, training can enhance their performance and help them earn promotions. Those planning a return to civilian life can earn a degree that will help them in their post-military professions. Military students often have the benefit of instructors who can foster subsequent success. At AMU, many of the faculty members are practitioners who work for the FBI, the CIA and various police departments around the country.
“We have contacts and arrangements with many companies to place our students,” Sweizer said. “If students want to pursue a career, they have a very good chance. AMU alumni are working all over the globe in a variety of leadership positions. You will find them in a variety of fields, including intelligence, security management, military management, government agencies and more.”
Regardless of which career path servicemembers take, they are well served by military training. Bellevue is committed to keeping its programs relevant so students will be competitive whether they choose to remain in the military or transition to the civilian work force. Either way, the servicemember—and their branch of service—benefits. If they remain in the military, “the degree program allows them to progress and become better military members,” Woolford said. If they leave the service, they are better prepared for a civilian career.
“The military student has a better advantage in this situation,” he said, “because they leave the service with actual experience in the career—and a degree.” ♦