SOCNAV provides the opportunity for sailors
to get a college education wherever they go.
to get a college education wherever they go.
One of the great hassles of getting a degree while serving in the military is transferring credits. The increased tempo of deployments can make attending one college for all of your courses difficult, if not impossible. Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) was formed to solve this problem.
SOC is a consortium of national education associations, colleges and universities that have pledged to ease the difficulties of servicemembers, their family members and veterans seeking a post-secondary education. (See page 26 this issue.) SOCNAV is the SOC degree program for the Navy. It consists of nearly 100 colleges that offer associate and bachelor’s degree programs on or accessible to Navy installations worldwide. They are listed at www.soc.aascu.org/socnav.
The colleges work together so that sailors can begin a degree with any one of them and complete it with courses taken at others as they relocate during their Navy careers. The credits earned are transferred back to the “home” college and the sailors then graduate from that college.
The way this works is that you select a home college and course of study with a Navy College Center counselor. After not more than six credit hours, the college will evaluate prior learning, including military experience, and complete a Student Agreement degree plan. You then work with the counselor to select courses to complete the plan. When you move to a new duty station, you see the Navy Education Center counselor who refers you to a SOCNAV college. The SOCNAV college counselor will help select courses to follow the degree plan. You do not have to take more than 25 percent of your degree program with your home college.
Send transcripts from other SOCNAV colleges you attend, test scores from any credit-by-examination programs, and documentation of additional military service back to the home college. When you have completed all of the requirements for your degree, apply for graduation, and you will receive your degree from your SOCNAV home college.
Your Navy schools and work experiences are evaluated for possible college credit using a reference from the American Council on Education (ACE), “Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services” or “ACE Guide.” If the credits recommended by ACE match credits required in your SOCNAV degree plan, they may take the place of courses that you would otherwise need to take. You can also get college credit by taking tests such as CLEP, DSST, ECE, ASE professional Certification exams and others. The combination of credits earned for Navy schools and occupational experiences and tests, along with the actual college courses you take; eventually give you enough credits for a degree.
A student who enrolls in a SOCNAV program must do the following:
* Request an official evaluation from the home college.
* Arrange to provide all necessary documents, such as transcripts from other colleges and forms such as the SMART (Sailor/Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript) and the DD 295 documenting military experience. To get your SMART, download the form at https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/transcript.html.
* Update the personal copy of the Student Agreement after completing courses each semester.
* Send transcripts back from other colleges to the home college each semester.
* Send to the home college documentation of additional test scores and military training and occupational experience for credit evaluation
* Request prior home college approval for courses for which transfer is not guaranteed.
* File a graduation request or application with the home college after completing all degree requirements.
You can study a wide variety of subject areas, ranging from management-related fields to automotive and aviation maintenance, computer studies, criminal justice, electronics and liberal arts.
Not all classes are taught in classrooms during the day. In addition, there are evening and weekend classes and even classes on board ship. You can also use distance learning, taking courses by correspondence, Internet, video or computer. You can combine the different ways of taking courses to get your degree.
Tuition assistance and the GI Bill can cover all or part of the costs. See your Navy College Center for more information.
SOCNAV colleges will enroll family members under the same terms as servicemembers.
If you leave the Navy before completing your degree, your SOCNAV Student Agreement guarantees that your college credits will not be lost and you can finish your studies as a civilian—assuming you have satisfied the home college’s academic residency requirement and can take the remaining courses with another college. If the college is not SOCNAV, you will have to get the courses approved by your home college.
Compiled from SOCNAV Website www.soc.aascu.org/socnav/.