Many veterans heading to school can get college credit for their military training and experience, including leadership development courses. Coupled with classes they may have completed during active duty, this could give some student veterans a big head start on their post-military education.

Credit transfer policies vary widely by state and institution, so it is critical that service members planning to attend college when they separate start the process early. Transitioners must understand the credit transfer policy at the schools they are considering and should ask the schools to review their transcripts.

Three organizations offer assistance to service members pursuing a degree during and after their service:

• The American Council on Education (ACE) evaluates how much and what kind of credit to award for military training and occupations. www.acenet.edu
• Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges consortium (SOC) award credits for military training and academic testing. www.soc.aascu.org
• Defense Activities for Non-traditional Education Support (DANTES) manages the work of the SOC and offers several specialty education programs. www.dantes.doded.mil

“One of the biggest challenges is for the service member to understand credit transfer policies at an institution,” said Michele S. Spires, ACE’s assistant director of military programs and an Air Force spouse. “It’s a whole different language.” Spires is the lead member of an ACE team that evaluates military courses and occupations for a match in civilian higher education.

Take a current service member whose MOS is in the engineering field, Spires said. Given this experience, he may want to add an engineering degree to his résumé. Some institutions of higher education will carefully evaluate the Soldier’s specific military training and MOS and find the matching credits in their engineering curriculum. Others may not allow any ACE credit recommendations to count toward an engineering degree. Instead, the institution may sweep them into the general education category.

Thus, while this service member may believe he is eligible for a certain number of engineering credits – turning his military experience into completed courses in his major – some universities may not allow that to happen. See the “ACE Checklist” to make certain the credit transfer process is clear from its earliest stages.

ACE helps veterans and current service members by creating easily accessible web transcripts of their military training (www.militaryguides.acenet.edu). “That transcript also helps the service member articulate their experience in civilian language,” Spires said.

ACE also publishes A Transfer Guide: Understanding Your Military Transcripts and ACE Credit Recommendations (www.acenet.edu/militaryprograms/transferguide).