Get Credits Toward A Degree with Your Military Experience
Because you worked hard in themilitary and learned valuable skills, you can most likely turn thoseexperiences into credits for your degree. Your credits can be based on priortraining, coursework, and your military occupational specialty. Read more tolearn how.
Sidebar: Thoughthousands of schools recognize military experience credits, some do not. Besure to inquire about your school’s policies. If you are still looking for theright school, use our free School Finder tolocate programs that are military-friendly.
DANTESMilitary Evaluations Program and ACE
DANTEScoordinates with the American Council on Education (ACE) to ensure that yourmilitary experience is recognized in institutions of higher learning. Theyrealize that education is an extremely important and beneficial aspect of yourlife. To control the costs associated with degree programs and to give creditwhere credit is due, ACE continuously evaluates programs and military trainingso that they can determine the correct credit transfers for your experiences. ThroughACE, you can take credits for practically all of your training—even basictraining—which can save you as much as $600 and a lot of time and effort on atypical 3-credit course. This program is funded by the Department of Defense,so the service is free to you!
Wantto calculate how many credits you’ve already earned? Visit the ACE Military Programs official websitehere.
Claim YourACE Credits
Yourmilitary service branch will provide you with copies of your militarytranscript upon request. They send an unofficial copy to you and send schoolsan official copy—all free of charge. Each branch determines your experiencecredits and military education credits in a different manner. Read more aboutyour service branch below:
Army
- For enlisted soldiers: The Army uses a system called AARTS that automatically logs your academic credits from military training, experiences and all standardized tests. Visit the official AARTS websitefor more information.
- For officers: You can fill out the form DD295 (Application for Evaluation of Learning)with your relevant military experience and submit it to a certifying officer for evaluation by ACE.
Navy andMarines
TheNavy and Marine Corps use a system called SMART that automatically logs youracademic credits from military training, experiences and all standardizedtests. Visit the official SMART websiteformore information.
Air Force
TheAir Force works with the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF) toautomatically log your academic credits from military training, experiences andall standardized tests. Visit the official CCAFwebsiteformore information about transcript services.
Coast Guard
TheCoast Guard Institute (CGI) will create a transcript on your behalf when yousubmit documents that verify your training (with the exception ofcorrespondence course records) along with an enrollment form.
Veterans
Inmost cases, you can use the same process that your service branch currentlyuses; however, if you are not eligible for AARTS, SMART, CCAF or CGI systems,you will need to fill out a DD-295 form [PDF] and submit this along with your DD-214 DischargeDocument to the ACE.
Using Your ACE Credits
Eachcollege has its own policy regarding the number of ACE credits that will beaccepted. Generally, these credits go toward your free elective credits.However, some colleges will not acknowledge your ACE credits at all. That iswhy it is important to determine a school’s policy upfront. If you are stilllooking for the right school, you can use our SchoolFinder to locate military-friendly colleges and universities that matchyour educational needs.
Tip: Make sure you have all yourtranscripts from the military and from prior colleges sent to your new schoolin time to be fully evaluated before you begin taking courses. Often times,students waste time and money by taking classes that are not necessary. Thiscan be avoided if you wait until you know exactly how many credits are acceptedand how your new school will apply them.
