Former Army Sgt. Michael Harrington’s time in service earned him more than a steady paycheck. It gave him life experience — and when he left the service in 2014 that experience turned into college credits.
As a former cavalry scout, he earned 16 credits for his work experience in areas such as management, physical education, criminal justice, automotive tech and a computer elective at Pikes Peak Community College.
On the flip side, “none of them have helped, because of the degree that I am in,” the computer networking major said. “If I had gone for an associate in general studies or in arts, it might have helped, but not in this field.”
Harrington got half the equation right. He milked his experience for every possible credit, but they weren’t the right credits.
Here’s how to do both :Ffind every credit you’ve earned, and make them count toward a degree.
The basics
Turning experience into college credit is straightforward. The American Council on Education provides policy guidance for the Joint Services Transcript, a widely accepted document that validates a service member’s military occupational experience and training. JST gives the details, ACE determines what it’s all worth.
But none of this is guaranteed. Colleges may take or reject whatever they wish, which can be good news for veterans looking to get the most credit for their experience. There are ways to make the system work in your favor.
Find a friendly institution
Translating military experience into college credits takes some finesse. There are the JTS and ACE, but not everyone knows how to handle those. So you need to find a military-friendly school, suggests Daniel Ridley, career mapping specialist and VA certifying official at Gateway Community and Technical College in the greater Cincinnati area. (We have the lists of vet-friendly schools here.) Or go a step further and find a collaborative that reaches across multiple states to help veterans get credit.
If you can find an institution that has experience in this, “it can significantly shorten the time it’s going to take to get that college credential,” Ridley said.
Have a plan
The point here is not to get credit, of course. The aim is to get a degree and get into the workforce. To do that, you need to chart a course before chasing credits you may not even need.
“You need to see how many core requirements, major requirements and electives you will have to take to complete your degree,” Janet Colvin, a specialist in credit for prior learning at Pikes Peak Community College, said.
At St. Cloud Technical and Community College in Minnesota, “we have had faculty scour through military experience that could count for meaningful credits,” Tarryl Clark, interim dean of sciences, technology and math, said. “Other colleges may give them credit for electives, but that may not really help them forward.”
Don’t take ‘no’
JST and ACE are pretty thorough in their translation of careers to credits, but they’re not perfect. If a school denies a credit, the veteran can ask for a review — and often come out ahead.
“Sometimes ACE has simply not evaluated something, it’s not on the list or it’s not up to date. So you will want to dig a little deeper,” Colvin said. “If you think your learning or your experience has exceeded the level that ACE has recommended, you may usually request further assessment from your college.”
Of course, each school will have its own policy on whether to undertake a review. But it’s always worth asking.
“Maybe you can pull down more information from the ACE site, more evidence of what competencies you have,” she said.
Sometimes a sympathetic faculty adviser can help the deciding authority to connect the dots.
Do the legwork
For a school that’s not military-savvy, or isn’t responding as expected, veterans may need to take up their own cause. Maybe someone is failing to see the connection between JST and ACE. At smaller schools in particular, “there typically isn’t anyone at the college who can do that,” Ridley said.
Most schools tackle veterans’ credits on a case-by-case basis, which means a veteran willing to shoulder the load will likely get a better deal. “It’s not automated at all, so a lot of the legwork has to be done by the veteran,” Ridley said.
Don’t overload
With diligence, it’s possible to convert a lot of military experience into college credits. Here’s the catch: If you pile up credits that exceed 150 percent of what you need for your degree, financial aid typically cuts off.
Suppose you need 120 credits for a bachelor’s degree. With all the credits you’ve racked up for time in uniform, along with courses and certificates and other activities, you’ve got 181 credits in hand — but many of them fell outside your major, and you still haven’t finished your degree. You’re over the line and financial aid is in jeopardy.
That’s what nearly happened to Harrington, the former Army sergeant. Rather than giving him a boost, his 16 experience-based credits have muddled his efforts to get a two-year degree in computer networking.
“If anything, it has come close to hurting me when it comes to financial aid,” he said. He’s going to stay under 150 percent, but only by a hair. If he wanted to change majors, he said, he would blow the numbers.
It’s one more reason to plan carefully. “You don’t necessarily want to put on credit if it is not going to help you meet your degree,” Colvin said.
Stay with what you know
It doesn’t make sense to pick a major based on how many credits you can cull from your military experience. You pick a major based on life interests, career ambitions and job security. On the other hand, it’s easier to get credits when your experience lines up with your aspirations.
“For example, suppose you’ve done paralegal work and you want to parlay that into a job in a law firm,” Clark said. “You’ve already demonstrated the basic competencies, things like legal research and writing. That’s helpful; schools can build off of that. If you want to be a network administration professional, on the other hand, they are not going to move a lot of that experience into credits.”
Don’t think too narrowly
It’s true that in the big picture, you want college credits that will apply to your degree, credits that will keep you moving forward through the academic process. It’s also helpful to identify those experiences that may be more general but can still help you knock off some of the gut courses.
“You’ve been dealing with leadership, you’ve shown you can deal with a crisis, you’ve done a lot of writing,” Clark said. “That work experience might help you with some of your basic requirements, depending on the college.”
What is your experience worth?
How much college credit can veterans earn for experience in uniform? Here are a few examples from the American Council on Education, which sets the standards:
- Aviation electronics technician. For lower division baccalaureate/associate degree (see definitions here), three semester hours in beginning electrical/electronics laboratory, one in applied physics, 12 in avionics technology and additional credit in avionics technology on the basis of institutional evaluation.
- Quartermaster. In the vocational certificate category, three semester hours in practical mathematics and one in applied meteorology. In the lower-division baccalaureate/associate degree category, three semester hours in seamanship, three in recordkeeping, three in personnel supervision and one in practical marine instrumentation.
- Senior signal sergeant. In the lower-division baccalaureate/associate degree category, if ASI was J7, WHCA Console Control Operations, the following credit applies: one semester hour in computer literacy, two in files management and three in introduction to voice communications networks. In the upper-division baccalaureate degree category, for all individuals: three semester hours in organizational management and three for field experience in management.
Detailed information about translating experience to credits can be found at the ACE website.
