College Credit for Military Training: Active Duty Experience

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Throughout a military career, service members spend months and years in classrooms and training exercises learning new ways to excel in their career fields. Wouldn't it make perfect sense for colleges to accept and grant credit for skills learned while on active duty?

Accredited online colleges and universities are leading the way in supporting the military through education. As a part of that support, online degree programs are accepting and granting credit for service-related education, using convenient programs for evaluations.

Many military skill sets translate seamlessly into college credit, and the specialized training necessary for most military career fields can be counted.

Translate Training into College Credits

The DANTES program, run by the Department of Defense, offers several options for active duty service members, including the use of the American Council on Education (ACE) Manual to evaluate military training and assign college class equivalents that can translate into credits for the service member. These credits from training can contribute to completion of an accelerated online college degree program.

The DANTES program can be difficult to navigate, but each Base Education Office offers convenient testing times and locations, as well as access to the ACE manual for training evaluations. Online university degree programs with military tracks also employ counselors specifically trained to work through the DANTES system and guide each student in the best possible direction for their degree and career goals.

Military members on active duty have easy access to college credits for military training. Depending on their service branch, training records may automatically assign the college credit equivalent to the service member's training records. Computerized systems make accessing credits you have already earned a breeze.

The system for accessing your military training college credits differs from service branch to service branch, but the best place to start is at the Base Education Office. There you can access the AARTS system (Army), SMART (Navy and Marines), or Community College of the Air Force/CCAF (Air Force). For those unable to use the computerized systems to access college transcripts, staff is available to obtain and submit hard copy forms.

DSST exams are meant to represent a final exam in each offered course, with three credits possible for each test. Scores can be directly forwarded to the online university of choice.

College Credit for Military Training Series

• Active Duty Experience (Part 1)
• Check Your Records (Part 2)
• Test Out (Part 3)