Servicemembers Opportunity College: Institutional Operating Guidelines
In addition to the SOC Criteria, some operating guidelines can be drawn from the SOC Principles and the experience of educational institutions and agencies that have shown success and quality in their educational offerings to servicemembers.
Admissions. In recognition of the preparation and experience of many servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions facilitate the admission and enrollment of qualified candidates by providing means to determine levels of ability and achievement of servicemembers. Admissions practices, developed primarily for recent high school graduates, often work to the disadvantage of a servicemember who may be qualified for college-level work, yet may be unable to satisfy commonly imposed requirements. Specialized training and experience in the Military Services or elsewhere, that may qualify individuals for college admissions and credit, often go unrecognized.
To facilitate admission and enrollment of qualified servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
Extra-Institutional Learning. The military is an employer committed to providing genuine access to educational opportunity clearly connected to military workplace learning. In recognition of this commitment, SOC Consortium institutions help servicemembers and veterans to incorporate credits in their degree programs based on collegiate-level learning achieved not only through formal school training but also through occupational experience, and nationally-recognized, non-traditional learning testing programs. This learning can occur both in the military and in civil society.
Military occupational experience represents a legitimate area of learning outside the formal classrooms of specialized military training courses. A SOC Consortium institution should recognize the value of such experience and award appropriate credit for Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) and Navy Rates and Ratings as recommended by the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.
Learning may also be acquired through other experiences, civilian non-collegiate courses, and collegiate non-traditional courses. Courses in the last group have evaluative mechanisms recognized by the operating institution. Credit recommendations for training courses offered by business and industry, government, labor unions, and other public and private sectors are given in the ACE National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training, the ACE Guide to Educational Credit by Examination, and A Guide to Educational Programs in Noncollegiate Organizations by the Board of Regents, The University of the State of New York.
The portfolio evaluation method, sponsored by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and used in some form by hundreds of institutions, is also an important aid in determining credit equivalence and applicability of experiential learning.
Distance Learning (Also see Attachment B, Principles of Good Practice for Higher Education Institutions Providing Voluntary Distance Education to Members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their Families) Increasing numbers of accredited colleges and universities offer distance learning opportunities to qualified students. Distance learning comes in a wide variety of modalities including online courses, video cassette courses, paper-based correspondence courses, instructor-enhanced independent study courses, and many variations of these and other methodologies. Instruction can occur synchronously among sites using a network of video teleconferencing systems and locations. Most often instruction is asynchronous whereby students do not engage in learning together at a distance on a pre-set schedule. With distance learning, as with extra-institutional learning, SOC Consortium institutions must determine the comparability of the nature, content, and level of transfer credit in relation to their own course offerings. SOC Consortium institutions are diligent in evaluating the appropriateness and applicability of credits earned in transfer through distance learning from properly regionally and nationally accredited institutions. Generally, SOC Consortium institutions can determine comparability by examining the course learning outcomes, course descriptions and other materials obtained from institutional catalogues, and from direct contact between knowledgeable and experienced faculty and staff at both the receiving and sending institutions.
DANTES provides useful listings of available independent study courses in its Independent Study Catalog and distance learning programs in its External Degree Catalog.
To enhance study opportunities for servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
Graduate Education. SOC Consortium Institutional Operating Guidelines facilitate graduate program admissions, enrollment, and degree completion by servicemembers. SOC Consortium institutions offering graduate programs:
Institutional Commitment. In order to achieve consistent application of policy in offering programs for servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions make appropriate assignment of responsibility and monitor institutional performance in the delivery of such programs.
Programs for military students, whether offered on-campus or on an installation, require added institutional attention and supervision. Procedures that may have been effective for the traditional campus or student population no longer suffice. The nature of the institutional commitment to servicemembers needs to be made clear to institutional representatives as well as to the student.
Demonstrating their understanding of and commitment to servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
College Recruiting, Marketing, and Student Services (See Attachment A, Standards of Good Practice for Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges for expanded information regarding these areas). To facilitate the enrollment process and continued student success of qualified servicemembers in postsecondary education, SOC Consortium institutions will:
Veterans’ Services. For veterans returning to civilian life to begin or continue study, civilian SOC Consortium institutions provide appropriate evaluation of their training, experience, and prior study and other services similar to that afforded servicemembers. Some of the SOC Criteria apply equally to the institution’s treatment of veterans—admission practices, transfer of credit, and recognition of other forms of learning, including military experience. When a servicemember has completed the residency requirement while on active duty at a SOC Consortium college, that college is obliged to recognize that fact when the servicemember becomes a veteran. Although broader instructional offerings and services may be available to returning veterans, counseling, evaluation, and planning are of particular importance in assisting them to reach their personal and career goals.
Recognizing the continuing educational needs of veterans, civilian SOC Consortium institutions:
Family Members’ and DOD Civilians’ Services. Families of active-duty servicemembers and DOD civilians, including Non-Appropriated Fund (NAF) employees, experience many of the same kinds of disruptions in pursuing a college degree as do active-duty servicemembers. Because of that, SOC Consortium and Degree Network System member institutions assist them by extending the considerations described for veterans under Veterans’ Services.
Admissions. In recognition of the preparation and experience of many servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions facilitate the admission and enrollment of qualified candidates by providing means to determine levels of ability and achievement of servicemembers. Admissions practices, developed primarily for recent high school graduates, often work to the disadvantage of a servicemember who may be qualified for college-level work, yet may be unable to satisfy commonly imposed requirements. Specialized training and experience in the Military Services or elsewhere, that may qualify individuals for college admissions and credit, often go unrecognized.
To facilitate admission and enrollment of qualified servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
- recognize the GED high school equivalency certificate ⁄ diploma, utilizing ACE recommendations concerning academic performance;
- accept and record previously successful postsecondary study as part of the servicemember’s program requirements, if appropriate;
- recognize learning gained from specialized training and experience in the Military Services or elsewhere;
- establish competency by nationally-recognized means, such as standardized tests;
- publicize alternative admission procedures available to servicemembers;
- conduct timely evaluation of the educational records and relevant experiences of servicemembers;
- waive formal admission for servicemembers seeking enrollment in course work for transfer to another institution; and
- complete an education plan or degree plan for all servicemembers.
Extra-Institutional Learning. The military is an employer committed to providing genuine access to educational opportunity clearly connected to military workplace learning. In recognition of this commitment, SOC Consortium institutions help servicemembers and veterans to incorporate credits in their degree programs based on collegiate-level learning achieved not only through formal school training but also through occupational experience, and nationally-recognized, non-traditional learning testing programs. This learning can occur both in the military and in civil society.
Military occupational experience represents a legitimate area of learning outside the formal classrooms of specialized military training courses. A SOC Consortium institution should recognize the value of such experience and award appropriate credit for Military Occupational Specialties (MOS) and Navy Rates and Ratings as recommended by the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.
Learning may also be acquired through other experiences, civilian non-collegiate courses, and collegiate non-traditional courses. Courses in the last group have evaluative mechanisms recognized by the operating institution. Credit recommendations for training courses offered by business and industry, government, labor unions, and other public and private sectors are given in the ACE National Guide to College Credit for Workforce Training, the ACE Guide to Educational Credit by Examination, and A Guide to Educational Programs in Noncollegiate Organizations by the Board of Regents, The University of the State of New York.
The portfolio evaluation method, sponsored by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and used in some form by hundreds of institutions, is also an important aid in determining credit equivalence and applicability of experiential learning.
Distance Learning (Also see Attachment B, Principles of Good Practice for Higher Education Institutions Providing Voluntary Distance Education to Members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their Families) Increasing numbers of accredited colleges and universities offer distance learning opportunities to qualified students. Distance learning comes in a wide variety of modalities including online courses, video cassette courses, paper-based correspondence courses, instructor-enhanced independent study courses, and many variations of these and other methodologies. Instruction can occur synchronously among sites using a network of video teleconferencing systems and locations. Most often instruction is asynchronous whereby students do not engage in learning together at a distance on a pre-set schedule. With distance learning, as with extra-institutional learning, SOC Consortium institutions must determine the comparability of the nature, content, and level of transfer credit in relation to their own course offerings. SOC Consortium institutions are diligent in evaluating the appropriateness and applicability of credits earned in transfer through distance learning from properly regionally and nationally accredited institutions. Generally, SOC Consortium institutions can determine comparability by examining the course learning outcomes, course descriptions and other materials obtained from institutional catalogues, and from direct contact between knowledgeable and experienced faculty and staff at both the receiving and sending institutions.
DANTES provides useful listings of available independent study courses in its Independent Study Catalog and distance learning programs in its External Degree Catalog.
To enhance study opportunities for servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
- advise and assist servicemembers to make maximum use of distance learning;
- provide their own modes of distance learning. Through advisement and listing in their publications, they make students aware of acceptable forms of distance learning available through other sources; and
- consider the acceptance in transfer, when appropriate to a servicemember’s program, of credit earned through distance learning from other regionally- and nationally-accredited institutions.
Graduate Education. SOC Consortium Institutional Operating Guidelines facilitate graduate program admissions, enrollment, and degree completion by servicemembers. SOC Consortium institutions offering graduate programs:
- recognize the maturity and experience of servicemembers as adult learners in admissions and enrollment policies and procedures;
- maximize institutional delivery options to meet the special needs of servicemembers;
- have flexible policies regarding the transfer of graduate credit by servicemembers and veterans from accredited institutions, and apply those credits where appropriate to meet degree requirements; and
- recognize graduate-level learning gained from specialized training and experience in the Military Services as recommended by the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services and apply that credit to a student’s degree program where appropriate.
Institutional Commitment. In order to achieve consistent application of policy in offering programs for servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions make appropriate assignment of responsibility and monitor institutional performance in the delivery of such programs.
Programs for military students, whether offered on-campus or on an installation, require added institutional attention and supervision. Procedures that may have been effective for the traditional campus or student population no longer suffice. The nature of the institutional commitment to servicemembers needs to be made clear to institutional representatives as well as to the student.
Demonstrating their understanding of and commitment to servicemembers, SOC Consortium institutions:
- publicize widely to their faculty and students the nature of their commitment and programs and activities offered on behalf of servicemembers and include a statement of commitment to SOC in their catalogs;
- provide effective administrative staffing and processes to give adequate support to programs for servicemembers;
- develop procedural directives for instructors, counselors, admissions officials and program officers governing special requirements of servicemembers;
- ensure the comparability of off-campus courses to on-campus, while recognizing and accommodating programs to the particular needs of the adult learner;
- designate a contact office or person for servicemembers;
- designate a senior administrative official to oversee programs for servicemembers and veterans, monitor institutional compliance with the SOC Criteria, and serve as principal spokesperson and respondent on SOC matters;
- conduct staff orientation programs to prepare full-time and adjunct faculty to work with the adult part-time learner;
- provide scheduling on a planned program basis rather than by individual courses; and
- ensure access to all courses needed for degree completion by scheduling at appropriate locations and times, not necessarily related to regular academic terms.
College Recruiting, Marketing, and Student Services (See Attachment A, Standards of Good Practice for Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges for expanded information regarding these areas). To facilitate the enrollment process and continued student success of qualified servicemembers in postsecondary education, SOC Consortium institutions will:
- Outreach to servicemembers using advertising, college recruiting, and admissions information that adequately and accurately represents the programs, requirements, and services available. Military students considering course enrollments require adequate time to make informed decisions and consult with education service counselors. High-pressure promotional activities or “limited time only” enrollment discounts are inappropriate recruiting activities by SOC Consortium institutions.
- Provide adequate access to the range of student services appropriate to support the programs, including admissions, financial aid, academic advising, delivery of course materials, competency testing, course placement, and counseling.
- Ensure that students admitted into college programs possess the requisite knowledge and academic preparation to succeed. Where technology aids (computers, personal digital assistants, or other technology packets) are employed in the program as key instructional components, institutions must provide assistance to students who are experiencing difficulty using the required technology.
- Provide adequate, clearly established means for resolving student grievances. In particular, provide transparent due-process procedures related to tuition and financial aid matters, course withdrawals due to unanticipated deployments, lack of consistent computer connectivity, and changes of duty.
Veterans’ Services. For veterans returning to civilian life to begin or continue study, civilian SOC Consortium institutions provide appropriate evaluation of their training, experience, and prior study and other services similar to that afforded servicemembers. Some of the SOC Criteria apply equally to the institution’s treatment of veterans—admission practices, transfer of credit, and recognition of other forms of learning, including military experience. When a servicemember has completed the residency requirement while on active duty at a SOC Consortium college, that college is obliged to recognize that fact when the servicemember becomes a veteran. Although broader instructional offerings and services may be available to returning veterans, counseling, evaluation, and planning are of particular importance in assisting them to reach their personal and career goals.
Recognizing the continuing educational needs of veterans, civilian SOC Consortium institutions:
- encourage veterans to continue or complete study started during service or interrupted by duty requirements;
- offer opportunities to veterans similar to those extended to servicemembers under the SOC Criteria, including provision of information and counseling services to ensure that veterans are aware of the benefits, regulations, and potential problems of veterans’ assistance programs;
- comply with the provisions of 38 USC 1775 pertaining to veterans’ educational assistance; and
- provide veterans, previously admitted as SOC Degree Network System students, with opportunities to complete their programs under the conditions of their Student Agreements.
Family Members’ and DOD Civilians’ Services. Families of active-duty servicemembers and DOD civilians, including Non-Appropriated Fund (NAF) employees, experience many of the same kinds of disruptions in pursuing a college degree as do active-duty servicemembers. Because of that, SOC Consortium and Degree Network System member institutions assist them by extending the considerations described for veterans under Veterans’ Services.
