Hey everyone, I'm planning to join the military after high school and I've heard a little about the possibility of earning college credits through military service. I have my eye on Lackawanna College specifically. How does the credit transfer process work in such a scenario?
At Lackawanna College, military service can indeed be translated into college credits. There are two main ways you can earn these credits: through the military training and experience you acquire, and via College Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests.
When it comes to training and experience, Lackawanna College follows the recommendations of the American Council on Education (ACE). ACE evaluates military training programs and translates them into college credit equivalents. Lackawanna College would evaluate your Joint Services Transcript (JST), which contains a record of all your military training and experience, against their course requirements. The credits you'd receive would depend on the equivalency between your military training and the courses offered at Lackawanna.
The second way is through CLEP exams. The CLEP program includes 33 standardized tests in five subject areas, covering material taught in courses that you may generally take in your first two years of college. Most CLEP exams are designed to correspond to one-semester courses, but some correspond to full-year or two-year courses. If you pass these exams, you can earn the corresponding course credits.
Besides these two methods, Lackawanna College also accepts Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES) credits.
The process of transferring these credits typically begins with you providing documentation of your military experience, such as your JST, or your CLEP or DANTES test scores. Lackawanna College would then review these materials and determine how many credits you'd be able to receive.
However, the specifics of credit transfer can sometimes get complicated, and the exact number of credits you could earn would largely depend on your individual circumstances. Thus, it would be a good idea to contact the admissions office at Lackawanna College directly and discuss your unique situation to get a more accurate idea of how it would play out.
CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.