Does military training translate into college credits?

Hi, I've been looking into joining the military before pursuing a college degree. A friend mentioned that some of my military training might count as college credits. Can anyone shed some light on this? How does this conversion work? And would the credits be accepted at most universities or only specific ones?

Absolutely, military training can indeed be translated into college credits. The American Council on Education (ACE), for instance, collaborates with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) to review military training and experiences and recommend appropriate college credit for those experiences. The resulting ACE Military Guide is a tool that colleges can use to understand and award credit for military training.

Now, it's crucial to understand that these are only recommendations. Ultimately, it's up to each individual college or university to decide what credit, if any, they will give for your military training and experience. They'll consider factors such as how the training aligns with their coursework, and whether it's at the collegiate level.

It would be wise to check with the institutions you're interested in transferring to see how they handle such credits. Some colleges and universities have more generous policies for accepting military credit than others. As an example, schools that participate in the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) consortium typically accept more military transfer credits.

You'll need to provide your military transcript (Joint Services Transcript or Community College of the Air Force transcript) to the colleges you're interested in attending. The transcript provides course descriptions and ACE credit recommendations to help schools understand your military training.

So, while there's no guarantee, there's definitely the potential for your military training to be converted into college credits, which can save you time and money on your degree.