A few months ago, I tried to capitalize on my military training
by transferring some of the ACE-reviewed credit to Penn
Foster College. I figured it would eliminate the need for me
to take some of the courses, and might even save me some money at the same
time.
It did not work out that way. Penn Foster requires an official copy of any
transcripts, and the Navy sent a copy which was clearly labeled “unofficial”. Of the 90-plus college-level credits I
amassed from my military training, none of it was counted toward my Penn
Foster College
marketing degree program.
Most of my training was in journalism and communications, so
I figured that many of the credits would not transfer to a marketing
program. However, I thought things like
English Composition and Business Communications certainly would.
Not to be deterred, I filled out another request today for a
SMART to be sent to Penn Foster
College. SMART is the Sailor/Marine American Council
on Education Registry Transcript. Any
current service member or veteran of the Navy and Marines can view or request a
transcript of all of their ACE-reviewed military training at https://smart.cnet.navy.mil/. The Army has a similar system, called AARTS,
which can be found here: http://aarts.army.mil/
Initially, I was shocked at the amount of college-level
ACE-reviewed credit I had earned through my military training. ACE had even reviewed some of the training I
received at boot camp.
Registering and signing into the SMART or AARTS system is
very easy. If you get into the system
and notice that there is no transcript for you there, you can contact the Navy
College Center
or the AARTS Operations
Center and request that they
compile a transcript for you based upon your service record, which will contain
information on all of the military training you have received. They can also make corrections to your
transcript.
I have yet to get this to work to my advantage, but I know
it can be done. Excelsior
College offered to transfer more
than 90 credits into a BA program for me based upon my military training
alone. The SMART or AARTS is a good,
low-cost means of meeting some of your credit requirements for degree programs,
so you veterans should definitely take advantage of it. After all, you have earned it!