Confusion over how to transfer military credits to ASU has caused hurdles for some veterans returning to higher education.
The University’s process of transferring military credits is unclear because information is difficult to find, and many military credits only count as electives, veterans and officials said.
Recognized as among the most military-friendly schools in the country by G.I. Jobs magazine, the University is a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges. The SOC works to make higher education easier for servicemembers and requires participating schools to accept military credits.
However, the University-wide policy is not to accept credits for courses taken at non-collegiate institutions, like governmental agencies, corporations or industrial firms, according to the transferring credits section of its admissions Web site.
Sgt. Frank Liu, a 24-year-old freshman in computer sciences, joined the Marine Corps in 2004 and was honorably discharged in 2009.
“I accumulated about 27 credits (in the Marine Corps), however, ASU doesn’t accept them,” he said.
In the 2009-2011 academic catalog on the ASU Web site, it states that students in the armed services may be able to transfer military credits through an exam called the DSST.
The standardized test is for servicemembers pursuing higher education, said Lou Ann Denny, a University registrar who oversees Veterans Services.
The only credits ASU accepts without the exam are courses taken at the Community College of the Air Force on the Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala., said Philip Regier, ASU’s representative for the SOC and executive vice provost and dean of ASU Online and Extended Education.
Most credits earned in the exam will become elective credits, he said.
The DSST exam isn’t mentioned anywhere on the ASU Veterans Services Web site itself. Officials at Veterans Services were unavailable to comment for several days.
Specialist Brandon Dykun, a freshman in the W. P. Carey School of Business and Global Institute of Sustainability and a member of the National Guard, said he would consider taking the test to transfer his credits.
“I think it is a very good opportunity,” he said. “But it seems like one of those things they’ll give you only if you ask for it.”
One of the guidelines for the SOC is for the participating universities to accept American Council on Education accredited college credits from military training and military schooling. Every school involved in this organization has to do so, according to its member commitments criteria.
Both NAU and UA are part of the SOC and accept all military credits, according to veterans’ services officials on both campuses.
“I’m not sure how ASU can be a part of this organization and not accept our credits,” Liu said.
Liu and two other veterans said they had never head of the exam. Information on the DSST exam is difficult to find on ASU’s Web site.
“That’s how the military works,” Dykun said. “They give us benefits but we have to be proactive about it.”
Liu served as systems, network and database administrator, and also as an information systems coordinator in the Marine Corps.
“I picked [a] computer science major because my credits didn’t follow me into ASU,” he said. “I decided to take a major that was similar to what I was studying, but not the exact same.”
A significant reason some veterans don’t return to school is the fact that some universities don’t accept military credits, he said.
Liu was reminded of stories about medics, who have nursing and medical experience and classes, but find that all of their training is worthless when they apply to attend college. Because of this, many of them don’t both to go back to school, he said.
“I really want to know why ASU doesn’t accept those credits,” Liu said. “We’ve spent a lot of years of our lives to defend and support this country, why is that experience worthless in the academic community?”
Reach the reporter at mmbarke1@asu.edu
