SOC Degree Network System
Associate and Bachelor’s
Degrees for the Coast Guard

Highlights include:

• Appropriately accredited institutions selected by the Coast Guard to offer associate and bachelor’s degrees to Coast Guard personnel, their spouses, and adult children worldwide
  
  
• Military-friendly colleges with flexible policies that allow mobile Coast Guard personnel and their families to complete degrees without suffering a loss of credit
  
  
• Degrees offered via traditional and distance-learning delivery in popular academic areas or “networks”, and unique degrees tailored to military experience and training
  
  
• A listing of SOCCOAST college policies, points-of-contact, degrees, location offerings, and course transfer guarantees in the SOC Degree Network System-2 and -4 Handbooks

Key Features of SOCCOAST

Home College
The SOCCOAST college that offers the degree you wish to pursue

SOCCOAST-2 Associate Degree Colleges
SOCCOAST-4 Bachelor's Degree Colleges

Reduced Academic Residency
You only have to complete 25% or less of degree requirements with your home college (30% for completely online programs).

Credit for Non-Traditional Learning
SOCCOAST colleges award credit for military experience and training based on American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations, and standardized tests such as CLEP and DSST, where it is appropriate to your degree plan.

Student Agreement
Your home college agrees to issue a SOCCOAST Student Agreement (evaluation of completed and remaining degree requirements) by the time you complete six semester hours of credit with that college. This serves as a “contract for degree” between you and your home college and remains in effect even if you leave the military.

Guaranteed Course Transfer
SOC DNS Core member institutions guarantee transfer of courses in SOC DNS Course Categories, so that courses may be transferred back to the home college without prior approval. Courses mapped to SOC DNS Course Categories appear on the SOC DNS Student Agreement, in Chapter 8 of the SOC Degree Network System Handbooks, and in the Guaranteed-Transfer Courses section of the Web site.