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Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges
Principles and Criteria
2007-2009
SOC Principles
SOC Institutional Membership
Initial Conditions for Membership
SOC Criteria
SOC Institutional Operating
Guidelines
Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), a consortium of
national higher education associations, functions in cooperation
with the Department of Defense (DOD), the Military Services including
the National Guard, and the Coast Guard to help meet the voluntary
higher education needs of servicemembers.
Hundreds of thousands of servicemembers, civilian employees
of DOD, the Military Services including the National Guard, the
Coast Guard, and family members enroll annually in programs offered
by more than a thousand colleges, universities, and postsecondary
occupational and technical institutions. These voluntary programs
are a significant joint venture and require strong commitment
and coordination among academic institutions and agencies, the
Military Services including the National Guard, the Coast Guard,
and the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD).
SOC is a vehicle to help coordinate voluntary postsecondary
educational opportunities for servicemembers. SOC does this by:
- seeking to stimulate and help the higher education community
to understand and respond to special needs of servicemembers;
- advocating the flexibility needed to improve access to and
availability of educational programs for servicemembers;
- helping the Military Services including the National Guard,
and the Coast Guard understand the resources, limits, and requirements
of higher education;
- helping the higher education community understand the resources,
limits, and requirements of the Military Services including the
National Guard, and the Coast Guard;
- seeking to strengthen liaison and working relationships among
military and higher education representatives.
SOC PRINCIPLES
To achieve its goals, SOC is founded on principles agreed
to collectively by the higher education community through the
SOC Advisory Board, the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD),
and the Military Services including the National Guard, and the
Coast Guard.
SOC Principles are predicated upon such principles as those
set forth in the Joint
Statement on the Transfer and Award of Credit of the
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions
Officers (AACRAO), the American Council on Education (ACE), the
Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and are drawn
principally from the cumulative experience of educational institutions
and agencies judged successful in their work with servicemembers.
The Principles embody a needed institutional flexibility with
thoughtful development of programs and procedures appropriate
to the needs of servicemembers, yet recognize the necessity to
protect and assure the quality of educational programs.
Principle 1. In order to enhance their military effectiveness
and to achieve their educational, vocational, and career goals,
servicemembers should share in the postsecondary educational
opportunities available to other citizens.
Principle 2. Educational programs for servicemembers
should rely primarily on programs, courses, and services provided
by appropriately accredited institutions and organizations, including
high schools, postsecondary vocational and technical schools,
colleges, and universities.
Principle 3. To enhance access to undergraduate educational
opportunities for servicemembers, institutions should maintain
a necessary flexibility of programs and procedures, particularly
in admissions, credit transfer, and recognition of other applicable
learning, including that gained in the military; in scheduling
and format of courses; and in academic residency requirements
to offset servicemembers' mobility, isolation from campuses,
and part-time student status.
SOC INSTITUTIONAL MEMBERSHIP
Institutional members of SOC may be entire institutions or
appropriate subdivisions (e.g., colleges, schools, or major divisions).
To become an institutional member of SOC, an institution must
meet three requirements:
- Each institution must satisfy six initial conditions.
- A responsible administrative official must commit the institution
or the appropriate major subdivision to fully comply with and
support the SOC Principles and Criteria as it delivers undergraduate
postsecondary programs, courses, and supporting services to servicemembers
on military installations or at locations accessible to them.
- The prospective institutional member must be approved as
meeting SOC Principles and Criteria by the Director of SOC.
INITIAL CONDITIONS FOR MEMBERSHIP
Institutional members must meet the following conditions:
- be listed in the hep Higher Education Directory;
- be a degree-granting institution that is accredited by an
institutional accrediting agency that has been recognized by
the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation (COPA), the Commission
on Recognition of Postsecondary Accreditation (CORPA), or CHEA;
- meet appropriate provisions of DoD
Directive 1322.8, Voluntary Educational Programs for Military
Personnel, DoD
Instruction 1322.25, Voluntary Education Programs,
and appropriate Service regulations when providing educational
services on military installations;
- be approved for educational benefits by the appropriate State
Approving Agency for veterans' benefits;
- agree to submit data for the SOC Guide;
- not be listed in the Guaranteed Student Loan Data Book
as having excessive student loan default rates.
SOC CRITERIA
Inherent in the SOC Principles are expectations and standards
essential to their translation into performance and action. The
SOC Criteria express those expectations and standards and constitute
an operational framework for SOC member institutions to extend
to servicemembers undergraduate educational opportunities that
are sometimes distinct from common institutional practice. The
Criteria characterize flexibility essential to the improvement
of access by servicemembers to undergraduate educational programs.
The Criteria stipulate that institutional policies and practices
be fair, equitable, and effective in recognizing special and
often limiting conditions faced by military students.
Criterion 1. Transfer of Credit.
Since mobility makes it unlikely that a servicemember can
complete all degree program requirements at one institution,
a SOC institution designs its transfer practices for servicemembers
to minimize loss of credit and avoid duplication of coursework,
while simultaneously maintaining the integrity of its programs.
It is recognized that SOC institutions must maintain quality
and integrity within a complex academic and regulatory environment
where resource, regulatory, and academic realities sometimes
militate against the broad spirit of flexibility that SOC advocates.
Consistent with this reality and with the requirements of a servicemember's
degree program, a SOC institution follows the general principles
of good practice outlined in the Joint Statement on the Transfer
and Award of Credit. Each institution may be required to
submit documentary evidence that it generally accepts credits
in transfer from other accredited institutions, and that its
credits in turn are generally accepted by other accredited institutions.
Criterion 2. Academic Residency Requirements.
A SOC institution limits academic residency requirements for
active-duty servicemembers to no more than 25 percent of the
undergraduate degree program; recognizes all credit course work
offered by the institution as applicable in satisfying academic
residency requirements; and allows servicemembers to satisfy
academic residency requirements with courses taken from the institution
at any time during their program of study, specifically avoiding
any "final year" or "final semester" residency
requirement, subject to stated requirements in specific course
areas such as majors. If a SOC institution offers one hundred
percent of an undergraduate degree online, that institution may
require active-duty servicemembers to take thirty percent of
that degree program to obtain residency. (Institutions joining
SOC primarily for the purpose of participating in the Concurrent
Admissions Program (ConAP) are exempted from this criterion.)
Criterion 3. Crediting Learning from Military Training
and Experience.
A SOC institution provides processes to determine credit awards
and learning acquired for specialized military training and occupational
experience when applicable to a servicemember's degree program.
A SOC institution recognizes and uses the ACE Guide to
the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services
in determining the value of learning acquired in military service,
and awards credit for appropriate learning acquired in military
service at levels consistent with ACE Guide recommendations
and/or those transcripted by the Community College of the Air
Force, when applicable to a servicemember's program.
Criterion 4. Crediting Extra-Institutional Learning.
Recognizing that learning occurs in extra-institutional and
non-instructional settings, a SOC institution provides processes
to evaluate and award appropriate undergraduate level credit
for such learning through practices that reflect the principles
and guidelines in the statement on Awarding Credit for Extrainstitutional
Learning. This shall include awarding credit through use
of one or more of the nationally recognized, non-traditional
learning testing programs provided for servicemembers by the
OSD, such as described in the ACE Guide to Educational Credit
by Examination. These examinations include CLEP, DSST, and
ECE whether or not they supplement institutional challenge examinations
or test-out procedures.
SOC INSTITUTIONAL OPERATING GUIDELINES
In addition to the SOC Criteria, some operating guidelines
can be drawn from the SOC Principles and the experience of educational
institutions and agencies that have shown success and quality
in their educational offerings to servicemembers. These guidelines
should be viewed as desired institutional behavior for SOC institutions.
Admissions. In recognition of the preparation and experience
of many servicemembers, SOC institutions facilitate the admission
and enrollment of qualified candidates by providing means to
determine levels of ability and achievement of servicemembers.
Admissions practices, developed primarily for recent high school
graduates, often work to the disadvantage of a servicemember
who may be qualified for college-level work, yet may be unable
to satisfy commonly imposed requirements. Specialized training
and experience in the Military Services or elsewhere, that may
qualify individuals for college admissions and credit, often
go unrecognized.
To facilitate admission and enrollment of qualified servicemembers,
SOC institutions:
- recognize the GED high school equivalency certificate/diploma,
utilizing ACE-recommendations concerning academic performance;
- accept and record previously successful postsecondary study
as part of the servicemember's program requirements, if appropriate;
- recognize learning gained from specialized training and experience
in the Military Services or elsewhere;
- establish competency by nationally recognized means, such
as standardized tests;
- publicize alternative admission procedures available to servicemembers;
- conduct timely evaluation of the educational records and
relevant experiences of servicemembers;
- waive formal admission for servicemembers seeking enrollment
in course work for transfer to another institution;
- complete student agreements or learning contracts for all
degree-seeking servicemembers.
Extra-Institutional Learning. The military is an employer
committed to providing genuine access to educational opportunity
clearly connected to military workplace learning. In recognition
of this commitment, SOC institutions help servicemembers and
veterans to incorporate credits in their degree programs based
on collegiate-level learning achieved not only through formal
school training but also through occupational experience, and
nationally recognized, non-traditional learning testing programs.
This learning can occur both in the military and in civil society.
Military occupational experience represents a legitimate area
of learning outside the formal classrooms of specialized military
training courses. A SOC institution should recognize the value
of such experience and award appropriate credit for Military
Occupational Specialties (MOS) and Navy Rates and Ratings as
recommended by the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational
Experiences in the Armed Services.
Learning may also be acquired through other experience, civilian
non-collegiate courses, and collegiate non-traditional courses.
Courses in the last group have evaluative mechanisms vouched
for by the operating institution. Credit recommendations for
training courses offered by business and industry, government,
labor unions, and other public and private sectors are given
in the ACE National Guide to Educational Credit for
Training Programs, the ACE Guide to Educational Credit
by Examination, and A Guide to Educational Programs in
Noncollegiate Organizations by the Board of Regents, The
University of the State of New York.
The portfolio evaluation method, sponsored by the Council
for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) and used in some form
by hundreds of institutions, is also an important aid in determining
credit equivalence and applicability of experiential learning.
Distance Learning. Increasing numbers of accredited
colleges and universities offer distance learning opportunities
to qualified students. Distance learning comes in a wide variety
of modalities including on-line courses, video cassette courses,
paper-based correspondence courses, instructor-enhanced independent
study courses, and many variations of these and other methodologies.
Instruction can occur synchronously among sites using a network
of videoteleconferencing systems and locations. Most often instruction
is asynchronous whereby students do not engage in learning together
at a distance on a pre-set schedule. With distance learning,
as with extra-institutional learning, SOC institutions must determine
the comparability of the nature, content, and level of transfer
credit in relation to their own course offerings. SOC institutions
are diligent in evaluating the appropriateness and applicability
of credits earned in transfer through distance learning from
properly regionally and nationally accredited institutions. Generally
SOC institutions can determine comparability by examining the
course learning outcomes, course descriptions and other materials
obtained from institutional catalogues, and from direct contact
between knowledgeable and experienced faculty and staff at both
the receiving and sending institutions.
DANTES provides useful listings of available independent study
courses in its Independent Study Catalog and distance
learning programs in its External Degree Catalog.
To enhance study opportunities for servicemembers, SOC institutions:
- advise and assist servicemembers to make maximum use of distance
learning;
- provide their own modes of distance learning. Through advisement
and listing in their publications, they make students aware of
acceptable forms of distance learning available through other
sources;
- consider the acceptance in transfer, when appropriate to
a servicemember's program, of credit earned through distance
learning from other regionally and nationally accredited institutions.
Graduate Education. SOC Institutional Operating Guidelines
facilitate graduate program admissions, enrollment, and degree
completion by servicemembers. SOC institutions offering graduate
programs:
- recognize the maturity and experience of servicemembers as
adult learners in admissions and enrollment policies and procedures;
- maximize institutional delivery options to meet the special
needs of servicemembers;
- have flexible policies regarding the transfer of graduate
credit by servicemembers and veterans from accredited institutions,
and apply those credits where appropriate to meet degree requirements;
- recognize graduate-level learning gained from specialized
training and experience in the Military Services as recommended
by the ACE Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences
in the Armed Services and apply that credit to a student's
degree program where appropriate.
Institutional Commitment. In order to achieve consistent
application of policy in offering programs for servicemembers,
SOC institutions make appropriate assignment of responsibility
and monitor institutional performance in the delivery of such
programs.
Programs for military students, whether offered on-campus
or on an installation, require added institutional attention
and supervision. Procedures that may have been effective for
the usual campus or student population no longer suffice. The
nature of the institutional commitment to servicemembers needs
to be made clear to institutional representatives as well as
to the student.
Demonstrating their understanding of and commitment to servicemembers,
SOC institutions:
- publicize widely to their faculty and students the nature
of their commitment and programs and activities offered on behalf
of servicemembers and include a statement of commitment to SOC
in their catalogs;
- provide effective administrative staffing and processes to
give adequate support to programs for servicemembers;
- develop procedural directives for instructors, counselors,
admissions officials and program officers governing special requirements
of servicemembers;
- ensure the comparability of off-campus courses to on-campus,
while recognizing and accommodating programs to the particular
needs of the adult learner;
- designate a contact office or person for servicemembers;
- designate a senior administrative official to oversee programs
for servicemembers and veterans, monitor institutional compliance
with the SOC Criteria, and serve as principal spokesperson and
respondent on SOC matters;
- conduct staff orientation programs to prepare full-time and
adjunct faculty to work with the adult part-time learner;
- provide scheduling on a planned program basis rather than
by individual courses;
- ensure access to all courses needed for degree completion
by scheduling at appropriate locations and times, not necessarily
related to regular academic terms.
College Recruiting, Marketing, and Student Services. To
facilitate the enrollment process and continued student success
of qualified servicemembers in postsecondary education, SOC institutions
will:
- Outreach to servicemembers using advertising, college
recruiting, and admissions information that adequately and accurately
represents the programs, requirements, and services available.
Military students considering course enrollments require adequate
time to make informed decisions and consult with education service
counselors. High-pressure promotional activities or "limited
time only" enrollment discounts are inappropriate recruiting
activities by SOC Consortium institutions.
- Provide adequate access to the range of student services
appropriate to support the programs, including admissions, financial
aid, academic advising, delivery of course materials, competency
testing, course placement, and counseling.
- Ensure that students admitted into college programs possess
the requisite knowledge and academic preparation to succeed.
Where technology aids (computers, personal digital assistants,
or other technology packets) are employed in the program as key
instructional components, institutions must provide assistance
to students who are experiencing difficulty using the required
technology.
- Provide adequate, clearly established means for resolving
student grievances. In particular, provide transparent due-process
procedures related to tuition and financial aid matters, course
withdrawals due to unanticipated deployments, lack of consistent
computer connectivity, and changes of duty.
Veterans' Services. For veterans returning to civilian
life to begin or continue study, civilian SOC institutions provide
appropriate evaluation of their training, experience, and prior
study and other services similar to that afforded servicemembers.
Some of the SOC Criteria apply equally to the institution's treatment
of veterans-admission practices, transfer of credit and recognition
of other forms of learning, including military experience. When
a servicemember has completed the residency requirement while
on active duty at a SOC college, that college is obliged to recognize
that fact when the servicemember becomes a veteran. Although
broader instructional offerings and services may be available
to returning veterans, counseling, evaluation, and planning are
of particular importance in assisting them to reach their personal
and career goals.
Recognizing the continuing educational needs of veterans,
civilian SOC institutions
- encourage veterans to continue or complete study started
during service or interrupted by duty requirements
- offer opportunities to veterans similar to those extended
to servicemembers under the SOC Criteria, including provision
of information and counseling services to ensure that veterans
are aware of the benefits, regulations and potential problems
of veterans' assistance programs
- comply with the provisions of 38 USC 1775 pertaining
to veterans' educational assistance
- provide veterans, previously admitted as SOC students, with
opportunities to complete their programs under the conditions
of their student agreements.
Family Members' and DOD Civilians' Services. Families
of active-duty servicemembers and DOD civilians, including Non-Appropriated
Fund (NAF) employees, experience many of the same kinds of disruptions
in pursuing a college degree as do active-duty servicemembers.
Because of that, SOC institutions assist them by extending the
considerations described for veterans under Veterans' Services.
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