Tips for Academic Counselors
To ensure student success, academic counselors who are responsible for advising Sailors and their family members should do the following:
- Be available to counsel SOCNAV
students regarding your institution's
degree programs and
student services;
- Identify degree-seeking military
students and their family
members early on, and
issue a SOCNAV Student
Agreement, by the time the
student completes
approximately six semester
hours of credit;
- Advise students regarding your
institution's policies and procedures
as shown on your information page
in Chapter 5 of the SOC Degree
Network System-2 and -4
Handbooks;
- If your college is a Core SOC Degree
Network System Member, advise students
regarding the guaranteed two-way
transfer of courses in SOC DNS Course
Category Codes, as listed in the
Transferability Tables (Chapter 8:
DNS Handbooks) and Guaranteed-Transfer Courses section of the Web site;
- Be familiar with the Joint Services Transcript (formerly SMART);
- Ensure the student is given the
policies and procedures for dropping/withdrawing
from a class (e.g., a Web site URL,
e-mail address, and/or name and a
telephone number) as well as student
obligations and academic consequences
if not following established procedures;
- Familiarize students with the policies
and procedures for distance learning
courses, such as log-in information,
creating a password and user name,
technology requirements, etc.; and
- If your institution requires distance learning students to take proctored exams, provide information on where to secure a proctor and/or find an approved testing center.