THE COLLEGE DEGREE TOOLBOX
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The Navy College Program allows sailors
opportunity to obtain a college degree of their choice during their active duty career.
The program integrates all components of off-duty education, providing academic credit for
Navy training and work experience and career-long academic advice and support. Geared
primarily to enlisted sailors, some components of the program are available to officers as
well.
The program’s vision is that every sailor receives an individual roadmap to an
associate’s or bachelor’s degree. To accomplish this, every sailor is
automatically enrolled into the program. The Navy College program seeks increased college
opportunity for every sailor, in a single system that integrates all components of
off-duty voluntary education.
The program encourages a command climate that recognizes the contribution of off-duty
education to a sailor’s development. It fosters a partnership with the Navy’s
training command and institutions of higher learning. In addition, the program provides a
career-long educational counseling system, regardless of where a sailor is stationed.
The Navy College Program is a decidedly voluntary program that operates under its guiding
principles. It incorporates a variety of delivery methods to accommodate different
learning types, capabilities and levels of education, as well as advancements in
technology. The program seeks to maximize the accreditation and awad of higher education
credits for Navy training and experience, and to enhance the readiness of more effective,
productive and flexible sailors.
The Navy College Program was constructed to meet the needs of mobile sailors. The program
allows sailors access to information that will help them along the path to a college
degree, access to education no matter where they serve and the ability to transfer college
credit.
Navy College
Center provides servicemembers with easy access to information on the Navy College
Program and on-going voluntary education programs. Professional counselors staff the Navy
College Center, answer phone calls and respond to e-mail inquires. The Internet Web site
offers extensive information at the sailor’s convenience.
The Navy College Center operates seven days a week, 15 hours a day, from 6 a.m to 11 p.m.,
CST and can be contacted by calling its toll free number (877) 253-7122 or (DSN) 922-1828.
It can also be reached on the Web at <www.navycollege.navy.mil>. |
| Navy College Offices |
| Located at 62 installations around the world, Navy College Offices
house professional education services specialists, education technicians and guidance
counselors. These offices offer information about completing a high school diploma,
technical or occupational certificate, or college degree, as well as improving academic skills in
reading, math and English. |
| Credit for Navy
Courses |
| The American Council on Education evaluates Navy training courses for
recommended college credit. Every sailor will receive any recommended college credits for
their Navy training and work experiences. |
| Your SMART
Transcript |
The Sailor/Marine
American Council on Education Registry Transcript, or SMART, is an academically
accepted document, approved by the American Council on Education, to validate a service
member’s military occupational experience and training along with the corresponding
ACE credit recommendations. SMART products include:
* Military occupations held
* Military training courses completed
* College-level examinations completed, including College Level Examination Program,
DAS Subject Standardized Tests, Excelsior College Examinations, American College
Testing-Proficiency Examination Program and Regents College Examinations , Defense
Language Proficiency Tests.
* American Council on Education recommended credit for each of the above.
Although not all training is granted credit recommendations by ACE, there is an Other
Learning Experiences section of the transcript that documents this training and includes
reasons why no credit was granted.
* Summary: Formatted to resemble many college transcripts, this document streamlines
SMART, providing an overview of all ACE-recommended credits.
* Academic Institution Page: This document lists college courses taken on active
duty through Tuition Assistance, Navy College PACE or from Community College of the Air
Force (CCAF), as well as degrees and certifications earned or awarded.
Sailors and Marines can download their unofficial transcripts at <https://smart..navy.mil/> or from
their local Navy College Office. To have an official SMART sent to an educational
institution, servicemembers must complete a SMART request form. Forms can be downloaded
from <https://smart.navy.mil/>
or picked up from local Navy College Offices or Marine Corps Lifelong Learning Center.
Completed forms should be submitted in person or by fax to the local Navy College Office
or Marine Corps Education Center. |
| Rating & Degree
Roadmaps |
Rating-specific
roadmaps show recommended college credits for Navy military training and rating work
experiences. Sailors can apply these recommended college credits toward a degree related
to their career field or other field of their choice. Each academic institution will
decide which credits will be accepted for a particular degree program.
Degree-specific roadmaps are rate-related degrees that make the most of recommended credit
for Navy training and on-the-job experience. The Navy has partnerships with colleges and
universities that offer degrees through distance education for all enlisted ratings. |
| Tuition Assistance
(TA) |
The Tuition Assistance
Program is the Navy’s financial assistance program for all active duty service
members pursuing voluntary education goals during their off-duty hours. Tuition assistance
can be used for both classroom and distance learning courses, regardless of course length.
The Tuition Assistance Program provides 100 percent of tuition and mandatory fees for
program participants up to $250 per semester hour. Students are limited to 12-semester
hours, 18-quarter hours, 180 clock hours, or 18 CEUs per fiscal year. Waivers are
considered on a case-by-case basis.
Further details on this program are at <https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/ta1.html>. |
| Academic Advice |
While on active duty, every sailor can receive academic advice on
educational opportunities available from their Navy College Office and the Navy College
Center. This includes reviewing the sailor’s transcript, advising the sailor on
available college degree programs, financial assistance, explaining the application
acceptance and enrollment process and conducting testing when required. The sailor will
have connection to academic advice throughout his or her naval career.
The sailor’s chain of command can also provide augmenting and supporting advice and
counseling through their Navy career counselors and education services officers. |
| Navy College
Learning Centers |
| Navy College
Learning Centers offer sailors a variety of free computer-based learning programs,
including no-cost instruction in English, mathematics and reading through computer-based
courses. Other computer-based courses prepare participants for the Scholastic Assessment
Test, American College Test, College Level Examination Program, General Educational
Development , college English and math placement tests and writing skills improvement. |
| Navy College PACE
Program |
| Through the Navy College Program
for Afloat College Education, or PACE, shipboard sailors take course work toward their
degree objectives. This program provides fully funded academic skills, undergraduate and
graduate college courses through both instructor and computer-based methods. All
undergraduate and graduate courses are offered from regionally accredited institutions and
are fully transferable. |
| DANTES |
The Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support, or DANTES,
offers two primary education services to all military members: a wide range of
examinations and a distance learning program.
DANTES sponsors examinations at most Navy College Offices and aboard certain ships.
The primary tests available are the GED, college admission examinations such as the SAT
and ACT, examinations which result in ACE recommended college credit, such as the CLEP
exams, certification examinations in several professional and technical areas, and
guidance tests to measure a student's interests and aptitudes.
The DANTES Distance Learning Program offers opportunities to earn college credit wherever
military members are stationed. The program offers alternatives to traditional on-campus
or on-base courses. Members may take independent study courses for academic credit from
high school through graduate work, enroll in a full degree program with few or no
residency requirements, or enroll in technical courses that lead to a vocational
certificate. |
| Educational
Partnerships |
Using the Enhancing the Servicemembers Opportunity
College-Navy, or SOCNAV, program, sailors can complete a degree regardless of transfers.
Through this program, an expanded network of partnership colleges and universities accept
college credit from one another.
These partnerships institutions simplify the process of applying for admission or
enrollment. They eliminate or reduce residency requirements and provide academic
counseling throughout the degree program via telephone and Internet. Additional
information is available on the Web site <www.soc.aascu.org/socnav>.
The Navy is dedicated to providing educational benefits to its members through the Navy
College Offices, the Navy College Center, education services officers and command career
counselors; all of whom will assist naval personnel in selecting educational programs and
goals that are right for them. |
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