NEC Adopts a Michigan Resolution - Resolution No. 12: Support Joint Services Transcript Evaluation of Military Training

NATIONAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF

THE AMERICAN LEGION

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

OCTOBER 15 - 16, 2014

Resolution No. 12: Support Joint Services Transcript Evaluation of Military Training and Experience of Veterans, Active-Duty, Reserve and National Guard Personnel

Origin: Register Resolution No. 2704 (MI) Department Executive Committee

Submitted by: Veterans Employment & Education Commission

WHEREAS, Veterans are in need of academic post-military degree and certificate credentials universally recognizable by employers for employment opportunities; and

WHEREAS, The Department of Defense (DOD) has already spared no expense to provide our military personnel with some of the best vocational training in the nation paid for by past federal budgets of the United States; and

WHEREAS, DOD establishes, measures and evaluates performance standards for every occupation within the Armed Forces; and

WHEREAS, The American Council on Education (ACE) has evaluated most of the training for these military occupations and provided guidelines for awarding college-level credit for such training; and

WHEREAS, Approximately 1,900 institutions of higher learning formed the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), which was created in 1972 to provide educational opportunities to servicemembers who, because they frequently moved from place to place, had trouble completing college degrees; and

WHEREAS, SOC functions in cooperation with 15 higher education associations, DOD, and the Active and Reserve Components of the Military Services to expand and improve voluntary post-secondary education opportunities for servicemembers worldwide; and

WHEREAS, SOC is funded by the DOD through a contract with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the contract is managed for DOD by the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES); and

WHEREAS, There are many occupational career fields in the Armed Forces that have been evaluated by ACE using the Joint Services Transcript System into recommended Vocational Certificate, Lower Division Baccalaureate/Associate Degree, Upper Division Baccalaureate and Graduate University, Community College and Technical School academic credit; and

WHEREAS, There are many occupations in the civilian workforce that require a civilian college/university degree, or vocational certificate; and

WHEREAS, In the Armed Forces, these unique occupations are performed to approved military standards that may meet or exceed the civilian college/university or vocational academic coursework criteria; and

WHEREAS, Upon separation from military service, many former military personnel, certified as proficient in their military occupational career, have recommended college/university and vocational academic credit based on the ACE Military Evaluation process; and

WHEREAS, Since 1945, ACE has evaluated military training and experience to gauge eligibility for university, college and vocational credit recommendations; and 2

WHEREAS, In 1974, ACE Military Programs began the assessment of military occupational specialties; and

WHEREAS, More than 2,200 higher education institutions consider the ACE Military Programs course credit recommendations and these credit recommendations can also assist in the servicemember’s career advancement; and

WHEREAS, In March, 2013, the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, and Coast Guard combined their individual transcript systems into one system called the Joint Services Transcript System; and

WHEREAS, DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) require colleges, universities, vocational and technical schools, both public and private, to evaluate prior learning and previous academic transcripts and credit, prior to a veteran, active-duty, Reserve or National Guard to be in receipt of funds for training or education at civilian institutions of higher learning to include colleges, universities and vocational technical schools; and

WHEREAS, DOD has already paid for the training of its personnel for their military occupations and the taxpayers of the United States should not be burdened by paying for the training again in the form of the GI Bill or any federally-funded training program; and

WHEREAS, DOD Tuition Assistance, VA Education or any form of the GI Bill requires this evaluation, and a fully completed degree or certificate plan to ensure compliance with DOD and VA regulations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, By the National Executive Committee of The American Legion in regular meeting assembled in Indianapolis, Indiana, on October 15-16, 2014, That The American Legion support efforts of academic credit evaluation by colleges, universities and vocational technical schools via the Joint Services Transcript system for military experience as evaluated college, university and vocational technical school credit; and, be it further

RESOLVED, That The American Legion support efforts to increase the understanding that without this required evaluation of Joint Services Transcripts that the Department of Veterans Affairs education funding through the GI Bill oftentimes duplicates funding for military training already received by the Department of Defense (DOD); and, be it finally

RESOLVED, That DOD and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) change the current required degree plan used by colleges, universities and vocational technical institutions of higher learning to be in receipt of DOD Tuition Assistance or VA GI Bill funds be required to evaluate and report the Joint Services Transcript of veterans, active-duty military, Reserve and National Guard just as they would for any other transcript from an institution of prior learning.