Rhode Island lawmakers introduced legislation Feb. 28 targeted to improve how the state’s public colleges and universities offer academic credit to veterans for specific skills learned during their military service.
The Education Assistance for Combat Veterans Act is designed to help veterans finish school faster, allowing returning soldiers to take fewer classes before completing their degrees. Other provisions would require the state’s two-year college programs to accept transfer credits from four-year institutions and give veterans preferential placement in class registration lists, according to a State General Assembly press release.
Across the nation, one-fourth of colleges and universities have changed their policies on giving academic credit for military services since 2001, according to a 2012 study by the American Council on Education.
In 2012, 83 percent of institutions with programs for military veterans awarded academic credit for military training, and 63 percent evaluated credit for military occupational experiences.
“We have a lot of veterans coming back with employment issues,” said Sen. Christopher Ottiano, D-Portsmouth and Bristol, a co-sponsor of the bill, and “education is the cornerstone of employment.”
Several of the state’s schools already award credit for military training, said Christopher Baker ’09 SCM’10 GS, a student veteran. But a standardized system for awarding credit does not currently exist in Rhode Island.
The bill would require the Rhode Island Board of Education to standardize a procedure for awarding credit for military training and coursework in the state’s public colleges and universities, Ottiano said. But it would not require Brown or other private institutions of higher education to change any existing policies, he added.
“Brown, like many other peer institutions, does not currently grant transfer credit for experiential learning, including experience gained through military training,” wrote Maitrayee Bhattacharyya ’91, associate dean of the College for diversity programs, in an email to The Herald.
The University has a specific policy and procedure governing transfer credit that is determined by faculty members, said Kathleen McSharry, associate dean of the College for writing and curriculum. For a course taken elsewhere to merit credit, it must, among other criteria, be taken at a “four-year accredited institution that grants baccalaureate degrees in the arts and sciences,” according to the University’s transfer credit policy. The course cannot be “professional or career-oriented,” taken online or taken post-matriculation at a community college, according to the policy.
In the past, faculty members have made exceptions for particular programs, McSharry said.
Standardizing the state’s public colleges’ and universities’ procedures could help eliminate confusion for veteran students returning to school, she added, noting that state schools have a responsibility to serve their veteran population.
But Brown is also interested in increasing its veteran population, McSharry said. Because many soldiers take online courses to keep up with their studies while serving abroad, the University may reevaluate its transfer credit policy on online coursework, she said.
In September, the Undergraduate Veterans Subcommittee of the Diversity Advisory Board recommended the University take action to increase veteran enrollment and veteran support services at Brown, The Herald reported last month.
But the University’s population of student veterans has followed a national trend, increasing in recent years, Baker said.
Seven self-identified veterans are currently enrolled on campus, said Matthew Ricci ’16, a Resumed Undergraduate Education student and Navy veteran.
Baker said he does not see how some forms of military training could be transferred into course credit at Brown — such as the military’s culinary and physical training. But “if the (military) school is of really strict or high quality, I see no reason why the credits — especially if they’re directly relevant to what you’re doing — shouldn’t transfer,” he said.
Baker added that it is important for institutions to recognize false stereotypes about the intellectual rigor of military training.
“You can’t hold a position in the military these days without having a highly technical education,” he said, adding that programs like the Naval Nuclear Training Propulsion Program are the equivalent of taking a class for eight to 12 hours a day for two years, including time spent learning how to operate military machinery.
“It’s like your work day is going to school,” he said. “So you might complete a physics class in a week or two.”
Tyrone Smith ’16, a RUE freshman and veteran of the Massachusetts National Guard, expressed mixed feelings about whether Brown should offer academic credit for military training.
“I think it’s a very tricky subject that needs to be examined on a case-by-case basis,” Smith said. Rewarding academic credit for coursework completed at a non-academic institution could raise other questions, such as whether the University should award credit to certified lifeguards, he said.
Ricci said awarding credit for military coursework might be one way of attracting more veterans to campus, but it is not the most important way. Veterans who come to Brown usually do not aim to rush through their educations, he added.
A previous version of the headline for this article incorrectly indicated that proposed legislation would directly award academic credit for military service. In fact, it would require that the Rhode Island Board of Education set up a standard system of procedures that would determine when and how in-state public universities and colleges award academic credit for military training and coursework. The Herald regrets the error.
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