What
is SOC?
The
acronym SOC stands for “Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges.” It is a
consortium of national higher education associations, which functions in
cooperation with the Department of Defense (DoD), and the Military Services
including the National Guard, and the Coast Guard, to help meet the voluntary
higher education needs of servicemembers.
What
is SOCAD?
The acronym SOCAD stands for “Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Army
Degrees.” It consists of a select group of more than 100 of the 1,400 SOC
colleges. They evaluate a soldier’s past learning experiences (college courses,
tests, military occupational specialty, Army schools, etc.) and provide the
soldier a Student Agreement, a list of credits awarded and those still needed to
graduate. If the soldier relocates and must complete his degree with courses
from other colleges, they guarantee to accept transfer courses from SOCAD
colleges without individual approval provided the soldier has a signed Student
Agreement from his “home college” (reference
SOCAD Q&A 4 ).
How
do Army Career Degrees fit into Army Continuing Education System’s vision to
“Create and lead the Army’s premier education organization committed to
excellence in service, innovation, and deployability?”
While
making the Army their career, Army Career Degrees provide soldiers credible
options for completing college. This new program allows soldiers to
maximize their learning achieved through their own Army career development
while permitting them to complete their degree programs through distance
learning anywhere in the world.
What
efforts are being taken to inform soldiers that they should participate in Army
Career Degrees?
Soldiers
are briefed in Basic Non-Commissioned Course (BNCOC) on the SOCAD Career Degree
in their specialty. Other degree options that relate to their specialty are
also included in the packet of information provided in the BNCOC
briefing. Other support materials, besides print literature, include:
SOC Army Degree Builders website:
Army
Career Degrees are briefed and information provided at ACES workshops, NCO
conferences, and through other venues.
What
Military Occupational Specialties have SOCAD Degree
Builders?
The most current list of SOCAD
Degree Builders is located at
https://www.soc.aascu.org/socad/DegBldrsA.html
How
can information regarding Army Career Degrees and Service Members Opportunity
Colleges Army Degree-Degree Builders be accessed on their website?
You will find a brief
introduction and links to current degree builders at
https://www.soc.aascu.org/socad/DegBldrsA.html
What is
the objective of the education briefing during Basic Non-Commissioned
Course?
The
objective is to introduce soldiers to specific college degree programs that are
closely related to their Army specialties in a format that conveys exactly what
their military experience is worth in completing the degree and precisely how
each course requirement can be met using guaranteed-to-transfer SOCAD courses
and non-traditional means.
Do
courses provided by institutions as part of the Army Career Degree Program
replace training instruction core to the noncommissioned officer education
system.
Coursework
taken from colleges and universities to complete an Army Career Degree does not
substitute for military training courses core to noncommissioned officer
education system (NCOES). This coursework should, however, be complementary and
supportive of soldier’s career development.
What is
the role of the Education Centers?
Army Continuing Education
System guidance counselors, education services specialists (ESS), and education
services officers (ESO) should be familiar with Army Career Degrees. When
soldiers in-process, guidance counselors:
-
Explain the program and how it relates to their specific MOS.
-
Explain how soldiers can find guaranteed sources of credit to earn an
Army Career Degree and refer them to colleges offering the degrees.
-
Instruct soldiers in how to request an official evaluation of prior
learning and insist on issuance of a Student Agreement that reflects the
results of that evaluation and provides a clear road map to degree completion.
Was there a pilot to test the
feasibility of implementing Army Career Degrees?
Yes,
Thomas Edison State College, Trenton, N.J., in partnership with SOC, HQDA ACES,
and U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) developed a SOCAD Army
Career Degree for career management field (CMF) 67, aviation maintenance.
The 1999 pilot lasted seven months. The results showed support for the concept.
The SOCAD Career Degree format proved effective in allowing the college to
articulate guaranteed credit based on learning achieved through Army training
and experience. Thomas Edison reported a considerable number of inquires
regarding actual enrollment in CMF 67 Army Career Degree Program usually after
soldiers were briefed in BNCOC and became stabilized at their permanent duty
stations.
What are the criteria for expanding
Army Career Degrees into other military occupational specialty/career management
fields?
The
criteria for expansion includes:
- Field density/BNCOC density
- Technical content of the MOS
- Viability of the MOS in the Army
- Viability of the MOS skills in the private sector
- Existence of a college willing to craft a SOCAD
Career Degree in the specialty
- Technical content of the MOS
How is the Army Career Degree Program
being evaluated?
The
U.S. Army; U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC); U.S. Medical
Command (MEDCOM); and SOC Program Managers will evaluate the program to
determine the advisability of continuing or expanding the Army Career Degree
network.
- Inputs for this evaluation will come from survey
data provided by:
- Participating colleges
- Army service schools
- Surveys of soldiers in target groups
- Selected Army Education Center staff
personnel.
- Army service schools
- Colleges, offering the Army Career Degrees, track
the program activity in terms of:
- Completed official evaluation of prior learning
and number of new student agreements issued.
- Number of semester hours of credit awarded for
learning achieved through military training and experience that fulfill
specific course requirements for Army Career Degrees.
- Number of degrees awarded.
- Number of semester hours of credit awarded for
- The SOCAD Project Director compares the SOCAD Army
Career Degree activity against activity in all other technical SOCAD networks
and reports results to HQ ACES on a quarterly basis.
- Participating colleges
How
have colleges and universities been selected to join the Army Career Degree
Network?
The SOCAD
colleges were asked to make their interest known to the SOCAD Project Director
if they wanted to develop a SOCAD Army Degree in one or
more specialties.
On October 26, 1999, the HQDA ACES Director and
the SOC Director sent a joint letter to the presidents of each SOCAD institution
thanking them for their past commitment to Army education and soliciting their
interest in partnering with the Army in this initiative. The SOCAD Project
Director, in coordination with the HQDA Project Manager, selected institutions
expressing interest in particular specialties on a first come basis to develop a
SOCAD Army Career Degree in specialties of their interest.
For
specialties where no current SOCAD institution expressed a willingness to
develop a SOCAD Army Career Degree, the SOCAD Project Director went to
institutions outside the system recognized for their expertise and distance
learning capacity. The Project Director solicited their interest in joining
SOCAD and in developing a SOCAD Army Career Degree to meet an Army
priority.
Where can the latest information on
Army Career Degrees be obtained?
The SOCAD
website contains the latest information of implemented Army Career Degrees: