to my surprise i enrolled at a community college and none of my credits were accepted is this something that happens often or should i look into transferring to another college?
Answers
As others have mentioned, I would recommend transferring to a college that will accept those credits. Keep in mind though, that it may be helpful to speak with an advisor or do a bit of research online to see if there are ways to maximize the amount of credits that you can transfer over.
I did a bit of searching for you and found this nice resource from USA Today: http://college.usatoday.com/2014/04/09/3-ways-to-not-lose-credits-when-transferring-colleges/
Another great example - Maryville University's Online program created a pretty helpful guide for transferring and keeping your college credits. I'll post here in case you or anyone finds it helpful: https://online.maryville.edu/admissions/guide-to-transferring-college-and-keeping-college-credits/
I'll do a bit more searching for you and see if there is anything else I can find.
Unfortunately, this is an age-old problem. I went through this 30 years ago. The better the school, the more likely it is that it will not give you the credit you deserve. My advice is to go to the best state university you can and take courses that directly relate to your military training. I coasted through several courses because of my military training and padded my GPA. Stay away from for-profit schools and minimize online courses. Employers discount those degrees.
Please Please Please go to your closest Navy College Office and meet with every single school that is there. I have been a Military and Veteran Academic Advisor for the past 10 years. I worked for Florida State College, Excelsior, and TESC. They will take all of your credits and utilize them in your degree. They are all regionally accredited. Another suggestion, Coastline Community College will take all of your credits. When you go through your JST you need to look out for duplicates. Many times students come and expect to have 90 credits towards their degree but as we go through each credit you will see that there are a lot of duplicates. Go talk to an advisor ON BASE that knows how to read your JST and a school that is willing to use the credits that you worked very hard to earn. There is no reason you should have to basically start all over. Make sure they are REGIONALLY accredited so that when you transfer to your bachelors program you have an Associates that will transfer. Good Luck and thank you for your service!
Transfer credit is a tricky business. I know, I've done it for the last 12 years. What kinds of credit recommendations are on your JST? If it is vocational, technical credit, a liberal arts school might not accept them. If they are technical credit but not compatible with the program/degree you are pursuing, there is no pont to transferring credit that doesn't get you closer to graduating. Ask some more clarifying questions of your advisor and find the transfer credit policies at your school to see if it lines up with what you've experienced.
Credit transfer is always difficult and is never what you expect. What did you do in the Navy? Try trade schools. I am not sure a degree will give you what you want. Contact me and we can discuss. Keep your head up!!
Unfortunately, that is incredibly common. As Charles has already said, seek a college that will accept your credits. It depends on the field or industry that you want to be in, but try to get into an accredited university. University of Phoenix is a good example of an accredited school and is quite popular among military because they give credit for your military experience. Also they have an extensive distance program. There are quite a few other schools that will also accept military experience or credits.
A note about accreditation: my industry is engineering and the school's ABET accreditation is incredibly important for me, for instance. Various industries require different accreditation for the institution. Be sure to do the research on the individual school because it would be awful to invest your time and resources into a school to find out that you're less marketable because of accreditation of the school. Best of luck!
I agree with Charles, start searching for a college that will give you credit for your military schooling. I had an associates in 1975 from the Community College of the USAF. So if things transferred way back then, you need to consider: their job is to sell you credits, your job is to get an education in the shortest time possible. Make sure it is accredited, just because it is acceptable to the VA, check out and see if their credits transfer to a university. It takes a little home work, but and education is a big investment of time and money.
Consider transferring to a college that will accept those credits. I was fortunate that, when I returned to the college I'd begun attending prior to enlisting, they accepted the CLEP tests I'd taken while on active duty, as well as some of my experience. It enabled me to complete my degree and get on with my professional life.
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