Earning credit for military experience just got easier for University of North Carolina students, thanks to the school’s new Military Equivalency System.
Honoring military experience isn’t a new concept for the university, but historically, it’s been a time-consuming and often frustrating experience for prospective students to find out how much credit they qualify for.
UNC military and veteran education program manager Bradley Wrenn had this to say about the issue: “The real challenges fell in the students not really knowing where to submit the information. There wasn’t really a system-wide mechanism for them to input their military training and experience information, and so they were doing it at the university level.”
With the new system, which can be used across 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina system, students can simply type in information from their American Council on Education joint services transcript and instantly receive course equivalencies. Right now, there are about 7,000 course titles in the new database, but this number is expected to grow.
The new approach to assigning military credit doesn’t only serve students. It marks a critical step toward filling in-demand positions in the local workforce as well. Employers are eager to hire graduates with military experience, and this system will help accelerate that process by helping students earn their degrees sooner rather than later. Some of the most in-demand fields in North Carolina include education, business, health sciences, and STEM fields.
The University of North Carolina system encompasses 17 different campuses, with the largest being North Carolina State University. Recently, Forbes named its flagship university, the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill as one of the new public Ivies.
UNC has a large military/veteran student population, with more than 21,000 current and past service members enrolled in classes. This is nearly 10% of the total student body.
Source: Public News Service
Related: Best Online Colleges for Military Veterans