• Possible upgrades for the CTC website include mapping military occupations into civilian careers, linking to a degree audit system, adding military officer training, adding upper-level courses, and adding more information about military training.
Work with participating institutions on their efforts to seek SACS support for statewide efforts to eliminate barriers to the award of credit for veterans and servicemembers.
• Participating colleges, in cooperation with THECB and TWC, will seek approval to ensure that accreditation guidelines allow the best interpretations and options for the award of academic credit based on military training and experience from the College Credit for Heroes website.
• CTC will issue official transcripts upon favorable resolution of accreditation questions. Encourage Texas colleges and universities to adopt streamlined College Credit for Heroes curricula for associate degree registered nursing, surgical technology certificate programs, and emergency medical services programs.
• Temple College is making the EMS curriculum available to any college and is in discussions with Grayson College about starting a program in spring 2013. • Alamo Colleges is developing articulation agreements with four-year institutions. • Alamo Colleges will start accepting veterans and servicemembers into the associate
degree registered nursing program in spring 2013.
• Adding more colleges that adopt the curricula or articulate the credit to higher degrees will increase savings and speed veterans’ entry into the workforce.
Encourage greater use of prior learning assessments and other competency-based models to maximize award of credit for military experience and training. Encourage Texas colleges and universities to adopt streamlined College Credit for Heroes curricula for Associate of Applied Sciences (AAS) degrees in Health Information Technology: Health Management Medical Laboratory Technician Specialty, Health Management Occupational Therapy Assistant Specialty, and Health Management Radiography Technologist Specialty.
• Alamo Colleges will begin accepting veterans and servicemembers into the associate degree programs in spring 2013.
• Adding more colleges that adopt the curricula or articulate the credit to higher degrees will increase savings and speed veterans’ entry into the workforce.
Ensure continued communication between colleges, universities, TWC, THECB, and local employers and businesses on the award of college credit for veterans and servicemembers.
• Continue the Texas Inter-College Council on Veterans and methods to award academic and workforce credit for veterans and servicemembers.
• Continue working together to promote opportunities to improve policies and procedures for veterans and servicemembers.
Disseminate information statewide on College Credit for Heroes projects and encourage Texas colleges and universities to adopt College Credit for Heroes best practices.
• Continue and update the College Credit for Heroes website
• Provide best practices information to Texas colleges and universities • Continue and update the TWC College Credit for Heroes Web page.
Encourage Texas colleges and universities to develop articulation agreements and memoranda of understanding with Central Texas College to accept all credit evaluated or awarded for military service under the College Credit for Heroes program.
• CTC and partner colleges are developing draft articulation agreements.
• Tracking and accounting for articulation agreements adopted will enable Texas to
determine how widespread College Credit for Heroes practices and programs are, as well as how state and federal savings are rising.
Continue progress made in allied health and address limitations for military obtaining licensing or certification in other allied health professions.
• Houston Community College is on a Texas Medical Center task force to look at other allied health professions and determine if degree, licensing, or certification processes can be streamlined.
• Alamo Colleges is looking at additional health training programs at METC that could be streamlined.
• Initiate regional studies/inventories of the availability of nursing and allied health clinical teaching space and ways to overcome limitations.
Expand College Credit for Heroes outreach to Texas veterans and active servicemembers who enlisted in the military from Texas or who are willing to relocate to Texas.
Continue collaboration between TWC and THECB, military bases and installations in Texas (including the Medical Education and Training Campus (METC), Fort Hood, Fort Sam Houston, Fort Bliss, and others), and colleges and universities to improve the award of college credit and the transition to the civilian workforce. Clarify Texas’ statutory provisions on the award of credit for military service and training.
• It is not clear whether Texas statutes place a limit of 12 hours on the award of elective credit. Under initial statistics available from the College Credit for Heroes website, an average of 17 hours of elective credit has been recorded on transcripts issued to date. Improve public awareness of the impact and opportunities presented by thousands of veterans on Texas’ college and university campuses.
• Consider instituting a central repository for regular reporting on the number of veterans using VA benefits and the number of servicemembers using tuition assistance benefits.
Encourage other schools to become members of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium and to use American Council on Education (ACE) credit recommendations and accept transcripts or evaluations of military service from Central Texas College on the award of college credit.
• Lee College prepared a report on how it became an SOC school, which can be made available to other schools.
• TWC required all schools participating in the College Credit for Heroes grant to obtain or maintain SOC membership.
Consider ways to help veterans and servicemembers determine if Texas colleges and universities are military-friendly.
• Consider a spectrum of options, ranging from labeling institutions that obtain and maintain SOC membership, to establishing a “College Credit for Heroes Military- Friendly” designation.
Initiate activities to identify licensing or certification barriers for veterans and
servicemembers across additional professions, including barriers for their spouses who hold professional certificates or licenses from other states.
• Other states and the federal government have recently initiated efforts to identify and remove licensing and certification barriers to servicemembers relocating to other states or exiting the military into civilian life.
• Consider ways to identify licensing and certification issues for military spouses who relocate to Texas, including reciprocity with other states.
TWC and College Credit for Heroes extend thanks to many people across the state of Texas for their dedicated work on behalf of veterans and servicemembers. Many colleges and universities have taken steps on their own campuses to enable men and women to make an easier transition from military service to education and to the workforce.
We are most grateful to the seven college partners who led projects, participated in the Texas Inter-College Council on Veterans, and worked tirelessly to resolve issues and develop best practices. The Office of the Governor, state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, Texas Veterans Commission, and members and civilian employees
of the national and state armed forces worked with us to ensure that College Credit for Heroes benefited veterans and servicemembers as much as possible. Texas Local Workforce Development Boards, Workforce Solutions Offices, other organizations, and colleges and universities participating in outreach events and conferences added their expertise to the program. Please know that your contributions will be recognized for decades as veterans and servicemembers achieve academic and workforce credit, entering civilian workplaces sooner, saving time for themselves and their families, and saving taxpayer dollars for all.