STUDENT DEVELOPMENT SERVICES -- Servicemembers Opportunity College (SOC)

NOVA has been designated as an institutional member of Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), a group of over 1,700 colleges and universities providing voluntary postsecondary education to members of the military throughout the world. As a SOC member, NOVA recognizes the unique nature of the military lifestyle and has committed itself to easing the transfer of relevant course credits, providing flexible academic residency requirements, and crediting learning from appropriate military training and experiences. SOC has been developed jointly by educational representatives of each of the Armed Services, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and a consortium of 14 leading national higher education associations; it is sponsored by the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

In addition to its SOC membership, NOVA is one of approximately 50 institutions providing career and flexible Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Associate Degree (SOCAD) programs on over 500 Army installations worldwide. These programs lead to associate degrees and most of them correspond to enlisted and warrant officer job specialties. Through prior agreement, students in SOCAD programs qualify for the following:

1. Have residency credit limited to one-fourth of total degree requirements taken at any time.

2. Are awarded credit for experience in their military occupational specialty (MOS) and service schools as appropriate to their program.

3. Are awarded credit for non-traditional learning based on results of national tests, such as CLEP and SSTs, as appropriate to their program.

4. Have a SOCAD Student Agreement completed as their official evaluation stating remaining degree requirements and eliminating the need for reevaluation of previous credit.

5. Are guaranteed that courses listed in transferability charts in the SOCAD Handbook will be accepted for degree requirements within each curriculum area.