Some Colleges Diss Vets' Experience

August 21, 2009
Associated Press

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- Twelve years of military service left Donald Spradling highly trained in satellite imagery, nuclear engineering and foreign intelligence analysis. None of that made a difference to the University of Missouri.

When the fall semester begins next week, the 33-year-old father of five will be taking largely introductory courses with the rest of the school's freshmen.

"I'm going to be studying things I already learned all over again," the Navy veteran said.

Nearly half a million veterans are expected on college campuses this year as part of the new GI Bill. The surge is leading to a call for schools to re-examine their policies of declining to grant college credit for military training and service.

An estimated one in five colleges and universities do not give academic credit for military education, according to a recent survey of 723 schools by the American Council on Education that is believed to be the first systematic measure. Even more of the schools, 36 percent, said they don't award credit for military occupational training.

http://www.military.com/news/article...tml?ESRC=eb.nl

Not sure what to think....my initial inclination is to say "screw those arrogant SOBs". Perhaps those colleges and universities are more interested in making a buck than in real education.


When a person completes jump school and then spends a few years dropping out of the sky and is then told by some accademic that he can't get credit for some physical education course and has to take Olympic badminton, then I have a problem. I guess military folks will always be second rate to some.