Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC)

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC)

Austin Peay is designated as an institutional member of Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC), a group of over 400 colleges and universities providing voluntary postsecondary education to members of the military throughout the world.

As a SOC member, APSU 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 experiences.

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Associate Degree for Soldiers (SOCAD-2)

In addition to its SOC membership, APSU is one of approximately 200 institutions providing occupational and flexible SOCAD-2 (formerly SOCAD) programs on over 50 Army installations worldwide. These programs lead to associate degrees, most of which correspond to enlisted and warrant officer job specialties. The agreement is valid for six years. Through prior agreement, students in SOCAD-2 programs:

1. Must complete at any time during pursuit of degree 25 percent of total degree requirements in residence;
2. Must earn 6 semester hours of APSU credit before a SOCAD will be processed;
3. Are awarded credit for experience in their military occupational specialty (MOS) and service schools as appropriate to their programs;
4. Are awarded credit for nontraditional learning based on results of national tests, such as CLEP and DANTES, as appropriate to their programs;
5. Have a SOCAD Student Agreement completed as their official evaluation stating remaining degree requirements and eliminating the need for reevaluation of previous credit; and
6. Are guaranteed that courses listed in transferability tables in the SOCAD-2 handbook will be accepted for degree requirements within each curriculum area.

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges Bachelor’s Degree for Soldiers (SOCAD-4)

APSU offers the B.S. in Public Management as its Bachelor’s Degree for soldiers. The agreement is valid for six years. Through prior agreements, students in SOCAD-4 (formerly BDFS) programs:

1. Must complete at any time during pursuit of degree 25 percent of total degree requirements in residence;
2. Must earn 6 semester hours of APSU credit before a SOCAD will be processed;
3. Are awarded credit for experience in their military occupation specialty (MOS) and service schools as appropriate to their programs;
4. Are awarded credit for nontraditional learning based on results of national tests, such as CLEP and DANTES, as appropriate to their programs;
5. Have a SOCAD Student Agreement; and
6. Are guaranteed course transferability as per the SOCAD Student Agreement.