Contact: Ann Hatch
214-378-1819;
ahatch@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Jan. 24, 2018
(DALLAS) — Active duty service member one day. Veteran the next. What comes after that transition? Finding ways to use skills learned in the military to start a career or earn a college credential is a concrete, logical step.
More than eight percent of the Dallas-Fort Worth area’s adult population across 13 counties comprises veterans — one of the most concentrated areas in the U.S. that former service members call home. The Dallas County Community College District can help those former service members earn credit for the knowledge and skills they learned on active duty and apply them toward a credential that will help build a new career and a new life.
Through the College Credit for Heroes program at DCCCD, with grant funding provided by the Texas Workforce Commission, student veterans now can earn college credit for classes or skills learned through all branches of service.
DCCCD began participating in CCH several years ago, offering college credit in the field of information technology. Beginning with the spring 2018 semester, the district has added three new fields to the program: welding, heating/ventilation/air conditioning (or HVAC) and logistics/supply chain management/manufacturing technology.
“Through TWC’s College Credit for Heroes and DCCCD’s Veterans Educational Transitions program, we can offer student veterans college credit for the courses and training they received in the military,” said Phillip Hoy, senior manager of grants projects in the DCCCD veteran services office.
He added, “We have the criteria in place and evaluations for military training from all branches of service in information technology, welding technology, HVAC and logistics/supply chain management/manufacturing technology. Eastfield and Cedar Valley colleges are associated with all three new programs.
“Any veteran who is interested in looking at college credit he or she can earn through prior military training can go to the DCCCD website and check those classes for credit against the evaluations we have posted online,” added Hoy. “The amount of college credit we can give veterans will be based on their military experience and training.”
DCCCD evaluated the classes that its colleges offer in comparison to military training to determine the amount of credit that a veteran can receive, according to Hoy. “Our goal is to attract students to the website and look at their training. They may need to take only one or two classes with us to earn a certificate that can lead to employment. Associate degrees take longer to complete.”
He added, “Those credentials help increase earnings and build careers. Not all military members or veterans will be able to earn credit through College Credit for Heroes.”
The DCCCD Veterans Educational Transitions website includes sections organized by each branch of service where training courses are listed by name, along with the equivalent course offered by the district and the amount of credit given for each course. Visit dcccd.edu/veterans and click on the link for Veterans Educational Transitions (VET) to read more and start that process.
Veterans will need their joint services transcripts to check those courses and potential credits, said Hoy, in addition to following other steps. Once an evaluation is done by a DCCCD college where those four programs are offered, then the student veteran can receive credit for specific military training courses.
Student veterans can take credit courses using their GI Bill benefits. The state covers continuing education classes under the Hazlewood Act for Texas veterans who qualify; that program is overseen by the Texas Veterans Commission.
“We’ve worked for several years to establish and then expand our VET program,” said Hoy. “We’ve compared and evaluated DCCCD and military courses to determine college credit for student veterans. Now we encourage veterans to visit our VET pages, look at the courses they took through their own branch of service and then come to DCCCD to get credit and take remaining classes that will help them earn certificates or an associate degree.”
Although the spring semester has started at all DCCCD colleges, flex credit courses are scheduled throughout the semester, as well as continuing education classes.
For more information about DCCCD’s College Credit for Heroes/Veterans Educational Transitions program, contact Hoy by email at
phoy@dcccd.edu or by phone at 214-378-1723.
# # #