Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit

MHEC convenes the 13 states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin for the purpose of advancing best practices that are designed to ease the transition of veterans and their families from military life to college campuses. Emphasis is given to translating competencies acquired through military training and experiences into milestones toward completing a college degree or earning a certificate or license.

Background

In October 2014, Lumina Foundation awarded a $900,000 grant to MHEC to assist an interstate partnership of 13 states to advance best practices designed to ease the transition of veterans and their families from military life to college campuses, with special reference to translating competencies acquired through military training and experiences into milestones toward completing a college degree or earning a certificate or license. The three-year project was built on the efforts of individuals who had collaborated virtually and in person for 2.5 years prior to grant funding which began on November 1, 2014. Work groups were established to exchange information and share best practices in four areas: articulation of academic credit, licensure and certification, communications and outreach, and data, systems and technology.

As part of the Lumina Foundation's grant, one of the process metrics of the Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit, was for all states to articulate and implement a plan for engaging key stakeholders within their state to better address the needs of servicemembers and veterans in advancing their educational/career goals.

In October 2015, MHEC was awarded an additional $200,000 grant from Strada Education Network (formerly USA Funds) for the MCMC initiative. These additional funds supported veterans in increasing postsecondary degree completion, streamlining pathways for licensure and certification for healthcare professions, supporting services during key educational transitions, and creating networks for supporting communications, technologies, and data collection and analyses.

Knowledge Communities

These MCMC workgroups began meeting regularly in February 2015 to develop strategies specific to their areas of work. MHEC functioned as the fiscal agent and coordinating entity on behalf of the states in the collaborative. While the work groups are no longer actively engaged, they remain strong knowledge communities who frequently communicate with MHEC’s MCMC Manager Sara Appel.

• Articulation of Academic Credit
  This group’s work focus was to identify policies and promising practices at the national, state, and institutional level that could facilitate the translation of military training and experience into college credit/progress toward completing a certificate or degree program and to share this information with the Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit (MCMC) stakeholders.
   
• Communications and Outreach
  This group’s focus was to address the two gaps that were identified: a) Inadequate communication to current/former service members regarding higher education opportunities and planning; and b) Lack of consistent and accurate information. This group was asked to identify policies that could enhance the ways in which information could be communicated to servicemembers about how their military training and experience can result in progress toward earning a postsecondary certificate, degree, or professional license or certification.
   
• Data, Systems and Technology
  This work group concentrated on developing metrics and data processes needed to follow servicemembers for purposes of identifying patterns and trends.
   
• Licensure and Certification
  This group’s work focus was to address the absence of common standards for service credentialing programs, inconsistent state laws, and the lack of understanding about how military training and experience translates into licensing and academic credits, and extend the results of the existing national efforts to all states in the MCMC.