PRIOR CREDIT
One of the criteria for approval of any school for Veterans' training is that it review prior credit and grant
credit as appropriate to a VA student's current program. This is found in Title 38, Code of Federal
Regulations, Sections 21.4253(d)(3) and 21.4254(C)(4). In essence, this requires every approved
school to have and enforce a policy with regard to transfer courses, credits, and previous experience.
Effective October 15, 2007, for accredited schools and effective October 10, 2008, for non-accredited
schools, schools no longer have to report prior credit to VA. Schools must evaluate prior credit, grant
accordingly. The change simply means credit evaluations no longer have to be reported to VA.
Whenever a student initially enrolls in your school or changes programs at your school a credit
evaluation must be completed. VA will review credit evaluations during compliance surveys and credit
evaluation records must be kept and made available to VA upon request.
The Prior Training Credit box in VA-ONCE is now NA (Not Applicable) by default and is locked (grayed
out).
Military Education and Training Resources
Military education and training should be evaluated for prior credit. Information needed to evaluate
military education and training is available online.
The ACE Military Guide
The ACE (American Council on Education) Military Guide (Guide to Evaluation of Educational
Experiences in the Armed Services) is on the web at: http://militaryguides.acenet.edu/.
Military Transcripts
Information about military transcripts and how to request the transcripts is available from the Army and
Navy as shown below:
• Army (AARTS transcript): http://aarts.army.mil
• Navy & Marine Corps (SMART Transcript): https://smart.navy.mil/smart/welcome.do
