CCAF vs JST

[rockbust]

Hi, I sent my CCAF (prior Air Force) transcript to several universities. My initial schooling was several months long, 8 hours a day. Then I was cross trained into a job that was an extention of the current one. I required the prior school and I was also required to re-enlist and was sent for advanced training for about 8 months.

Being CCAF is an actual community college I am told by the perspective colleges that ALL credits are Lower Level. CCAF does not label and training as either LL or UL. I understand the theory but it seems very unfair and not accurate. If I was in the army and received the same training ACE would give recommendations on the Joint Services Transcript and advanced training would/could labeled as UL.

ACE will not eval air force training because of the CCAF is accredited. (really no need).

Is my thinking wrong?
Why can a Navy Veteran get UL transfers but not us AF Vets?

[Prloko]

I spoke with school advisers on this before and this is the downfall of the CCAF. Being its a community college, their credits are considered lower level. Several years back, TESC (now TESU) took some of my CCAF courses in transfer and transcribed them as upper level. That has since changed recently (within the last few years). This will not stop another school from transcribing it as upper level, but its rare. Likewise, COSC transfers in some upper level CLEP/DSST as lower level, so there is no set standard. It totally depends on the school.

But on the bright side, CCAF IS a community college AND SACS accredited which means the AAS is accepted more widely than JST credit (generally). In fact, there is talk of scrapping the JST and putting all service schools under the CCAF. A law authorizing that has already been passed, but its up to the services to make the move.

But really, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to have my military training transcribed as college credit, and receive a degree for it. Not many employees on the private side have this distinction.

[Sagan]

ACE will not eval air force training because of the CCAF is accredited. (really no need).

This is unfortunate. While CCAF is regionally accredited, it awards credits only at the lower division level. But when ACE was evaluating Air Force technical and leadership training for credit recommendations, many resulted in recommendations for upper division credit. Excelsior, for example, only accepted CCAF credits at the lower division level, despite ACE recommendations. CCAF preponderated.

Back then, a "College of the Air Force" awarding bachelor's degrees based on ACE credit recommendations, further higher education, and general education credits would have made sense. Instead of awarding a bunch of different degrees (like they do with the AAS), this program could have been made up of a few, broad programs. Management, Engineering Technology, Health Care Science, etc.

It would have been glorious.

[rockbust]

Has anyone thought of another way to get ccaf accepted as upper level with excelsior???
I have so so many electronic credits and to do more just to satisfy upper level is crazy. I was trained in my career field then was retrained into a job that required the former career field as a prerequisite . you could only get accepted if you re-enlisted because of the extensive training.

when I look at courses from 4 year universities in radar analysis and ac/dc power systems, most of them are upper level.

[dfrecore]

Has anyone thought of another way to get ccaf accepted as upper level with excelsior???
I have so so many electronic credits and to do more just to satisfy upper level is crazy. I was trained in my career field then was retrained into a job that required the former career field as a prerequisite . you could only get accepted if you re-enlisted because of the extensive training.

when I look at courses from 4 year universities in radar analysis and ac/dc power systems, most of them are upper level.

I'm not sure how EC works, but I know that at TESU many people have done the UL PLA courses because the cost is fantastic for just this type of thing. Maybe you want to look into that for EC as well.

[perriquit]

I'm not sure how EC works, but I know that at TESU many people have done the UL PLA courses because the cost is fantastic for just this type of thing. Maybe you want to look into that for EC as well.

From my experience as advisor of both Airforce and Army learners I think a CCAF degree is more valuable than a JST with upper level hours.
First, from most of the JST I have seen, the upper level hours are not significant, and even when a student has a significant number of upper level hours, they probably won't have a place where to fit them.

CCAF on the other hand, has been great making deals with colleges that will take all the 64 credits, some of them will waive general education classes, and if you CLEP upper level hours you could get a Bachelors degree in 10 classes or close to that, which is the minimum in residency requirement for most colleges, with the exception of the Big 3 of course.

You can certainly to a Prior Learning Portfolio to get UL hours, or got to Penn Foster and get those hours for cheap, especially if you are seeking a common degree like Business Administration or Criminal Justice, which Penn Foster offers.

I hope that helps!

Perico

[dcan]

In fact, there is talk of scrapping the JST and putting all service schools under the CCAF. A law authorizing that has already been passed, but its up to the services to make the move.

This has been talked about for 20 years but has never gone anywhere. Reason 1 is because it would jeopardize CCAF accreditation, because CCAF can have the Air Force establish policy requirements for instructor credentialing but has no authority over the Army policy for its instructors. CCAF has always been happy to help but doesn't want to risk its accreditation. Reason 2 is because the last time there was serious discussion of this in the 90s ACE worked w/ the Army to push back hard against it. Wrote very strongly worded letters to highly positioned individuals in DC and everything. ACE and the Army are very closely tied together. Not saying that's necessarily a bad thing, just that there are entrenched positions on both sides.

Instead, last word I have is that the Army is specifically working on an in-house AAS program modeled after CCAF. They have had extensive discussions with CCAF on operations, policies, etc. So I expect that sometime in the next few years the Army will start awarding credits and seeking accreditation as well. Don't know about the Navy.

a "College of the Air Force" awarding bachelor's degrees

This is in the very serious discussion stage.