Servicemembers Opportunity College (SOC)
Strayer University is a member of the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) Consortium and the SOC Degree Network System (DNS).
SOC is a consortium of national higher education associations and approximately 1,900 institutional members, of which Strayer University has been a proud member since 1984. SOC provides college-level educational opportunities for active duty service members and their families. Active duty military persons and their families frequently move around, making it difficult to complete a degree with one institution. SOC enables the student to complete an undergraduate degree at a participatory institution regardless of where he/she is stationed. SOC Consortium institutional members subscribe to principles and criteria to ensure the quality academic programs are available to military students, their family members, civilian employees of the Department of Defense (DoD) and Coast Guard, and veterans. SOC is divided into four parts: SOCAD (Army), SOCNAV (Navy), SOCMAR (Marine Corps), and SOCCOAST (Coast Guard). SOC institutional members, for the most part, confer the full range of associate and baccalaureate degrees, and some act as "home colleges" who, by prior agreement, allow students to earn academic credits at other schools.
The SOC Degree Network System (DNS) consist of a subset of SOC Consortium member institutions selected by the military Services to deliver specific Associate and Bachelor's degree programs to service members and their families. Institutional members of the SOC DNS agree to special requirements and obligations that provide military students, their spouses and college-age children with opportunities to complete college degrees without suffering loss of academic credit due to changes of duty station.
In order for a service member to become a SOC student, he or she must provide the requisite military documents for evaluation. The student needs to submit one of the following: 1) DD214, 2) DD295, 3) Joint Services transcript or 4) a transcript from one of the military schools such as the Community College of the Air Force or the Coast Guard Institute. Students in associate degree programs must complete a minimum of 22.5 quarter hours in residency. Students in bachelor degree programs must complete a minimum of 45.0 quarter hours in residency. Students in the Undergraduate Diploma programs are not eligible to participate in the SOC program
The SOC national office is located in Washington, DC where it maintains liaison with its 15 sponsoring higher education associations, the Department of Defense, including the US Army, US Navy, US Air Force, US Marine Corps, National Guard and the U.S. Coast Guard, as well as DANTES. For more information, visit:
www.soc.aascu.org