Military Students
Credit Options for Military Students
Kent State University is a Military Friendly Institution and awards college credit for basic military training, military courses and military occupations. The Credit Transfer Office prioritizes evaluations of all Joint Services Transcripts to ensure that our active military and veteran students are able to make prompt decisions about their education plans.
Military courses and Military occupations are eligible for Kent State University Credits through an evaluation of your Joint Services Transcript. To earn Kent State University Credit, request your military transcripts at the Joint Services Transcript website. For students of the Community College of the Air Force, you can send your CCAF transcript to Kent State University's Admissions office and it will be processed in the same manner as any other regionally accredited institution transcript. Talk with the advisor of your major program to determine if your military experience can be used towards program requirements. Each student has a unique experience and your experience is important at Kent State!
Your Joint Services Transcript
All eligible JST credits must be recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE), who recommends appropriate credit hours to be awarded. You can find credit recommendations from ACE on their online guide at https://militaryguide.acenet.edu. This guide will allow you to see how many semester credits you will receive, if they are lower or upper division credits, and what kind of credits you can receive through your occupation. The guide also has an "upload" tool that allows you to upload a pdf version of your JST to see full reviews of your courses and occupations. We use this same guide to determine the credit hours you will receive at Kent State.
We honor all credit recommendations from ACE's Military Guide and we also honor the State of Ohio Military Transfer Assurance Guide (MTAG) equivalencies as well. MTAGs are courses and occupations that are reviewed by the Ohio Department of Higher Education for matches within Ohio institution curriculums and may count towards your major requirements. Consult with your academic program advisor to see how these credits may apply towards your major program.
Kent State also accepts DANTES Standardized Subject Tests (DSST), Defense Language Proficiency Tests (DLPT) and more.
For those that don't have military courses or occupations on a Joint Services Transcript, you may still be eligible for college credits for your basic training. In lieu of a JST, you can send your DD214 form to the Admissions office of your admitting campus for evaluation of basic training college credits. However, we advise attempting to order a JST first for maximum credits.
GEM Program for Community College of the Air Force
Are you a student at the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF)? We partner with the Community College of the Air Force to ensure that service members are able to take full advantage of their CCAF credits at Kent State.
You may be interested in taking your general education courses here at Kent State to complete your Associates degree at CCAF.
We have numerous program pathways that are approved as part of the AU-ABC program and more are being added all the time. If you have an interest in a particular degree, reach out to us through our online form and ask us for details about how your CCAF associates might fit into a Bachelor's program here.
VA Work Study
Kent State is an authorized site for VA Student Work Study and the Credit Transfer Office works with our CAVS office to gather additional support through a work study position that can assist in answering questions about military credit for students, advisors and faculty. Being an advocate for our service members is important to us. If you have questions about military credit, or are interested in a work study position within the Credit Transfer Office, feel free to contact us through the "Send Email Inquiry" link at the top of this page.
More Questions?
If you have other questions related to your veteran status or student services for our military students, please contact the Center for Adult and Veteran Services at (330) 672-7933. They have a great deal of information on their website and can connect you to campus groups, educational and health resources, as well as scholarship information for veterans and military personnel.