Key takeaway: 2,197 of the 2,817 institutions in our directory that offer fully online programs report credit for military training (IPEDS IC 2024, VET2). That flag means the school has a process, not a promised number of credits. The schools below are drawn from that group and ordered by BOC Score. Who pays for a term is a separate question from how many training credits are awarded, and this site does not rank or describe education benefit programs. Admission, graduation, licensure, and employment are decided by the institution, the licensing board, and employers, not by any benefit.
Most military occupational training and many professional military education courses have been evaluated by the American Council on Education. Those recommendations appear on a Joint Services Transcript. A school that reports credit for military training is telling the Department of Education that it can read that transcript and award credit where the recommendations map to its curriculum.
Schools to Compare
These accredited institutions report credit for military training and at least one program completable entirely online (IPEDS IC 2024). Ranked by BOC Score within that group.
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
- Graduation rate 30%
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
- Average net price (lower is better) 20%
- Retention rate 15%
- Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Acceptance rate
11%
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$92,446
Avg net price
$13,481/yr
TuitionIn‑state$16,347
Out‑of‑state$50,547
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 127
Source:Accreditor: Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission · IPEDS · College Scorecard
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 6
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
89%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$71,588
Avg net price
$6,541/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 172
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
94%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$83,648
Avg net price
$13,138/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 206
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
91%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$72,200
Avg net price
$11,655/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 117
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
86%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$81,054
Avg net price
$14,355/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 177
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$78,466
Avg net price
$14,091/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 234
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
87%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$90,768
Avg net price
$16,665/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 84
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$82,860
Avg net price
$15,678/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 96%
- Programs offered: 150
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
94%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$87,555
Avg net price
$18,809/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 164
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
What the IPEDS flag actually records
VET2 is a yes/no institutional characteristic. It does not record:
- How many credits a typical servicemember receives
- Whether credit applies to the major, to general education, or only to electives
- Whether there is a cap on prior-learning credit
- How long an evaluation takes
Two schools can both report “yes” and treat the same transcript very differently. The document that records an individual result is the registrar’s written evaluation, which is issued institution by institution and is not part of any federal data set.
How credit for military training is usually evaluated
- The servicemember or veteran requests a Joint Services Transcript from their service.
- The school matches ACE credit recommendations to its catalog.
- Faculty or the registrar decide whether a match is equivalent to a specific course or only to elective credit.
- Any institutional cap on transfer or prior-learning credit is applied.
Elective credit is common. Credit toward major requirements is rarer. Some schools also map industry certifications earned in service to specific courses. None of those outcomes is guaranteed by the IPEDS flag.
What varies among schools that report the flag
The single yes recorded in VET2 covers institutions whose policies differ on five points. All five are registrar and catalog policy, published by each school rather than collected federally.
Timing of the evaluation. Some institutions evaluate a Joint Services Transcript before enrollment and issue the result in writing. Others evaluate after matriculation, once a student has a degree program on record.
Which requirements the credit satisfies. Evaluated coursework can land against general education, against elective hours, or against named major requirements. The three are not interchangeable, because only the third shortens the major itself.
Caps. Institutions commonly cap combined transfer and prior-learning credit. Whether military training credit counts against that cap, and whether the cap differs by degree level, is set in the catalog.
Industry certifications. Awarding credit for certifications earned in service is a separate policy from transcript evaluation. Some institutions that report VET2 do it and some do not.
Portability of posted credit. Credit already posted to a record at one institution stays on that record. Whether it carries to a different institution after a duty-station change is a transfer question governed by the receiving school’s policy.
A dedicated veteran and military contact (IPEDS VET3) is the office that handles those distinctions at most institutions. 2,001 online institutions in our directory report both credit for military training and that contact. The overlapping lists are best online colleges for veterans and the military support services checklist.
Credit is not the same as a degree plan
Even a large credit award can leave a student short of major requirements, residency rules, or upper-division hour minimums. The document that resolves that is the degree plan, which lists the courses remaining after evaluated credit is applied and how they sequence at a given pace, including the single-course-per-term pace common on active duty. Graduation and retention figures sit on the cards above and come from federal sources; they are reported independently of credit policy, so one does not describe the other.
Credit for military training is also not the same as having tuition paid. This site does not rank or describe education benefit programs, and it does not determine eligibility or payment amounts. Those determinations are made by education benefits administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a service’s education office. Admission, graduation, licensure, and employment are decided by the institution, the licensing board, and employers, not by any benefit. See military support services at online colleges.
The credit-for-training field sits alongside three other IPEDS veteran and military services indicators collected on the same fall Institutional Characteristics survey: a dedicated point of contact for veterans, servicemembers, and their families (VET3), a recognized student veteran organization (VET4), and DoD Voluntary Education Partnership MOU membership (VET5). All four are institution-reported yes or no fields with no supporting detail attached, which is why a school reporting every one of them can still differ from its peers on evaluation timing, caps, and which requirements the credit satisfies. The distance education program flag (DISTPGS) is a separate field again, and it is what establishes that a degree can be finished entirely online rather than in a hybrid format with campus residencies.
Quick Answers
Which online colleges give credit for military training?
2,197 of the 2,817 institutions in our directory with fully online programs report credit for military training to IPEDS (IC 2024). The schools listed on this page are that group, ordered by BOC Score.
How is credit for military training evaluated?
Schools typically read the Joint Services Transcript, which carries American Council on Education credit recommendations, and award credit where those recommendations match the catalog. The amount varies by school and by degree, and the written evaluation issued by the registrar is the document that records it.
Can a school guarantee how many credits I will receive?
No. This site does not describe any school as guaranteeing a credit total. Caps, major-versus-elective rules, and catalog matches all vary. A written evaluation is the document that matters.
Are these online colleges accredited?
Every institution in our directory holds accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Where a professional license depends on it, the specific program carries its own programmatic accreditation, a separate designation from the institutional accreditation recorded in our directory.
More in this section
Benefit eligibility is determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and your service’s education office. Nothing on this page guarantees education benefits, credit transfer, admission, or a particular cost. Confirm every detail with the school’s military or veteran services office before you enroll.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey (IC 2024), credit for military training indicator (VET2) and distance education program flag (DISTPGS); directory counts as of the September 2026 data refresh.
