A school that touts innovation and accessibility should, hypothetically, be accessible on the Internet.
If that same school was also named a top military-friendly school by G.I. Jobs magazine, you would think it would be easy to find out how to transfer military credit to the University on … the Internet.
If you were thinking about ASU, you may be sorely wrong.
Many military veterans seeking to transfer credits they’ve earned while in the service are finding themselves caught in a proverbial Web.
Why? ASU does not accept credits from courses taken at non-collegiate institutions (government included) — that is unless you can effectively navigate through the dark bowels of the Internet to find the information you need. And even if you’re trained in military combat, you still may not find the answers to your questions.
ASU will accept military credits if servicemembers can pass a standardized exam called the DSST. It’s too bad no one knows about it — not even staffers at ASU’s Veterans Services Office.
That’s right, though, according to its fairly primitive Web site, the VSO “encourages veterans attending ASU to contact our office in person or by phone with any questions they may have pertaining to their education, or any of their VA Educational Benefits.”
Isn’t it a little shady that the service “primarily responsible for administration of veterans educational benefits programs” doesn’t know about a test that would save veterans hundreds of dollars and a whole lot of time and energy?
A State Press reporter called the office repeatedly without being directed to any test for military credits. Servicemembers who worked there didn’t even know the test existed.
Yet somewhere, hidden in the murky bog that is the ASU Web site, information about the test exists.
Why it isn’t mentioned on the Veterans Services Web site is a bit of a mystery to us — and it doesn’t put the University in a particularly positive light.
Add in the fact that Veterans Services was resistant to commenting on the issue, and you’ve got the makings of an ASU money-grabbing conspiracy theory.
Even if there is no sinister motive behind camouflaging this resource, ASU should be ashamed the test is not near the top of the Veterans Services Web site.
Service members routinely risk their lives — shouldn’t they be afforded the ability to get credits for the educational work they’ve already done?
If the University is so willing to accept titles like that of a top military-friendly school, shouldn’t go out of its way be friendly to military service members? Maybe ASU is afraid to mix money and friendship. But in all seriousness, the acceptance of military credits is a huge part of the decision to come back to school post-service.
There should be no roadblock to that decision from the school that encourages anybody and everybody who has the ability to study at the university level to come here.
It’s ridiculous to expect people to search through a cesspool of a Web site searching for something they don’t even know exists.
ASU is probably not intentionally hiding the test information — but if Veterans Services cannot even direct enquirers to the test, it’s not putting it out there effectively. When it comes to serving servicemembers, we think this move is pretty dishonorable.
