Through two tours of duty with the U.S. Army in Iraq and other starts and stops in his pursuit of a construction management degree, Victor Villavicencio said he was comforted knowing that the Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) program would one day help him transfer to a four-year university.

Villavicencio, who has attended classes at Montgomery College's Rockville campus since 2000, will graduate from the community college this spring, and plans to transfer to the University of Maryland Eastern Shore to earn a four-year degree in construction management.

Guidance he received through the SOC program will help him transfer all his credits to his next academic pursuit at the four-year university--a luxury students changing colleges have not always had.

"It's good to know there's a system in place to help me through this," said Villavicencio, 28, a Rockville native, "...because there are a lot of questions that come up about [credit transfer]."

The SOC program was launched in 1972 for military personnel seeking a college degree while transferring frequently, requiring campus-to-campus credit transfers that often prove difficult logistically. The same ease-of-transfer is granted to the service member's adult family members.

Funded by the Department of Defense, SOC "functions in cooperation with 15 higher education associations, the Department of Defense, and Active and Reserve Components of the Military Services," according to its Web site.

Civilian students who move from one college to another sometimes see credits disappear because one school's curriculum isn't considered equivalent to the next school's coursework. An SOC member college works to transfer credits to help service members avoid taking a course for a second time on a new campus.

Enrolling in an SOC allows for greater flexibility for military personnel. For instance, Bowie State University doesn't hold SOC members to "the same credit transfer limitations" as civilian students, and Bowie State officials allow SOC students to complete 75 percent of their coursework outside the university. The final 30 credits of degree work for undergraduate and graduate degrees, however, must be completed at the university, said Herbert Mills, the Veterans Affairs coordinator at Bowie State. SOC campuses also accept college credit earned through nationally-recognized testing programs such as Defense Activity Test and Examination Services Subject Standardized Tests and the College-Level Examination Program.

Servicemen and women have a wide selection of SOC-member schools in the Washington, D.C., area. There are 28 SOC college and universities in Maryland; 51 in Virginia and 11 in the District. There are more than 1,800 SOC institutions nationwide, according to the SOC Web site.

Sarah Vandy served in the Army for seven years before pursuing her degree at Montgomery College's Rockville campus, and found the transition to a four-year school --New York University--easier than expected. In fact, Vandy said, only a few credits didn't transfer--a minor inconvenience that didn't delay her path to a finance economics degree in 2007.

The looming possibility of a sudden transfer to a military base in another state, she said, is a deterrent for service members who want to attend college, but don't want their hard work to go for naught.

"If it's three weeks before finals and you suddenly get plucked up, all that hard work would go to waste," said Vandy, 30, who grew up in Adelphi and graduated from High Point High School in Beltsville, Md. "That's really tough."

Vandy said she met a service member at Fort Drum in New York who lost about two-thirds of her college credit when she had to transfer to a new school--a blow the SOC program can help military personnel avoid.

Patricia Hackett, an education services specialist at the Marine For Life program in Quantico, Va., said she recommends SOCs and other military-friendly colleges for students who want to pursue a degree in an environment with other active military and veterans while having the option to easily transfer credits.

"It gives them a forum or community," said Hackett, who served in the Army for 26 years and earned three graduate degrees at military-friendly institutions. "It helps them find people who they have something in common with. ... It's good to know they've served; they've been to war."

Avoiding the dreaded scenario of losing dozens of credit hours after a transfer has always been appealing to SOC students, but finding a group of military friends with similar experiences can be critical in adjusting to college life, Hackett said.

"Some students have problems adapting," she said. "They feel uncomfortable...They may have some visions from war when they're in crowds."

The SOC program has an array of educational options for service members in any branch of the military, including SOCNAV for the Navy, SOCMAR for Marines, SOCAD for the Army, SOCCOAST for the Coast Guard and SOCGuard for the National Guard.

Each option places military members in participating colleges and universities on or near a branch installation. The Air Force is part of the SOC program, but doesn't have a specific SOC educational track because Air Force service members can join the Community College of the Air Force.

No matter how long it has been since a military member has gone to school--and for some, decades separate their stints in the lecture hall--Hackett said one thing remains the same. "The pressure to get good grades is always there," she said. "It's been a long time since they have been to school, and most people are afraid of going back to school at any age."

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