College Credit for Heroes grant accelerates veteran degree program

By Jack McClellan
Office of Media Relations
February 28, 2018

SAN MARCOS – College Credit for Heroes has awarded Texas State University more than $240,000 for Accelerate Texas State, a program designed to offer veterans and service members alternative, accelerated and affordable pathways toward earning a degree.

College Credit for Heroes is a partnership between the Texas Workforce Commission and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to ensure active duty, former and retired military personnel receive credit for experience earned through their service to the United States.

Accelerate Texas State will use the award to develop five new courses and recruit 20 veterans to complete prior learning assessments (PLA). PLA will be applied to accelerate a veteran’s ability to earn college credit for workforce learning (24 hours credit hours) or non-collegiate training (30 credit hours), and re-entry into the workforce. Disciplines offered by the program include athletics, business, criminal justice, engineering technology, geography information systems, health care administration, human resource development, occupational therapy, real estate and social services.

Accelerate Texas State is led by Todd Sherron in the department of occupational, workforce and leadership studies at Texas State. Through the prior learning assessment tests, students can earn up to 30 hours of college credit for non-collegiate training and 24 hours of work-life learning credit, which can be applied to a bachelor of applied arts and science degree.

This is the second time Accelerate Texas State has partnered with College Credit for Heroes. The program is currently finishing a project for which it received $145,000 in 2016.

About Texas State University

Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,694 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 184,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world. Designated an Emerging Research University by the State of Texas, Texas State is classified under “Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity,” the second-highest designation for research institutions under the Carnegie classification system.