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This legislation makes the College Credit for Heroes a permanent program statewide, but not mandatory for schools to offer to their veterans. There is no fiscal impact anticipated to the state.
Many higher education institutions offer college credit for certain course work based on business and professional experience. Rather than make students take courses covering areas they have already demonstrated proficiency in, programs like these allow students to receive the relevant course credit so they can focus on other courses on their path to graduation. We support extending this opportunity to military veterans.
As military veterans take the initiative to further their education it makes little sense to require them to take courses which their experience clearly indicates they do not need classroom instruction in. This program allows institutions to recognize that and award transferable college credit as appropriate.
There may also be some savings to taxpayers as service members and veterans receive experience based credit for courses they may otherwise pay for under the provisions of taxpayer funded programs such as the GI Bill.
Participation in this course is voluntary and places no new government mandates on universities or on students. Extending this program supports the individual liberty of our military veterans and rewards their personal responsibility by applying their experience in lieu of course work in awarding college credit where applicable.