Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges

Servicemembers Opportunity Colleges (SOC) was created in 1972 to provide educational opportunities to servicemembers who, because they frequently moved from place to place, had trouble completing college degrees. SOC functions in cooperation with 15 higher education associations, the Department of Defense, and Active and Reserve Components of the Military Services to expand and improve voluntary postsecondary education opportunities for servicemembers worldwide. SOC is funded by the Department of Defense (DoD) through a contract with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU). The contract is managed for DoD by the Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Education Support (DANTES).

SOC Consortium

Institutional members of the SOC Consortium enroll hundreds of thousands of servicemembers, their family members, and veterans annually in associate, bachelor’s, and graduate-level degree programs on school campuses, armories, and military installations within the United States and overseas, and through a variety of distance learning methods. Member institutions give mobile servicemembers and their familes the flexibility to complete degrees rather than just accumulate course credit.

Tennessee Board of Regents’ institutions that are members of the SOC Consortium include:

Universities