EARNED: Education Achieved for Real-world National service, Excellence and Duty
Serve an honorable four-year enlistment and leave with an accredited bachelor's degree. Keep your GI Bill for whatever comes next.
Some earned it in a classroom. They earned it in uniform.
Veterans lead teams, manage equipment and logistics, and carry responsibility under real stakes. When they leave, most civilian employers still screen them out for lacking a bachelor's degree. The EARNED Act fixes the credential gap through the annual National Defense Authorization Act, the bill Congress passes every year.
An honorable discharge after a four-year enlistment confers the degree automatically. No application, no coursework after discharge.
The degree recognizes the training and skills already achieved in uniform. The GI Bill stays intact for a master's, a trade license, or technical training.
Veterans who already served honorably can claim the degree using their service records and Joint Services Transcript.
The Air Force has awarded accredited associate degrees to enlisted airmen through the Community College of the Air Force since 1972. Officers earn bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees from military schools. Enlisted Marines, soldiers and sailors have no degree-granting college of their own.
| Who serves | What the military awards them |
|---|---|
| Service academy cadets and midshipmen | Accredited bachelor's degrees |
| Mid-career officers | Master's degrees from the war colleges and Marine Corps University |
| Technical officers | Master's and PhDs from the Naval Postgraduate School and AFIT |
| Enlisted airmen | Associate degrees from CCAF, since 1972 |
| Enlisted Marines, soldiers, sailors | No degree |
Military training is already evaluated for college credit by the American Council on Education and recorded on every veteran's Joint Services Transcript. The EARNED Act turns that credit into a credential.
Leaders from both parties and major employers have opened jobs to skilled workers, one step at a time. The EARNED Act carries that progress to every employer, so a veteran's service counts at a city, a hospital or a manufacturer too.
Officials count names. Every signature tells them veterans and their families want service to count on paper.
Veterans: tell us your branch and years. Your story is the strongest argument this campaign has.
Your name is on the petition. Share earnedact.org with a veteran you know.
We're asking local posts, employers and officials to put their name behind the EARNED Act. The first to sign go here.
Everything a post, a business owner or a family needs to bring the EARNED Act to their own city council and congressional office.
The full case, sources included.
Download PDF10- and 30-second pitches and answers to pushback.
Download PDFA fill-in template asking your city to count service for city jobs.
Download PDFLetter size, ready to print and post.
Download PDF24 × 18 in, for your sign printer.
Download PDFFor Legion, VFW and Marine Corps League posts to adopt.