Our office is proud to serve the needs of military affiliated students at UNCW. We are ready to help you with issues unique to military students including transfer credit acceptance, tuition benefits, and duty activation.
If you are called to active duty or deployed during a semester, you are eligible to receive a leave of absence for your service period.
Should you need this, notify Military Affairs from your UNCW email account of your situation and provide a copy of your orders unless you are prohibited from doing so.
The leave of absence may extend for as long as three years after the completion of the service period. During the leave of absence, you will not be made an inactive student at UNCW.
If you are in good academic standing and return within the three-year window following your service period, you do not have to complete the readmission process.
However, if you leave while on academic probation or suspension or exceed the three-year window, then you will need to apply for readmission through the Office of Admissions.
When you are able to return to UNCW, email the Registrar’s Office with your intention.
You will be asked to complete an online returning student questionnaire and then reactivated to be able to register. After that, you can connect with your academic advisor to plan next steps.
Direct any questions about how this leave will affect your account balance and financial aid to Student Accounts or Financial Aid. If you do not find the information you need, please email us.
Military-affiliated students who are using VA educational benefits may qualify to use the Choice Act to pay the equivalent of in-state tuition at UNCW. Students who may qualify for use of this benefit include:
Veteran Readiness and Employment (Chapter 31) students qualify for the Choice Act and have their eligibility for the benefit certified through the Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships. Students using Chapter 35 benefits will become eligible to use the Choice Act as of the Fall 2022 semester.
When approved for the benefit, a student using the Choice Act remains classified as out-of-state but receives a tuition waiver to cover the difference between the in-state and out-of-state rates.
The benefit remains in place as long as the student uses VA educational benefits. Should benefits no longer be available or used, the student loses the tuition waiver and pays at the out-of-state rate unless approved for in-state through RDS.
Find additional information on requirements and documentation on the online application.
You are eligible to receive an early registration time ticket if you are active duty or a veteran. Please connect with Military Affairs for additional details on receiving this benefit.
Any undergraduate student transferring to UNCW may transfer credits from regionally accredited institutions.
For military students, credits earned for military training and experience are accepted for transfer and are counted as upper-level, four-year institution credits. You will need to provide your Joint Services Transcript (JST) to the university for evaluation of your credit (or CCAF transcript if Air Force).
You can look up how UNCW equates military credits using our transfer articulation tool. Select “Military – Americas” for the state and then find your branch of service for the institution. For step 3, select “All Subjects” to see a full display of our equivalencies.
You will qualify to have the requirement for University Studies Lifetime Wellness Requirementand Wellness waived upon verification of Basic or Recruit Training from your military transcript or submission of your DD214 showing good standing at your separation.
Evaluation of credits earned from non-military sources (including other colleges and universities and testing programs such as AP, CLEP, and IB) follow the same process used for other undergraduate students.
You will need to submit an official transcript or report from each source directly to UNCW. When we receive those, your credits will be evaluated for acceptability.
The UNC System is developing a database of uniform course equivalents for military credits to be used at all UNC System schools.
When launched, this database will replace the UNCW database currently in use. The development of this project is expected to change how credits are worked with at UNCW.
Additional details on this project will be posted to this website as they are shared with us.
Once you start at UNCW, you may be able to transfer additional courses you want to take. You would follow the same rules as other undergraduate students as found in the University Catalogue. Planning and planning for taking non-UNCW credits start with your academic advisor.