Military Absence

Under certain circumstances, a student who is required to participate in active military service is excused from scheduled classes or other required activities and will be allowed to complete an assignment or exam within a reasonable time after the absence. The excused absence is permitted only if the student will not miss more than 25% of the total number of class meetings or the contact hour equivalent (not including the final examination period) for the specific course or courses in which the student is enrolled at the beginning of the period of active military service.

Readmission guidelines for a student who withdraws to perform active military services are as follows. These guidelines apply to a student who withdraws from an institution of higher education to perform active military service as a member of the U.S. armed forces or the Texas National Guard, except that this section does not apply to a student who withdraws from an institution solely to perform one or more training exercises as a member of the Texas National Guard. For any academic term that begins after the date a student is released from active military service but no later than the first anniversary of that date, the institution of higher education from which the student withdrew shall admit the student, without requiring re-application or charging a fee for readmission, if the student is otherwise eligible to register for classes at the institution. On readmission of the student under this subsection, UTRGV shall:

Provide the student any financial assistance previously provided by the institution to the student before the student’s withdrawal if the student meets current eligibility requirements for the assistance, other than any requirement directly affected by the student’s service, such as continuous enrollment or another similar training requirement.
Allow the student the same academic status that the student had before the student’s withdrawal including any course credit awarded to the student by the institution.

UTRGV requires reasonable proof from a student of the fact and duration of the student’s active military absence.

In accordance with Education Code Section 51.3042, eligible former members of the armed forces admitted as an undergraduate student or readmitted as an undergraduate student (after having withdrawn to perform military service) will be given course credit:

For all physical education courses The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley requires for an undergraduate degree and
For additional credit hours, not to exceed 12, to satisfy any elective course requirements for the student’s degree program for courses outside the student’s major or minor.

To be eligible, a veteran must have graduated from an accredited public or private high school or a high school operated by the U.S. Department of Defense, and be honorably discharged from the U.S. armed forces after completing two years of service or discharged because of disability. To receive credit, a DD-214 verifying eligibility must be provided to the Office of Admissions.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley follows the guidelines established by the American Council on Education’s Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the armed services to assess potential transferability of Military Occupational Specialties.

Acceptable forms of documentation include:

AARTS Transcript (Army ACE Registry Transcript)
CCAF Transcript (Community College of the Air Force transcript)
SMART Transcript (Sailor/Marine ACE Registry Transcript)
Form DD-214 (Report of Separation)
Form DD-295 (Application for the Evaluation of Learning Experience During Military Service)

To be considered official, any of the credentials above (except Form DD-214) must be sent to The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley directly from the issuing agency. Students/applicants may submit an original DD-214; a certified copy will be made for office use and the original returned.

Credentials (except form DD-214) should be sent to:

Office of Admissions
1^st Floor Student Services Bldg. 1201 West University Drive Edinburg, Texas 78539	The Tower, Main 1.100 1 West University Boulevard Brownsville, Texas 78520

Unlike college or high school transcripts, submission of military credentials for potential transfer credit is optional and is neither required for undergraduate admission nor subject to admission deadlines. But any credit awarded counts toward admissibility, so official documents should arrive as early as possible.