How to Get Credit for Prior Learning

Education encompasses more than what you're taught in a degree program. Very often, valuable learning experiences happen beyond classroom walls - and colleges recognize that. Through prior learning assessment, adults can get credit for experiences and training obtained outside the higher education system.

Prior learning experiences
The U.S. Department of Education has set standards for the kinds of experiences that can garner college credit - such as learning that demonstrates theory as well as practical application - though each higher education institution makes its own specific policies for recognition of prior learning.

Sources of prior learning, both formal and informal, are varied. Adults may be eligible to receive college credit for corporate training (seminars, workshops); experiential learning (business, family, music, religion, sports); foreign language proficiency; an IB diploma; military training; professional awards; professional licenses and certifications; standardized test scores (AP, CLEP, DANTES, Excelsior, GRE); travel; volunteer work; and more.

Prior learning assessment tools
Each college has its own procedures for prior learning assessment. Beyond obvious measures like standardized test scores, most prior learning experiences require in-depth assessment. Students may need to undergo interviews with faculty members, submit to auditions, write an experiential learning essay, pass a final exam equivalent, or assemble a prior learning portfolio for review.

Many colleges require that students prepare portfolios for prior learning assessment, which is a time-consuming process. Students must submit reports for each course they wish to receive credit for, including supporting documentation (awards, multimedia, resumes, references, writing clips) to validate their experience. Faculty members who are experts in appropriate academic areas evaluate prior learning portfolios. So students hoping to get credit for college courses they haven't technically taken must prove they know the material cold.

Prior learning assessment assistance
Some colleges offer courses that provide students with direction for developing a prior learning portfolio; others have prior learning assessment advisors available. Colleges may also charge a fee for performing a prior learning assessment. The fee should only be for assessment purposes and should not be based on the amount of credit to be awarded.

Not all schools offer portfolio assessment, and most limit the number of credits that may be awarded through prior learning. Nonetheless, students who make the effort to prepare a prior learning portfolio are able to save precious time and money on their higher education.

Many adults have successfully used prior learning assessment to complete their degrees. Will you be one of them?

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