College Credit for Life Experience Credits
Want to earn your degree faster by earning College Credit for Life Experience Credits?
Are you considering taking courses to add a degree to your credentials? A degree can increase your salary, skills and career position, but it can seem like a daunting undertaking. However, with today’s technology and more adult-oriented higher education, it has never been easier!
College Credit for Life experience – Credit options
You can take online courses through distance education, and you can accelerate your program through life experience credit, testing for credit, course challenge credit and more. If you are interested in pursuing a degree in a short period of time, there are many options available to you.
Military Training and Experience College Credit
If you have military training and experience, there are two approved methods of transferring some of that knowledge to college credit. The College Credit Recommendation Service is an objective agency that will determine how your formal education through professional and voluntary organizations, labor unions, the government, hospitals, and/or business and industry can be transformed into college credit. There is also the ACE Military Program, which will give you credit based on what you learned in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Department of Defense, Navy, or the Marines.
Civilian Life Experience Portfolio Credit
If your experience can be presented in the form of a portfolio which highlights your life experience, you may also be elegible for some college credit. Preparing a portfolio takes time and effort, so this option is best for students with an abundance of related experience. There may be courses or advisers on-staff at your college or university who would be available to help you gather together your documents and other items. Portfolios are used, on a national average, for up to 21 credit exemptions.
Maximizing your civilian life experience credit
There are several different types of life experience credit portfolios, and what type you choose depends on your area of study. You can create a corporate portfolio which would highlight your experience in the business realm via certificates of training, seminars or workshops. Professional licenses and certification can also be used in your portfolio. These could include proof of a pilot’s license or a real estate license. Previous coursework can be transferred over by some institutions, so even if you have technical credits or credits from unaccredited colleges or universities, these may also be counted towards your degree.
You could also get some credits for experiential learning. This is included in your portfolio as an outline of any special skills you have that you gained outside the classroom, such as music, family life or sports related experience. And finally, you can include specialty work in the hopes that you obtain a competency credit. Your portfolio could include published articles, creative art work, or software development examples in the hopes that these will add to your credit count.
Any life experience that you have, whether it is general knowlege or specialized skills, can be counted towards your degree. You must do extensive research into the institution(s) that you are considering for your college or university degree to see whether they grant life experience credit or not. many do, and if you have some knowledge about your field already, you may be closer to getting your degree than you think.
This is Part 1 in a 3-part series on college credit for life experience. For Part 2, visit: Life Experience Credit – Testing for College Credit.
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