Career Training & Credit for Life Experiences

Not all learning takes place at a desk in a classroom. A lot of career training takes place in the real world. Thankfully, more and more higher learning institutions are now recognizing this fact.

Assessing Life Experience for College Credit

People who enroll in college later in life often already possess a great deal of knowledge about the subjects they are studying. While they might not have a bachelor's degree, they've probably gained hundreds of hours of hands-on experience in their chosen professions. Sometimes this life experience is more valuable than the knowledge obtained from a textbook.

In order to determine if this past experience can be applied to a degree, higher learning institutions will often perform a prior learning assessment. Sometimes, a student will have enough life experience to cancel out some of her required courses. Sometimes, she will be granted college credit.

Here are two common ways colleges assess learning that a student has gained through life experiences:

• Prior Learning Portfolios: A prior learning portfolio is a written document that a student presents to the college. In this portfolio, the student request credit for life experience and career training that has taken place outside of the classroom. Typically, colleges will only give credit only for what they consider to be college-level learning.
  
  The requirements for prior learning portfolios vary by institution. Check with your college to see what you should include in yours.
  
  
• Standardized Tests: Standardized tests are nationally administered exams that are used by higher learning institutions to evaluate students. Each institution will have its own unique standards for accepting tests. These standards will define a passing grade and will determine how many hours of credit can be awarded for life experience and prior career training. Some schools won't award credit but will allow a student to skip entry-level classes.

Before investing any time in any life experience assessments, check with your learning institution to see if it acknowledges them.

Credit for Career Training

In addition to getting college credit for life experiences, students can also receive credit for career training programs in which they participate. Here's a list of some career training programs for which students may receive credit:

• Apprenticeships: Apprenticeships are a great way for people to get on-the-job training and to learn from someone who has mastered a trade. Some colleges will award credit to a student if he has completed an apprenticeship. If you want to obtain credit for the time you spent as an apprentice, contact your school. You will most likely have to provide them with papers proving that you successfully completed your apprenticeship.
  
  
• Internships: Internships allow people to get valuable experience in a work environment before entering the workforce as a full-time employee. Many students use internships to build connections within their chosen professions, while others use them to determine if a particular career is really right for them.
  
  While some internships pay students, others are done on a for-credit basis. In fact, more and more companies are offering internships only on a for-credit basis, due to labor laws. Contact your school to see if you can get credit for an internship.
  
  
• Vocational Training Programs: Vocational training programs are a great way to acquire the skills necessary to perform a specific trade. If you've completed a vocational training program, it's likely that your college will award you credit for the knowledge you acquired. Again, check with you school to see if it will grant credit for successfully completed vocational training programs.

Please note that not all colleges or universities will award credit for life experiences or career training, especially if you participated in paid career training (i.e., training for which you were paid). Check with your institution to learn its policy on granting credit for career training programs and life experiences.