Free Resource Kit to Make Credit for Prior Learning Work for Your Postsecondary Institution & Your Students

What is Credit for Prior Learning?

Credit for prior learning, or CPL, is a term for various methods that colleges, universities, and other education or training providers use to evaluate learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment. It's also sometimes called prior learning assessment (PLA).

It is used to grant college credit, certification, or advanced standing toward further education or training. Other common terms for this process include prior learning assessment, recognition of prior learning, and recognition of learning.

Credit for prior learning isn't new—colleges and universities have used it for more than 50 years to award college credit for what incoming students already know. Yet CPL is underutilized in higher education, particularly given its powerful benefits.

How Does CPL Work?

Students can earn credit for prior learning by demonstrating college-level knowledge they gained outside the classroom. Working with a college, university, or other training provider, students can earn credit through:

Why Credit for Prior Learning is a Good Investment and the Right Thing To Do for Adult Learners

Credit for prior learning. Prior learning assessment. Recognition of prior learning. Whatever you call it, valuing and awarding credit for what a student has learned outside the traditional academic environment is an important and powerful tool to support adult learners. The academic argument for CPL is grounded in andragogic principles in that experience is the basis for new learning. An adult learner program needs to value that learning and help the student make important connections between learning and work.

How Does Credit for Prior Learning Help Postsecondary Institutions?

In our conversations with administrators at postsecondary institutions across the country, we hear concerns that CPL/PLA might translate to fewer credits taken, but research proves that's not the case. In fact, there are several ways that institutions can benefit from CPL/PLA.

We know Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) and Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) programs help students succeed, and because 9 out of 10 students miss out on receiving college credit for what they've learned, CAEL's put together a resource kit to support adult learner champions like you.

From our research, we know credit for prior learning is baked into how many colleges and universities do their work. Hundreds have existing CPL programs, including staff trained to administer it. Several states, too, have endorsed the power of CPL, adopting systemwide policies to ensure students have access to earning credit for the knowledge they've acquired outside the college classroom.

So how do we ensure adult students are receiving the credit they're due?

Join the movement to put credit for prior learning on the transcripts of more adults nationwide by signing up below.