A Tale of Two Perspectives: How a Faculty Member-Turned College President Became a CPL Champion

CPL convert is probably too stark a term to describe Dr. Greg Hodges, president of Patrick & Henry Community College (P&HCC). When he began his P&HCC career as a professor 20 years, he welcomed CPL in his classroom. But his subsequent administrative experience is a story of how CPL can go from perceived threat to instrument of institutional success.

Hodges’ initial experience with CPL came when he taught early childhood education. There were ample chances to recognize real-world learning as academic credit. He encouraged CPL opportunities, such as local social service certifications. On a larger scale, the No Child Left Behind act’s credentialing requirements drove an influx of adult learners with extensive experience into early childhood education programs.

A Perfectly Timed Promotion

Hodges, who started as an adjunct professor, would work his way up through the roles of full-time faculty member and assistant dean before being named vice president of academics in 2017. (He became the college’s fourth president in July of 2021.) His promotion to vice president came during a challenging period of declining enrollment and reductions in staffing at P&HCC. As it turns out, the timing couldn’t have been better for CPL. But not before some twists and turns.

“The first day I was in the office as the chief academic officer, I walked into an email congratulating Patrick & Henry as being part of a consortium with the Virginia Community College System that would be looking at credit for prior learning on a much more systematic level,” Hodges recalled. He hadn’t known about the initiative until assuming his new title. Now, he wondered if one of his first acts should be canceling it.

“Even though I understood the positives of credit for prior learning, my first reaction then was, ‘Holy cow, we are not in a position to give away any credit right now,’” he recalled. “In the midst of an enrollment downturn, I'm looking for strategies to turn that around. I could not see at that moment that credit for prior learning was one of those strategies.”

Trust, but verify – with data

Hodges didn’t cancel the plan. Instead, he sought out data that could paint a complete picture of CPL’s impact at P&HCC. “I needed to see for myself the positive impact that this was having,” said Hodges. “My initial reaction was only looking at this leading indicator of we're giving away credit. What I did not see at the time and was able to see over the course of the next several months is that those students who received credit for prior learning were being retained and graduating at a greater level.”

In addition to sharpening P&HCC’s quantitative appraisal of CPL, the consortium process revealed opportunities to make CPL offerings more proactive and seamless. Having confirmed its impact on current students, Hodges wanted to ensure CPL was a focus on the front end of the student experience as well, where it could open recruitment funnels to a larger and more diverse population of students.

CPL, proactivity, and partnerships

“There was a time on our campus when if a student happened to ask the right faculty member the right question, they might get credit for prior learning opportunities,” said Hodges. “But luck is not a scalable strategy.” P&HCC’s expanded CPL strategy included reworking its entire advising and onboarding framework to integrate CPL within the onboarding process.

Workforce partners have been instrumental in maximizing CPL’s potential for future, current, and past students of P&HCC, underlining what Hodges describes as the college’s mantra-like focus on the link between credentials and jobs. “Whether you're with us two weeks, two months, or two years, ultimately, you're here to get a job,” he said. “What we have been able to demonstrate with our workforce partners is that this pipeline is maximized and accelerated by awarding credit for prior learning.”

That pipeline flows both ways. Crosswalking on-the-job training and academic certifications creates a recruiting benefit for the college and its many employer partners because workers realize they can parlay their employment into career-furthering academic credentials. On an even more proactive level, P&HCC has integrated CPL within new programs. The college created a short-term mechatronics certificate that delivers a “real time” career boost to workers. Meanwhile, P&HCC articulated the certificate into 16 academic credits for students who want to apply those learning outcomes toward an academic credential.

The program is an example of how CPL can build and bond cross-sector partnerships. Hodges plans to expand P&HCC’s CPL catalogue with similar offerings throughout the college’s programs. “Employers recognize when they contract with us to train their employees, those employees earn academic credit at the same time because we are automatically articulating it,” he said. “We tell them, ‘Give us the knowledge, skills, and abilities your employee base needs, and we will create our curriculum accordingly.”

CPL and economic mobility

CPL’s ability to harmonize work-based and college-learning contributes to what Hodges feels is its greatest power: advancing economic mobility. “That is really our wheelhouse: enhancing economic mobility and helping students get family-sustaining wages, and credit for prior learning helps make that a reality,” he said.

CPL’s impact on economic mobility comes down to making all learning count, Hodges believes, especially for traditionally underserved students who otherwise see their valuable experiences and expertise go unvalidated. Embracing diverse sources of college-level learning is also critical to broader community prosperity, he said. “Every region of the country is clamoring for more help. Getting students to that opportunity more expeditiously not only serves the college, but it serves the community in which we are statutorily created to serve.”

CPL and the future of higher ed

Hodges’ advice to colleges trying to catch up in CPL is to start with low-hanging fruit. Certification-heavy occupations, such as emergency medical services, early childhood education, mechatronics, and electronics, offer accessible opportunities for linking industry and academic learning outcomes via CPL. “Get some short-term wins and then start collecting the data to see the impact that it's having on retention, graduation, and employment and expand it from there,” he suggested.

While institutional data offer the greatest relevance to individual administrators, Hodges said national findings, such those found in CAEL’s The PLA Boost, can be a great place to start when making the case for CPL. The 72-institution study uncovers strong links between CPL use and improved completion, student savings (in time and money), and institutional success, including the completion of greater numbers of conventional (purchased) credits.

In addition to the many upsides of offering CPL, Hodges sees downsides that should be just as eye catching to any administrators still on the fence. The COVID pandemic compressed 10-15 years of higher ed change into less than five, he said. Now, “The demographic cliff is upon us. We all know what we're facing. Credit for prior learning has to become a strategy for every institution of higher education because there are, candidly, fewer and fewer opportunities for us to gain students. And there are plenty of competitors out there who will do it if we don't.”

CAEL supported the Virginia Community College System CPL effort, which was funded by a U.S. Department of Labor grant awarded to the New River/Mount Rogers Workforce Development Board. During the program, the participating institutions saw a 69 percent increase in CPL issued for adult learners. More information about the program is available at cael.org.