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Many professionals do not have the necessary academic qualifications to advance their careers, but their work experience and skills will suggest otherwise. What if the degree they want to pursue makes them start from the beginning? What do you do if there’s a possibility that the stories are natural and a college diploma could set your financial future further back than you’ve already made it? Suppose you’re among the millions of working adults searching for a degree that can allow you to advance without straining your budget and without sending you back to where you started. In that case, It’s time to think about programs that can convert your experience and abilities to college credit!
Life experience degrees (LED) also which is also a Life experience credit toward a degree are available in a variety of accredited colleges today. They will allow you to earn your degree on the spot and at a high cost.
Why have so many online universities created life-experience credits assessments for college students? Nowadays, most college students who are part-time are aged 27 or older. In bachelor’s degree online programs, students are adults around 35 years of age. The typical master’s degree online student is 40 years old.
If you’re an adult college student, you’ve likely gained specialized university-level expertise on the job to help you in your job or through leisure reading and other interests. Your life experience and work experience–corporate training, professional licenses, etc.–can be converted into life experience credit toward a degree.
A valid college degree with working experience makes an online degree significantly cheaper.
It might seem like a scam. There are indeed pitfalls associated with the life experience diploma. After reading this article, you’ll be aware of the top life experience credit toward a degree program in 2022
What Is A Life Experience Degree?
A LED which his also a life experience credit toward a degree can be described as a level earned by your experiences in the workplace. A typical life experience degree will aid in building your professional career. It will allow you to compete against those with degrees but no practical work experience.
Numerous universities and universities are now offering credits to students based on the experiences they’ve gained from their working experience, employment history, military education, social work, or other community-based work experiences.
Many universities offer bachelor’s and associate life experience courses based on degrees in areas such as business administration, data engineering, early childhood education, accounting communication, sales food expressions and information technology human resources, drafting nursing, and many more.
What exactly is an online Life Experience Degree
The concept of an online experience diploma is widely known around the globe. If you’ve ever been unsuccessful in completing your college, university, or schooling, it is time to begin working fast to help you. You could enroll in an online degree in life experience. It is unnecessary to worry about the time you didn’t get the job you want instead of obtaining an education. You can make the most of those years of missing out in school by getting an accredited life experience certificate. Experience Certificate.
Pros & Cons of College Credit for Life Experience
One of the main benefits of life experience credit toward a degree, or academic experiences is cost savings in obtaining an education. In most cases, students will have to pay to be assessed for their experience or take tests to earn these credits, but it’s less expensive than pursuing a traditional path.
Applying work and experience credits towards an undergraduate degree can help make it easier to save time! When a mature student taking traditional classes might sit through the information the students already have, they can use that time to explore something new or speed up their degree by gaining credits for experience, gaining the degree faster, and increasing their career path and earning.
Another advantage is the opportunity to evaluate the level of proficiency. Categorizing skills, abilities, and knowledge is an unorganized task for anyone working full-time living. Utilizing your previous work and personal experiences in college will help consolidate skills and knowledge to understand the objectives and strengths.
However, it could be more beneficial to attend the class if your understanding of the subject is limited. You may be able to pass a test or show your knowledge to leave the class. However, it might be better to enroll in the class to confirm the knowledge you never had the opportunity to learn through your job or from life experiences.
You could consult a college advisor about an individual choice since you may gain from specific courses you could skip. If you’re competent in what you do and don’t want to review things that you already know about or have experience with, then life experience credit might be a perfect choice. It’s not about simply coming out with an academic degree but also the expertise and experience that will allow you to make the most of this degree for your future job.
6 Ways to Get Life Experience Credit Toward a Degree
1. Challenge/Proficiency Exams
The Challenge exams were created to test what college students know about college topics ranging from accounting, nursing, and foreign languages. Everyone can take these tests on local testing sites for a small cost. Most tests are multiple-choice, with 100 or more questions, and are completed within a half-hour or less.
- College Level Exam Program (CLEP) : The College Level Exam Program, also known as the CLEP, is the most well-known “life experience” test program. More than 2,900 accredited institutions, including residential and online schools, accept CLEP tests for undergraduate degree credits. The CLEP program offers 34 college exams that have a single subject and five general tests. Single-subject exams examine topics that are taught within a specific college class. For instance, for example, the College Algebra CLEP covers the common material taught in an introductory course to college algebra .The cost of each CLEP is $89, which is a small portion of the cost of tuition in a college class. For military spouses, students, and certain civilian employees of the military, the CLEP exams are gratis.Five of the general CLEP tests cover the basics of freshman-level knowledge in English composition humanities, college mathematics, natural sciences, and the social sciences. If all five general tests are completed, at least 30 college credits can be granted- equivalent to one year of college!
- DSST Standardized Subject Tests: DSST was originally dubbed DANTES (Defense Activity for non-traditional educational support). The present DSST is a shorthand in the form of DANTES Subject-specific Standardized Tests provided tests to the general public. The 37 subject-specific tests cover social sciences, business humanities, math, the physical sciences, and technology. Cost: $85 for each exam, plus administration fees at the test site. For military personnel who are military, the cost is paid for the first time that an exam is attempted; however, if you wish in the event of retaking the test, you’ll be accountable for the cost.
- Excelsior College Credit By Exam: Excelsior is the adult education department of New York State. in addition to a distance education college. Many who sign up for these courses are studying for online bachelor’s degrees through Excelsior; however, other institutions will accept these tests. Take various exams in the sciences and arts in nursing, business, and education.The price of Excelsior is just $110. College Exams ( ECEs) and nursing tests range from $355 to $380. The standard exams provide the Value Package at $145, which includes a practice exam and the possibility to retake the exam at no cost the first time fails.
- High School Courses with Exams for College Credit: Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) courses and the tests associated with them are different ways to earn college credit by taking exams. If AP or IB courses are offered in the high school system, students in high schools can enroll in classes at an early college level that is usually transferrable to college credits. If you’ve taken the courses and have passed the examinations, you may apply to be advanced in college courses or, in most cases, earn credits towards your college degree.
2. The Academic Portfolio Option
Certain people are more expressive when writing essays and papers, in contrast to tests with multiple choices. You can earn credits for your experiences by creating an academic profile.
You may be a suitable candidate to earn college credits for work experience by using the process of completing an academic portfolio if:
- Exams for a challenge are not available within your area(s) of expertise.
- You are proficient in writing papers and reports.
- What you have learned is the result of applying knowledge, not the textbook theory.
- You own products, such as certificates, artwork, business plans or articles, software videos, or written reports that confirm your competence in specific subject areas.
Colleges that require portfolios to be reviewed often require students to take the course to learn how to create an academic portfolio. Your volunteer experience, work experiences, and life experience could be organized to ensure that you receive the recognition you deserve.
Students in the distance-learning program at Ohio University, for instance, must take their Life and Career Experiences Analysis course to be able to build a portfolio. The course’s homework includes working with an advisor to discover and document college-level information to earn degree credits.
This course lets you provide your previous experiences and Transfer credits to other institutions or military experiences, obtain professional certificates or make a portfolio of life-long learning showing your accomplishments, all to earn credit.
Certain schools will permit students to present the portfolio you made themselves, typically with guidelines about what they want to examine. There will be a charge for assessing your portfolio. However, it’s likely to be less than taking an online course on portfolios.
3. Corporate Training Programs
Corporate companies spend much more money, time, and effort on teaching adults than all colleges in America. Large corporations have the company’s individual “corporate institutions,” which specialize in training employees to manage technical aspects through C++ programming.
Training programs that are not collegiate can usually be converted to life-experience credit by a portfolio process. However, many major companies, including AT&T, have put their training programs through a particular review process that the American Council facilitates for Education’s Non-Collegiate Sponsored Training (ACE/PONSI) which is now known as the credit program.
Credit permits non-college educators to have their in-house training courses evaluated by college examiners. They review the course content as well as textbooks and classroom practices. If they conclude that certain classes are college-level, they suggest that a specific number of college credits are regularly granted for completing the course.
Nearly half of all accredited, regionally accredited schools will accept ACE recommendations for credit towards degrees. Other colleges may not accept them or might severely limit the amount and types of ACE credits they accept for transfer.
4. Professional Licenses and Credentials
The American Council on Education (ACE) has also reviewed professional certificates offered by non-collegiate organizations and has made recommendations regarding when to grant college credits for work experiences.
Some of these qualifications are listed below:
- Certified Computer Programmer
- Chartered Financial Consultant
- FAA Pilot, Engineer, Mechanic Licenses
- Respiratory Therapy Technician
- Certified Novell Engineer
- Certified Professional Secretary
- Certified Purchasing Manager
- Certified Public Accountant
In addition to the ACE-approved professional designations, Online colleges typically accept state or nationally recognized licenses. Real estate licenses, aviation licenses, and professional health certifications such as nursing diplomas are widely accepted as college credits.
5. Military Training Programs
Suppose you’ve served in the military over the past ten years. In that case, you probably are a holder of ACE (American Council for Education) military credits that could be used toward a college degree. Did you not know that boot camp or basic training can earn you several free college credits that can be used for first aid and personal hygiene, physical education, and marksmanship?
ACE is the publisher of a massive four-volume guide about how military education and specialties can be converted into university-level credits using an ACE process. The Guide to Assessment of Education Experiences within the Armed Services can be accessed online.
The guide provides ACE college credit suggestions for all formal classes and specific areas of study provided by the services.
6. Competency-Based Education
Competency-Based education can be an excellent alternative to leveraging experiences from your life or work to earn college credits. If you’re planning to pursue your degree in adulthood and have some work experience, either in the military or a traditional industry, your knowledge may be lacking. It is possible that you will not be competent enough to pass an exam in a particular subject, yet you have a good grasp of the content that is included within the program.
You can opt for personalized learning, also known as competency-based learning, which will help you accelerate your learning by attempting to test out different units or sections of the course that you already know while filling the gaps in your education. Different schools may have unique ways to avail this kind of personalized learning. This can help you get an education and can save you cash while doing it.
Two universities that offer acceleration programs include Western Governors University and Capella University. The programs are best for students who have at least an academic year’s college.
WGU offers a method for learning that lets students accelerate their learning in areas that they already know.
What Are The Eligible Experiences For Life Experience Degree Programs?
Accredited LED could include courses in management-related classes, workshops, training for competency-based confirmation or military instruction, and courses taken at a college, school and university, specialist, or professional institution. Furthermore, volunteer work with large organizations and independent composition and reading may also be used to validate professional education based on real-life experiences.
Life Experience Degree Application Requirements
To get an approved LED quick as an application is to provide certain documents to prove your academic achievements and accomplishments.
These documents contain:
However, specific LED programs will also accept letters from former employers that detail your job duties and achievements in total.
However, many accredited college degree programs can conduct tests to evaluate your experience in life and previous education.
Life Experience Degree Accreditation
Before applying for a speedy LED which is also a life experience credit toward a degree, you must check for the application. Specific higher education with life experience degree programs aren’t recognized and are also not well-respected.
Students should be aware of applying for degrees based on life experience, particularly at Master’s and Ph.D. levels. This is because most of them aren’t certified and licensed by recognized institutions.
Candidates for life experience-based Bachelor’s or associate’s degrees are advised to do some research to ensure that the institutions they want to go to our accredited, regardless of the college credits they might earn from volunteering or paid activities.
How are Life & Work Experience Credits Determined by Accredited Schools?
There are two options to put your knowledge into an academic degree. Competency-based courses are specifically designed for students who wish to concentrate on the mastery of a subject via training and self-paced education. Accredited Experience programs give degrees where the experiences you have gained can be converted directly into credits. However, you need to attend an educational program to obtain the degree. They are great options for students looking to cut down on time and money while finishing an undergraduate degree and advancing to the next stage of their professional career.
In general, if a friend claims to be a graduate or doctorate online solely based on personal experience, you should verify the credentials of their claim carefully. They may have been victims of fraudulent life experience degrees, and a “diploma mill most likely gave their work-related degree.”
They are fraudulent online schools that “mill” or issue fake diplomas to thousands of uninitiated students every year. You can look up the directory of schools that offer diploma mills to determine if the school your friend went to is an accredited school or a possible fraud.
The Life Experience Credit Toward a Degree Programs Colleges And Universities
1, Oneida University
Oneida University, an online university established by the governors of the 19 western states, offers the possibility of a degree that attests to the experience of life since the entire structure is based on credits and skills. This one of the best life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
At the undergraduate level, you can earn a complete accredited bachelor’s degree by evaluating your previous learning. Furthermore, the school is recognized by the Accrediting Commission of International Colleges and Universities (ACICU).
2. Walden College
Walden College works with students throughout their education to earn a college education that is simple and affordable.
Students may also benefit from using previous learning assessments, professional certifications, or training for workers as credits. This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
3. Charleston State University
Since its establishment in 1978, Charleston State University offers the entire U.S. broadly licensed degree system based on previous educational and life-experience degree credits.
CSU offers the chance to use the expertise of your abilities, talents, knowledge, and personal experience to obtain your life’s experience Master’s, Bachelor’s, or Doctoral Degree quickly and at your own pace.This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
Additionally, they also have Online Life Experience Diploma projects at Charleston State University that are considered innovative and progressive because they encourage exploration and learning. Charleston State University is also recognized as among the top 25 online universities for its fair degree factbook. It complies with the United States Division of Labor requirements on non-traditional educational methods.
4. University of Denton
The University of Denton offers accredited life-experience programs for its students. They also offer Master’s, Bachelor’s, associate’s, and Ph.D. degrees for those professionals who cannot attend any University to further their education but have the knowledge to offer a difficult time to their regular students working in the corporate world. This one of the best life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
In addition, The University of Denton is recognized and recognized as accredited by the Accrediting Commission of International Colleges and Universities (ACICU).
5. Sheffield State University
In 1997, the university was founded. Sheffield State University offers one of the most prestigious, recognized, and accredited LED programs covering more than 300 specialties. SSU can accept and provide credits for courses that allow you to complete this degree via the jobs, military Training, or Social Work or Community-based work experiences.
Furthermore, the institution is recognized by the Accrediting Commission of International Colleges and Universities (ACICU).This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
6. Hampden State University
Hampden State University is one of the universities that offer degrees based on the American advanced education framework. The school introduced competency-based degree programs in 1997 and has since become the most trusted degree in the business world. Additionally, they offer various degrees at Master’s, Bachelor’s, associate’s, and Ph.D. levels.
Additionally, HSU is accredited by the International College and Universities (ACICU). This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
7. Concordia College & University
Concordia College & University in Wilmington, Delaware, gives you the most rapid access to the most affordable national LED program (which is also life experience credit toward a degree) recognized and admired by more than 75 percent of employers. This one of the prestigious life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
If you’re an adult with an education degree from a high school and at least three years ‘ working experience in the area where you’re looking to earn an education, Concordia College can help you.
The nationally recognized fast-track degree program is built solely on credits of primary education and life experiences.
9. University of Western California
The University of Western California offers many Life Experience programs and online degree courses for Bachelor’s, Associate, Master’s, and Ph.D. levels. Furthermore, UWC provides the best online learning environment for our students.
The university that offers distance learning at UWC lets you learn through technological advancements instead of the physical restrictions of traditional college institutions. As a prospective student, your location won’t hinder you from getting the degree you desire since you can earn the degree wherever you happen to be. This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
10. Central Michigan University’s Global Campus
CMU Global Campus CMU Global Campus offers a sizeable prior learning program that allows students to take 60 undergraduate credit hours and ten postgraduate credits earned through other learning pathways. The program was established in the 1970s. CMU began this program after accepting military credits. This one of the top life experience credit toward a degree also known as LED program to apply for in 2022
Since then, the school has extended the scope of the program to include workplace experiences, education (for example, workshops, seminars, and professional growth), and personal experiences (for instance, volunteering activities). Alongside the challenge tests, students may also submit the College Level Exam Program (CLEP) credits and Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) portfolios to be considered.
