Prior Learning
You can earn college credit for prior learning in your field of study, for documented, college-level learning and testing, as well as corporate and professional training, education and work experience.
Apply TodayCredit for Prior Learning
At CCRI, we recognize that college-level learning can occur in a variety of settings outside of the traditional educational environment. Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) pathways are opportunities for students to provide evidence of their college-level learning for college credit. Prior learning may have been gained through a variety of contexts, such as military training or work experience.
Before you get started...
Credit for Prior Learning will only be awarded to students officially enrolled in a CCRI Degree or Certificate program. If you have not previously attended CCRI, or have not attended classes within the past two years, you should visit https://www.ccri.edu/onestop/admissions/apply/ to apply and complete all of the appropriate admissions steps. Workforce and Dual Enrollment students who have not been enrolled in an academic Degree or Certificate program should complete these application steps as well.
After confirming or establishing your status as an enrolled CCRI student, the next step is to review your program's requirements in order to get a better understanding of whether your prior learning will apply toward your program. As you review your program requirements, identify and take note of which course(s) seem to match your prior learning. Credit for Prior Learning is outcomes based, so you should review the Student Learning Outcomes (SLO's) for the course(s) you identify to confirm whether they match your prior learning. SLO's are usually available on the academic department/program's webpages.
Note: Transfer coursework from other regionally-accredited colleges/universities and Advanced Placement (AP) Exams are usually processed through the CCRI Records department, not through Credit for Prior Learning. For information/steps, see https://www.ccri.edu/onestop/records/transfers/tran_info.html.
Review these Credit for Prior Learning Pathways for more information and next steps
Steps for submitting Non-Regionally Accredited Coursework, such as ACE Reviewed Courses on Credly transcripts can be found here.
Students with Military training should visit the Military Credit Awards page for information and next steps.
Students with specific trainings/credentials should check the Preapproved/Standardized Credit Award list to see if the training/credential has already been reveiwed at CCRI for a credit award. Note: If your training/credential does not appear on this list, you may submit it through the Portfolio Assessment process (see below).
If the above pathways do not apply, there may be an Equivalency Exam available
Equivalency Exams - If your area of prior learning does not appear on the preapproved credit award list, check to see if there is an equivalency exam for the course(s) you identified as a match when you reviewed your program requirements.
If there is no Equivalency Exam, you will may wish to submit an application for a Portfolio Assessment
Portfolio Assessment - If your area of prior learning does not appear on the preapproved credit list and there is no equivalency exam, you may wish to explore Portfolio Assessment, which is an opportunity for you to submit evidence/support of your prior learning along with narratives connecting your evidence/support to the Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) of a particular CCRI course.
CPL General Information, Policy, and Procedures:
- Students must be currently registered and accepted into a certificate or degree program at CCRI to earn Credit for Prior Learning, and the prior learning must be used toward credits in their certificate or program of study. For certificates, CPL and/or transfer courses are limited to 25% of credit requirements. For degree programs, CPL and/or transfer courses are limited to 75% of credit requirements.
- In order to earn credit based on prior experiential or non-collegiate sponsored learning alone, student learning and achievement must be demonstrated to be at least comparable in breadth, depth, and quality to the results of learning experiences provided by CCRI.
- While many opportunities for CPL exist, some CCRI courses do not have options for CPL.
- Students requesting CPL for military training and service can follow the steps here.
- Information regarding CPL transferability, fees, and more can be found in the FAQ Section.