YOUR LIFE EXPERIENCE
HAS VALUE AT CLU

credit for prior learning

You could be closer to your degree than you think. At Claremont Lincoln University, we value practical learning and will work with you to award credit based on demonstrated learning from work experience, professional development training, completion of certificates, and even volunteer work.

CLU offers affordable, flexible programs for our students. These are programs uniquely developed to empower working adults. In whatever discipline you choose, CLU degrees are designed to augment your existing leadership skills and get you using your new degree in a timely manner. A full-time student can earn a degree in as little as 13 months.

Prior Learning Policy>

GET CREDIT
FOR YOUR LEADERSHIP BACKGROUND

At CLU, we believe it’s not just what you’ve learned in life, it’s also what you did with that learning. If you’re someone who acted on your learning and stepped up in volunteer organizations, in the military, or even in your current job, a degree could be in your future. You can earn up to 75% of a CLU degree through transfer credit or prior learning assessment.

Do you have leadership skills you’ve developed and exhibited throughout your career? Have you served on a nonprofit board, or worked to solve social issues through volunteer work? CLU may award credits based on learning acquired from work and volunteer experience. We determine credit coverage from your demonstrated learning, meaning that it isn’t enough to simply have lived an experience – we’ll need to know what you learned and how you applied it.

Education and leadership from your military service can also count towards your degree. CLU generally accepts ACE and NCCRS-recommended graduate credit for documented military, governmental, and other related training.

Certifications, licenses, apprenticeships, fellowships, research placements, and other advanced professional work can potentially count for credit at CLU. We review external credentials and organization-specific training programs completed by our students on an individual basis.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. Credits from a previous course completed may be applied to your CLU degree. Transfer credit assessment is completed by CLU Academic Administrators who compare the learning outcomes of a CLU course with a student’s prior coursework from a recognized institution.
  2. Students can complete CLU Course Challenges. Students who have the experience and skills to address the course learning outcomes can demonstrate that mastery and earn credit for that course. To earn credit, you must successfully complete an assignment that demonstrates learning of the course outcomes – usually a paper. The fee for the course challenge is $250 for Undergraduate and $500 for Graduate for each course and is limited to two courses.
  3. Finally, enrolled students can earn credit for prior experience (CPL) through a Prior Learning Assessment, or PLA.

You must be an enrolled student at CLU before requesting a PLA. Once enrolled, contact our Student Services Department to schedule a meeting with a PLA mentor. If it is determined that you qualify for the PLA process, you’ll be added to our virtual PLA Lab. You’ll be able to submit your portfolio of evidence supporting your demonstrated learning and complete your PLA modules within this Lab. There is a fee of $250 for Undergraduate (one course) outside of the Foundation course, which allows up to four courses of PLA within 8-16 weeks, and $500 for the Graduate portfolio (one course).

We give current undergraduate students 16 weeks (or first two terms) and graduates two terms to complete the PLA Lab which allows you to gather materials at your own pace. We recommend that you treat your PLA Lab the same way you would any other class. In other words, do the work slowly over time and don’t try to cram everything in at the end. After our students submit their PLA Lab materials, a PLA screening committee and PLA decision committee will meet to assess their work.

Once the committees reach a decision, they’ll send the information back to students through their PLA mentor.

  • Current resume.
  • Chronological autobiography, which is a letter detailing your professional experiences and explaining why you believe they qualify for credit.
  • Learning outcome submissions, which you’ll be able to submit through modules in the PLA Lab.
  • Artifacts/evidence of demonstrated learning to support experience.

  • Materials gathered through work and volunteer experience (such as awards, letters of recommendation, licenses, committee work, and seminars).
    • Military experience.
    • Professional credentials, licenses, training, and certifications.
    • Verified alternative graduate-level college education (such as MOOCs).
    • Graduate credit awarded by appropriate agencies.
    • Graduate-level external exams.

A complete and specific list of acceptable artifacts will be provided to you by your mentor should you choose to move through the PLA process. An artifact proving you had an experience is not enough to demonstrate that you’ve achieved mastery of a learning outcome. A good artifact must show a clear picture of what you’ve learned and/or how you used that knowledge.

Each CLU degree has program learning outcomes (PLOs) that our courses are designed to help you achieve.

Each course has its own learning outcomes (LOs) that support the overall degree PLOs. You’ll see a detailed list of the LOs for each class and degree in your PLA Lab.

For each learning outcome, you’ll submit a short written narrative describing your experience and why it achieves the learning outcome. You’ll also provide up to three artifacts that show your mastery of the learning outcome.

You don’t have to submit materials for every learning outcome, so feel free to pick the learning outcomes that suit your experience best. Students will need to articulate how the their life experiences have prepared them for mastery of the course content. Connect with us to learn more about this process.

You must be an enrolled student at CLU before requesting a PLA. Once enrolled, contact our Student Services Department to schedule a meeting with a PLA mentor. If it is determined that you qualify for the PLA process, you’ll be added to our virtual PLA Lab. You’ll be able to submit your portfolio of evidence supporting your demonstrated learning and complete your PLA modules within this Lab. There is a fee of $500 dollars for the Graduate portfolio (1 course) or $250 for the Undergraduate portfolio (1 course) outside of the Foundation course, which allows for up to three courses of PLA, within 8-16 weeks.

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