{"id":51645,"date":"2022-01-10T10:12:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T16:12:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abound.college\/finishcollege\/?post_type=advice&p=51645"},"modified":"2025-07-25T16:55:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T21:55:47","slug":"credit-for-life-experience-how-a-prior-learning-assessment-pla-can-benefit-you","status":"publish","type":"advice","link":"https:\/\/abound.college\/finishcollege\/advice\/credit-for-life-experience-how-a-prior-learning-assessment-pla-can-benefit-you\/","title":{"rendered":"Credit for Life Experience: How a Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) Can Benefit You"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Year by year, the share of <\/span>non-traditional college students<\/span><\/a> over the age of 25 grows as an expanding majority. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, adults were finding it more and more necessary to start or return to college in order to get ahead in the workforce. Online learning and flexible scheduling can help any busy adult fit a college education into their schedule, but there is still one glaring difference between these older adults and the traditional, just-out-of-high-school 18-year-olds: lived experience. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going back to college as an adult doesn\u2019t mean you\u2019re behind; rather, it means that a lot of the learning you <\/span>have<\/span><\/i> done has happened outside of a classroom. Whether you carry some kind of license or certificate or have simply put plenty of hours into the workforce, it\u2019s likely that you qualify for college credit through a <\/span>Prior Learning Assessment (PLA)<\/b>, a helpful tool that can save you both time and money in the pursuit of your degree.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\ud83d\udd0e Want to explore how to finish college faster with both past coursework and life experience? Check out our step-by-step guide to credit transfer and PLA<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Is Prior Learning Assessment? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

According to the <\/span>Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL)<\/span><\/a>, a Prior Learning Assessment \u201cis a term for various methods that colleges, universities, and other education\/training providers use to evaluate learning that has occurred outside of the traditional academic environment.\u201d Other common terms for this process include Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) and recognition of learning.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

More experiences can count toward college credit than you might think! As <\/span>Carrie Phillips<\/b> from <\/span>Arkansas Tech University<\/b><\/a> notes, \u201cAcademic credit for the student\u2019s experiential learning may be derived from multiple means, including but not limited to: employer training programs, non-credit courses, training and education received through military service, documented work history, non-college courses, apprenticeships, and vocational or certification programs.\u201d Schools offering non-traditional <\/span>degree completion programs<\/span><\/a> widely accept many past learning experiences for credit; however, how these experiences are actually measured varies across institutions. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What Types of Assessments Can I Take? <\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To measure your knowledge and skills in relevant areas, a school may ask you to complete one or more of the following assessments:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n