Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) provides a pathway for non-traditional students to expedite completion of an academic-degree program. PLA acknowledges and honors the college-level learning that these students have accrued outside the confines of the regular classroom.
Incidentally, PLA will encourage departmental faculty to adopt more nuanced learning outcomes across all subject areas as a result of a rigorous approach to the examination of prior learning on the performance of non-traditional students inside the confines of the regular classroom.
PLA is based on college-level knowledge and skills that satisfy the learning outcomes of an academic course. The college-level knowledge and skills that a non-traditional student may possess could have been obtained in the context of:
- corporate training
- business ownership
- professional work
- volunteer work
- civic leadership
PLA is beneficial to non-traditional students in several ways:
- emphasis on practical competence via certifications, licenses, and credentials
- elimination of redundancies in mastered material
- savings in time and money spent on degree completion
Eligibility
In order to qualify for Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) as a non-traditional student, at least one of the following criteria must be met by the student:
- been out of high school for 4+ years at the time of initial registration into an undergraduate program
- had at least a 2-year interruption in higher education
- been forced to enroll in less than 12 credits each semester due to significant, non-academic commitments
In order to earn academic credit via PLA, a non-traditional student must comply with the following steps:
- submit Felician’s undergraduate/graduate application (along with all relevant materials)
- submit a PLA Interest Form
- submit a PLA Portfolio
- if applicable, submit the transfer-credit application
- if applicable, maintain the minimum grade point average (GPA) for courses taken to date within a Felician, academic program/school