Transfer of Credit

• Courses
• Advanced Standing Through Prior Learning Assessment
• Credit For College Level Learning--Not Experience
• Credit is Earned in the Context of the Course Program
• Noncollegiate-Sponsored Learning or "Generics"
• Individual Expert Evaluation

Whether you’ve attended other colleges, built a career or simply pursued personal interests, odds are you’ve spent much of your life learning. CII recognizes the value of this. If your knowledge from life experience is relevant to your courses program, you may be awarded credits based on prior transcripts and evaluated college-level learning.

1.Courses

Credits listed on your courses program may fulfill more that one requirement.

Requirements for your CII Courses

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2. Advanced Standing Through Prior Learning Assessment

CII is committed to the idea that people deserve credit for college-level learning no matter how it was acquired. Many people have developed learning outside of the traditional classroom and this knowledge is as valuable as knowledge gained through more formal learning situations. Credit is granted for verifiable learning, but not for the experience itself. This learning can be identified and assessed in a variety of ways to determine if college credit should be awarded. Credit earned in this manner, called credit by evaluation, is listed as advanced standing credit on a student's courses program/transcript. The evaluation of prior learning and the development of an individualized courses program go hand in hand and credit is awarded when it fits appropriately into a student's courses program. Therefore, this process is only available for students seeking a courses at CII.

• Credit for College-Level Learning--Not Experience
• Credit is Earned in the Context of a Course Program
• A Student Guide: Credit for Prior College-level Learning

Evaluation of Prior College-Level Learning
Advanced standing credit is available for prior college-level learning verified by one of the following:

• Transcript Evaluation
  Credits earned at other regionally accredited colleges and universities that are validated by an official transcript are available for inclusion in students' course programs.
• Standardized Examinations
  Credit may be earned through the demonstration of college-level learning on proficiency examinations offered by a number of testing services.
• Evaluations of Noncollegiate Sponsored Learning: Pre-evaluated Training, Credentials, Certificates and Licenses
  Credit is awarded for the completion of learning that has been evaluated by the American Education Center ( AEC ).
• Individualized Expert Evaluation
  Credit is awarded for verifiable college level learning acquired through work, life experience or independent reading and study. Individual evaluation by experts accounts for much of the credit by evaluation at CII. For each topic for which you are requesting credit, you will write a description of what you know and how you acquired this learning. The CII arranges for an expert on the topic who will review and evaluate your learning.

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3.Credit For College Level Learning--Not Experience

CII does not award credit for experience. Credit is granted to students for verifiable college level learning, either knowledge or skills, acquired through life or work experience, not for the experience itself. For example, a student who has worked as an office manager for ten years will not be awarded credit for having ten years of office experience, but might earn credit for the ability to demonstrate learning about office administration, supervision and office technology. The student who has owned and operated an antique shop for the last five years would not receive credit for five years of business experience but might for the knowledge demonstrated about retailing, early American furniture and/or small business management.

You will need to develope an understanding of what college-level learning you have already acquired. The learning can come from many sources, including:

• courses at colleges and universities
• work experience
• volunteer work
• training programs or in-service courses
• military service
• community activities
• independent reading and study

In developing your prior learning credit requests, you will work with your primary mentor to determine:

• if the learning is college-level
• if the learning is appropriate to the degree plan you are developing
• how best to demonstrate your learning

Defining college-level learning can be a complex task, so you and your mentor should have several conversations about your prior learning. At CII, we use the following standards to decide whether learning is college-level.

• The learning should be theoretical as well as practical. For example, if you seek credit for supervising several employees at work, you should evidence some understanding of the concepts of motivation, management styles and job evaluation techniques as well as the routine processes of day-to-day-operations.
• You should be able to identify the principles involved in doing what you are able to do.
• The learning should be equivalent to college-level work in terms of quality.
• The learning should be identified as college-level when evaluated by an expert in the field. This means you should be able to convince an expert evaluator through description or demonstration that your knowledge or competence is at the college-level.

People are learning constantly and much of what is learned, no matter how valuable, may be too simple and routine to qualify as college-level. Some examples of these commonplace, non-college-level learning competencies might include driving a car, maintaining the family budget, putting up bookshelves, buying a house or surviving a serious illness.

You may want to come up with a first approximation of credit to assist in your planning. Credit derived directly from transcript learning, examinations, and in some cases, from licenses and certifications is easily translatable into CII credits.

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4.Credit is Earned in the Context of the Course Program

It is important to remember that evaluations result in credit recommendations only. CII accepts the credit recommendations for the student and awards advanced standing credit in the context of a course program when:

• learning components make sense within the context of the student's degree program;
• learning components do not duplicate other credits in the degree program;
• the student completed the learning at the same location and during the exact time period covered by the evaluation and credit recommendation;
• official documentation is received directly by the CII from the issuing agency or organization

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5.Noncollegiate-Sponsored Learning or "Generics"

Learning derived from educational experiences that already have been evaluated and for which credit can be awarded without additional evaluation by the Institute. Students identify potentially usable credit for:

• possession of a license or certificate or completion of a training program evaluated for academic credit by CII. See Generic Evaluations below for more details.
• completion of formal educational courses offered by business, industry, professional associations, labor unions and other noncollegiate organizations evaluated by the American Education Center’ Credit Recommendation Service
• remember that evaluations result in credit recommendations only. CII accepts the credit recommendations for each student and awards advanced standing credit in the context of a degree program when:
• learning components make sense within the context of the student's degree program;
• learning components do not duplicate other credits in the degree program;
• the student completed the learning at the same location and during the exact time period covered by the evaluation and credit recommendation;
• official documentation is received directly by the College from the issuing agency or organization.

Official Documentation
The CII requires official documents to support students' requests for advanced standing credit. Official transcripts and documents must come to CII directly from the issuing agency or institution and have an official seal (or agency letterhead) and signature. Each section in this brochure includes information about appropriate sources and types of official documentation required.

Note that transcripts and other documents issued to students (even with official seal and signature) are unacceptable as official. However, such documents may help in preliminary discussions with a mentor or advisor.

Generic Evaluations
In the CII generic evaluation process, the CII identifies and evaluates standard educational experiences and recommends credit equivalents. Generic evaluations result in recommendations of credit potentially available for CII course planning purposes. The CII evaluates licenses, certificates and training programs and courses sponsored by noncollegiate organizations.

CII has generic evaluations for the many kind of licenses, certificates, training activities and apprenticeships.

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6. Individual Expert Evaluation

CII provides individualized assessment of prior learning for enrolled students earning courses from the college. During educational planning you will work with your mentor to determine whether you have prior college-level learning that will require individualized evaluation. You need to reflect on the nature of your experiential learning and on ways to present a convincing claim that this knowledge is worthy of college credit. With your mentor's guidance, you should ask yourself:

• What do I understand now that I did not understand before?
• What skills or competencies have I gained through this experience?
• What different techniques or approaches am I aware of?
• How do the various ideas, principles or concepts support the approaches that can be taken?

For each topic identified for which you are requesting credit, you will usually complete the following process:

• write an essay describing what you know about this topic and how you learned it;
• gather documentation;
• submit the essay and documentation to your mentor for review

With your mentor's approval this material will be submitted to an expert evaluator in the field. The expert evaluator will identify, measure and evaluate your prior learning based upon what you submit and may request an interview or additional information.

The evaluator's report and recommendation will determine:

• whether college credit is recommended and how much credit, at what level, and what requirements it meets
• what the title of the learning components will be if the credit is awarded

Although the expert evaluator makes credit recommendations, the final decision on credit awarded resides with the center assessment committee.

An individual evaluation fee of $300 is charged to students at the beginning of their second enrollment who request credit for work and life learning that requires individual expert evaluation.

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