Credit For Life Experience

Antioch believes adult students deserve respect and recognition for their achievements and knowledge gained in the real world. The University offers an option to pursue academic credit for college-level knowledge and skills acquired outside the classroom prior to enrollment. For example, adults who have studied art, learned management theory while working in an office, or investigated theories of child development while raising their own children can receive college credit from knowledge gained through these activities.

To gain credit for learning derived from life and work experiences, student must document and demonstrate their prior learning to outside evaluators who are professionals in the community. This happens through a carefully structured process that helps students to identify and organize the knowledge and skills they have gained through experience and to connect that experience to more theoretical knowledge. It's the college-level learning from your life and work experiences that earns you credit.

You can document up to 48 credits of prior learning, although typically students earn 20 to 40 credits for their prior learning. To do this, you participate in a class that trains you to think about your past experience in new ways. You write narratives about your learning and receive an evaluation from experts in the fields in which you claim knowledge.