Awarding of Credits for Work and Life Experience

Each college or school may define how work/life experience credit will be applied to its degree programs. Forms and procedures may be obtained from the offices of the Deans. No more than 18 hours may be awarded for work/life experience within a compressed program.

Within the School of Professional Studies, non-traditional students enrolled in a compressed program, the Regents Bachelor of Arts (R.B.A.), or the Bachelor of Organizational Leadership and Administration (B.L.A.) may receive credit for work/life experience, referred to as Prior Learning Assessment (PLA). PLA credits are established by review of portfolios, which must demonstrate mastery of exit competencies for each course requested. PLA credits may be granted only for courses currently listed in the WLU Catalog. PLA credits are not to be used in the computation of G.P.A. and may not be used to meet stated residency requirements. PLA credits will not be posted to a student’s transcript until that student has registered for and completed at least 12 semester credit hours at WLU. A one-time fee will be charged for the assessment of PLA portfolios in addition to the per credit hour fee. For more information about PLA, see the School of Professional Studies section of the University Catalog.

All RNs requesting admission to the RN-BSN program will receive 30-31 undifferentiated nursing credits for lower division nursing coursework based on current registered nurse license and graduation from an accredited school of nursing within the past 10 years or employment as an RN within the past three years. In addition, the science support courses will considered fulfilled in those courses were also included in the diploma nursing curriculum.

Upon successful completion of 12 credit hours at WLU, 12 credit hours will be awarded if the student has passed the ASCP BOC for laboratory technicians or has a minimum of two years of experience in laboratory science.