Credit-by-Portfolio
The Prior Learning Assessment Program provides students with an opportunity to earn
college credit for the learning you have acquired through work and life experience.
Madonna University recognizes that what is important is not where, when, and how you
learned, but what you learned. The program will help you reframe your learned job
skills into a more interesting and fulfilling understanding of your experiences, while
simultaneously transforming your work attitudes, values, and habits, and potentially
earning college credit toward your undergraduate degree.
Madonna University Office of Student Advising and Success is prepared to support your
effort to achieve your goals through the Prior Learning Assessment Program. Your
learning experiences could save you money and time by earning college credit to:
- Prepare you for future opportunities by completing your undergraduate degree
- Enhance your skills and make you more productive
- Advance in achieving your career and vocational goals
- Increase your earning potential in your current or future employment opportunities
- Enrich your mind by experiencing learning in a different way
We welcome you to explore this wonderful opportunity with us. Please contact the Office
of Student Advising and Success at 734-432-5417 or MUadvising@madonna.edu to speak with a Prior Learning Assessment Program Advisor for additional information.
Prior Learning Credit Evaluation Form
Information and Application Process
Students may request credit for work experience, military training, travel, internships
or in-service, seminars and workshops, independent study or research, art, music,
filmmaking, or journalism.
Students must supply documentation in the form of a portfolio to support their request
for credit, such as a resume, job descriptions, evaluations, letters, certificates,
registrations, work samples, writing samples, programs of performances, and/or lectures
given.
Prior learning may be evaluated by exam, a portfolio, certificates and registrations,
product, presentations, or exhibits. The department advisor will award satisfactory
(S) credit for the successful completion of a portfolio.
Students may receive up to 30 semester hours toward the 60 credits required for an
associate’s degree and 60 semester hours of credit toward the 120 credits required
for a bachelor’s degree. The Office of Student Accounts will charge reduced tuition
for prior learning credits.
Credits earned through the Prior Learning Program are excluded when determining eligibility
for financial aid, full- or part-time status, Dean’s List, Academic Achievement List,
and proof of U.S. residency (I-20 verification).
To request prior learning credits, you must be formally admitted to Madonna University
and have satisfactorily completed a minimum of 12 semester hours of course work at
Madonna University.
- After formally being admitted to Madonna and have satisfactorily completed 12 semester
hours of course work, you may complete the Prior Learning Credit Evaluation form(s). Please submit one Prior Learning Credit Evaluation form for each program/department
that will evaluate credits at the same time.
- Submit the Prior Learning Credit Evaluation form(s) to the Office of Student Advising
and Success (room 1220) to begin the evaluation process. Both the Office of Student
Advising and Success and the department chair will assist you through the remaining
steps.
- With the assistance of a department advisor, you will decide what course content has
been mastered, how the knowledge can be documented and evaluated. The advisor meeting
is very important to successfully completing this process and obtaining credit.
- Submit the necessary documentation in the form of a portfolio to the Office of Undergraduate
Retention. Both, the Office of Undergraduate Retention and department chair assumes
the responsibility to monitor the process, evaluate the learning, assign grade(s),
determine number of semester hours, and sign the Prior Learning Credit Evaluation
form. After the evaluation has been successfully completed, both the Executive Director
of Undergraduate Retention and the department chair will sign the Prior Learning Credit
Evaluation form. An “S” grade is given for Prior Learning Program credit.
- After prior learning credit has been awarded, submit the approved and signed Prior
Learning Credit Evaluation form and a completed Registration Form to the Office of
the Registrar to register for the courses. Earned credits through the Prior Learning
Program are added to your academic record/transcript at the end of the term in which
the credits are registered.
- Tuition for credits earned through the Prior Learning Program is reduced. A processing
fee is applied to your student account as well. Please check with the Office of Student
Accounts for tuition and processing fees for credits earned through the Prior Learning
Program.
The most recent Madonna University Undergraduate Catalog provides additional information
regarding the Prior Learning Program and its various components. Also, you may contact
the Office of Student Advising and Success at 734-432-5417 or MUadvising@madonna.edu.
