Do You Qualify for a Life Experience Degree?

Higher education is becoming accessible to more and more people these days. Despite astronomical tuition costs, more students than ever before are enrolling and graduating from college, and are entering the workforce with credentials that employers value. Twenty years ago, a high school diploma was a sufficient qualification for a decent job. Now the minimums have been upped substantially, and job candidates now need college degrees to get their foot in the door or get a promotion. How can you remain competitive if you don’t have the time or money to sit through four years of school? Maybe a life experience degree can help.

A life experience degree is geared towards adults who haven’t spent lots of time in a traditional classroom setting, but have accumulated practical knowledge in other ways. For instance, those who have worked with computers for a number of years, who have lived overseas and picked up a foreign language, or who have traveled extensively and have experienced lots of different cultures firsthand might have attained a level of knowledge similar to those who have studied the same subjects in school. So instead of having to start at the beginning and cover the basics, you could earn a life experience degree.

To see if you qualify for a life experience degree, you first need to find an institution that grants them. Not every college or university does so, and not every program is fully accredited. You should beware of places that offer to send you a diploma in a week or less, as these types of degrees aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on. An accredited institution will review your experiences, verify them, and then have you take an exam to demonstrate your proficiency in various subjects. Thus, if you spent a year working in Mexico and picked up some basic Spanish while there, you would have to take a Spanish test to show how much of the language you know.

Many accredited life experience degree programs also require students to take a couple of classes to round out your education. If your background is heavy on arts and humanities, but light on mathematics and hard sciences, you might have to take a basic algebra or chemistry class in order to earn your diploma. Still, this is a far more economical and efficient route to becoming a college graduate than other options.

Earning a life experience degree can open many career doors and lead to the dream job that you’ve always wanted. To see if you qualify for one of these degrees, talk to an admissions counselor at an accredited institution today and start planning for a better future right now. Don’t you think you deserve it?