Are Life Experience Degrees Legitimate?

You have probably received an email message that offered you the chance to quickly and easily earn a "prestigious" degree based on life experience. Perhaps they ask for copies of transcripts, test scores, job reports, or personal narratives. They might even mention how people with college degrees earn far more money than those without undergraduate or graduate degrees. Are these legitimate?

In general, the answer to the question of whether life experience degrees are legitimate is no. You cannot earn a credible degree based on life experience. No accredited college or university in the United States will offer "life experience degrees". But there is a program that is very similar and always confuse by many people to be ?life experience degrees? is Online Prior Learning Assessment Programs.

Under the Online Prior Learning Assessment Programs, you can earn an entire associates or bachelors degree through a demonstration of prior learning. Demonstrating prior learning typically involves using transfer credits, credit by examination, or portfolio development and evaluation. Note that prior learning assessment is a more formal procedure than so-called credit for life experience and is recognized as a legitimate means of granting credit. If you can demonstrate that you have learned something equivalent to content taught in a college course, then you can earn college credits and apply them an undergraduate degree. The accredited school best suited for prior learning degrees is Thomas Edison State College.

The Online Prior Learning Assessment Programs are only applied for undergraduate degrees; it doesn't apply to graduate programs. While you may be able to earn a few graduate credits based on prior learning assessment, they are generally limited to a handful, if any. If you closely examine the schools that advertise graduate degrees based on life experience, you will notice that they aren't accredited by a recognized agency, and so you would be wise to avoid such programs.

A legitimate life experience degrees offered by an accredited online school is actually an online prior learning assessment program where the student need to demonstrate that he or she have learning something equivalent to the courses thought in an online degree program and it only applies to undergraduate degree program. So you can earn credit and even an undergraduate degree through a demonstration of prior learning but be wary of programs that lack accreditation or promote quick degrees through life experience.

The consequences of using a degree that is lack of accreditation may not just limited to receiving a credential with less value, it may cause you facing the worse scenario that involve a legal penalty due to violating state law by using an unrecognized credential. In order to avoid this potential embarrassment upon yourself, you would be wise to avoid any solely life-experience degree that are promoting a quick degree program which you not need to invest any thing but money.

In Summary

The purely "life experience degrees" that are promoting fast-track degree is definitely not legitimate. But under Online Prior Learning Assessment Program, if you can demonstrate that you have learned through your life experience a certain courses thought in the degree program, you can be granted credits and earn your associate and bachelor degree.

Related article : Is an Online MBA will Help In Your Career Advancement?

Related Articles

Online Distance Education - Online College Degrees

There has been a change in the way corporations and even brick and mortar education entities view online college degrees. There was a time when an online degree was considered by almost everyone to be a substandard degree. In the past few years, more and more employers not only embrace and approve of online distance education, they offer to help college students pay for their education through work place grants.

The range of online degree programs available continues to grow. At one time, business courses were the most common online degree programs, but now you can get a degree in education, psychology, business administration, criminal justice and much, much more online. If you are considering pursuing your degree online, research the college of your choice to learn if they provide your chosen program online. If not, there are likely others who do.

The great thing about online colleges is that you don't...Read Full Article >>>

Here's What I Found About Online University Degree Courses

Online degree study programs are sometimes equal in cost to traditional degrees. If you want to select an online degree program based on cost, you can carry out a comparative analysis on the cost per credit on the program. The assumption that online study programs are more expensive than traditional degrees is wrong.

Online degrees are an option for people looking to move ahead in their careers. Online degree programs can be taken as a way to induce promotion at your work place. You don't have to give up working if you take on an online degree program because it allows you to work and learn at the same time.

An online student does not have a fixed lecture time to study because he or she dictates the pace at which they study. The student of a conventional classroom setting is bound by lecture times and does not have the luxury of...Read Full Article >>>

Is an Online University Degree For You?

Online education has revolutionized distance learning, providing greater convenience and opening new doors for a lot of people who want to increase their career potential. If you are interested in getting a degree online, there are a number of things you should consider.

The first thing you have to make sure of is if online education is right for you. Enrolling in an online university or college is ideal for working people or stay-at-home parents. If your other priorities leave you no opportunity to make it to scheduled classes, taking courses online is the best way to go, provided you have a good amount of self-discipline when it comes to time management. Online education is really for people who do very well with minimum supervision. It can also provide that second chance at further education for older adults who may not feel too comfortable attending classes with people who are a...Read Full Article >>>