Wondering How To Improve Credit Mobility? ‘Start From Yes’

If you agree with CAEL’s longstanding argument that credit mobility drives economic mobility, there’s a new opportunity for you to lend your support: the Learning Evaluation and Recognition for the Next Generation (LEARN) Commission’s Start From Yes campaign. Start From Yes encourages a 180-degree shift in the default perspective on prior learning, challenging higher ed practitioners to regard learners as “prepared for additional education, unless proven otherwise.”

“More and more institutions are pledging to meet students where they are, and that must entail expanding our view of learning beyond the classroom,” said Earl Buford, CAEL president. “Recognizing prior learning not only supports student success, it forges vital links between curricular and career pathways, drives enrollment and completion, and most importantly, broadens economic mobility. CAEL is happy to lend a resounding ‘yes’ to this critical cause.”

As sources of college-level learning experiences diversify and increase, so can access to life-changing college credential pathways, but not if approaches to assessing and awarding credit remain stuck in the past. According to the Learn Commission, about 40% of adult learners have attempted to transfer credit. But most (65%) face obstacles such as forced repetition of classes and exhausting financial aid as a result. Sixteen percent said they gave up on their college aspirations because of credit immobility.

To address credit mobility issues, in 2024, AACRAO and Sova assembled higher ed experts from across the country, including CAEL’s Dr. Beth Doyle. They became the LEARN Commission.

Credit mobility is a critical success factor in expanding the impact of credit for prior learning (CPL) and is central to CAEL’s advocacy for adult learners and workers. CAEL views credit mobility as moving beyond traditional course-to-course transfer to encompass the broader concept of diverse learning recognition, validating competencies gained through the military, on-the-job training, short-term credentials, or independent study.

An AACRAO report published in partnership with CAEL illustrates the threat credit immobility poses to CPL even as awareness of its benefits grows. Although more than 80% of U.S. and Canadian institutions offer credit for prior learning pathways, the report also found that 54% of institutions don't accept CPL in transfer.

“Every learner who earns credit deserves to have it recognized,” the LEARN Commission wrote in a press release. “Every credential within reach should be within reach. That is the future the LEARN Commission has charted. We are committed to helping build it. Start from Yes.”

Organizations can answer the “Start From Yes” call by adding their name to the signatories of the Joint Statement on Credit Evaluation and Learning Mobility

The work of the LEARN Commission is part of the Beyond Transfer initiative and is made possible with the generous support of the Ascendium Education Group.