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by CAEL on Sep 03, 2025
Despite its many benefits, CPL is underutilized. Only about 1 in ten adult learners receive credit for their prior learning. Moreover, while CPL drives completion for all student demographics, lower-income adults, Black adult students, and community college students are even less likely to participate in CPL.
The good news is that closing this gap is an opportunity to scale CPL’s impact on student and institutional success as well as broader economic mobility. With the support of members, funders, and other partners, CAEL’s decades-long advocacy is making a difference. Today, a strong majority of institutions (82%) offer CPL in some form.
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But while CPL pathways are proliferating, navigating them is another matter. CAEL offers a tandem of technology solutions to make CPL more accessible and manageable for students, faculty, and staff. Both have been recently upgraded.
Credit Predictor Standard
All CAEL institutional members can receive Credit Predictor Standard at no charge. (Other members can access the platform for $500 annually). Institutions can customize Credit Predictor Standard with details that include logos, course duration, and tuition. Informed by these parameters, Credit Predictor Standard guides students through a set of questions related to potential sources of experiential learning. Based on their responses, it immediately provides an estimate of how much time and money CPL can save them.
CAEL recently enhanced Credit Predictor Standard by adding the ability to export key metrics. The new export functions address common challenges associated with coordinating external resources and student information systems. The reports, which institutions can download on demand, summarize various data related to students and CPL matches.
Credit Predictor Pro
CAEL launched Credit Predictor Pro in 2022 to integrate with Credit Predictor Standard while expanding features available to students and institutions. Institutions can add customized questions and CPL crosswalks to Credit Predictor Pro, which can capture experiential learning across an expanded range of nine potential dimensions. The platform is also connected to a skills extractor, identifying and standardizing skills from various sources, such as resumes, which students can upload to Credit Predictor Pro. Credit Predictor Pro can also interface with up to 25 advisors.
Recent upgrades to Credit Predictor Pro include enhanced options for advisors to add experiential and informal learning directly to a student's profile, facilitating approved, automated CPL matches. The ability for each advisor to save individual configuration preferences was also added.
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Information on purchasing Credit Predictor Pro is available by contacting Scott Campbell at scampbell@cael.org.
What are the benefits of CPL for students?
- CPL saves adult learners money: up to $10,200 in tuition dollars.
- CPL accelerates their completion—adult degree earners with 12+ CPL credits graduated 9-14 months earlier than peer students without CPL.
- CPL boosts graduation rates by 17%.
What are the benefits of CPL for institutions?
- CPL students, on average, earn 17 more credits through tuition-based coursework, compared to non-CPL students.
- CPL can also offer recruiting impact. CAEL research has found that the vast majority (84%) of likely enrollees said that the ability to receive CPL would significantly influence their choice of institution.
- CPL forms organic bridges linking learning and work; CPL crosswalks keep theory and practice well aligned and, when integrated with employee benefit programs, reduces costs while supporting worker recruiting and retention.
Comparing the Features of Credit Predictor Standard and Credit Predictor Pro
