Prior Learning Assessment

Earn Credits for Prior Learning

You may be eligible to receive credit for what you’ve learned on the job and in life. For this process, called Prior Learning Assessment, Sacred Heart University has partnered with a Connecticut state college so our students will benefit from a long-standing PLA program from which SHU accepts transfer credits.

The process includes enrolling in a portfolio course that is designed to help students analyze their experience, relate it to specific college courses, determine what the learning objectives and/or topics covered in the course would be, and choose appropriate supporting documentation. It guides the students through the process of constructing a resume, identifying areas where you have college level knowledge, writing a biographical overview of your relevant background, analyzing course knowledge components, and completing a narrative essay that will do the following:

• Describe what you know
• Relate that knowledge to every course knowledge component that you have identified
• Specify when, where and how you acquired that knowledge
• Present each piece of supporting documentation and describe how it supports your claim to knowledge

A portfolio(s) is then submitted for evaluation. Credits earned can then be transferred to SHU. 

Get additional details about the PLA Program.