Credit for Prior Learning

Please review the eligibility criteria with your student before beginning the Credit for Prior Learning process. Students seeking Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) by portfolio or other experience, should submit documentation to their instructor before beginning a CPL form. Instructors will be asked to upload supporting documentation when they complete their section of the form.

STEP 01

Select the appropriate link from the list below. The links are organized by division. If a grant is covering the fee for the student, be sure to select the grant funded link.

STEP 02

On the URL landing page enter the student’s name and email address. Then enter your information and your department chair. Your Dean and Registration and Records are already in the workflow. *As of Spring 2025, Course Scheduling is no longer part of the process.

If a grant is covering the fee, there will be a place for you to enter the contact information for the Grant Liaison. This person will submit the Journal Entry to the Business Office to process the fee payment. This person might be you, an administrative assistant or a grant coordinator.

STEP 03

After submitting everyone’s information, you will be directed to the CPL form. Enter the course information and credits.

STEP 04

The student will receive an email inviting them to complete their part of the form. From there each person in the workflow will receive a notification email and a request to sign their section.

STEP 05

Once the workflow reaches Registration and Records, their office will confirm the student's eligibility and calculate the cost. If the student is paying the fee, their office will contact the student with the total and instructions for payment. Once the payment is received, Registration and Records will continue the workflow. The credit is not applied to the student's record until the fee is paid. This includes grant and department funded CPL. If you have any questions about where a student is in the CPL process, you can email registration@clackamas.edu.

CPL Information

Student Eligibility Criteria

No more than 25% of degree or certificate requirements can be satisfied by CPL.
Departments may exempt courses from CPL. Review the Non-Challengeable Course List here before starting a CPL request.
Credit for a course is granted on the recommendation of a faculty member approved to teach that course.
The recommending faculty member approves the awarding of credit for a particular course based on either:

A direct assessment by the faculty member of a student’s achievement (this might include consideration of how a student performed on external assessments); OR
Department/program guidelines. Faculty will propose departmental standards for granting students credit for an acceptable level of performance on externally administered assessment(s). If such guidelines have been adopted and published by the department, credit will be granted based on the guidelines.

To earn credit, a student must, at a minimum, document achievement of the student learning outcomes associated with the course at a level similar to a student passing the course with a grade of C or better. (Departments may set this threshold higher at their discretion.)
Departments may use any combination of the following formats to assess and document student competencies in order to decide whether CPL credit should be granted:

CCC-administered assessments: Portfolio, Challenge Exam (produced by department), Performance Assessment (produced by department), or any combination of these
Externally administered postsecondary assessments (such as CLEP), ACE transcripted credit, or industry certification
Externally administered secondary assessments, such as Advanced Placement (AP) Exam or International Baccalaureate (IB) Exam

How CPL credit is graded and transcripted:

Successfully earned CPL will be noted with a grade of either A-C or Pass at the department’s discretion.
Credits earned via CPL will always include a CPL notation on the student’s transcript.

Students may request CPL for the same course more than once.
Students may not request CPL for a course they have already taken or received transfer credit for at CCC.
CPL credit will not be covered by financial aid funds or tuition waivers.

Credit for Prior Learning

CPL Information

Credit for Prior Learning Links

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