UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Credit for prior learning opportunities are continuously expanding at Penn State, giving students who bring experience and skills from outside academia a way to earn course credits.
Over the last year, students used credit by portfolio and exam for 152 courses, allowing them to obtain credit through previous workforce knowledge or learning, according to the Office for Prior Learning Assessment. While students must still pay a fee, it’s significantly less expensive than the full amount of tuition for a course and can help students graduate on time.
Cayla Misner, who earned a degree in health policy and administration in the fall 2025 semester, was able to use credit by portfolio for the required internship course HPA 395. Misner was a first-generation college student, self-supported, who was working full time in the health care field while earning her degree. Taking reduced hours or reduced pay would have been a tough option, she said, while she completed a separate 320-hour internship.
By early 2025, Misner already had several years of health care experience, including patient access management roles for two health systems while she worked toward a degree at Penn State Lehigh Valley and Penn State Harrisburg.
“Being able to do the portfolio was such a relief for me, because I was coming up on the end of my educational journey there, and I was either going to have to extend it or figure something out, essentially,” Misner said. “So that was a really good choice for me, and it enabled me to graduate at the time I wanted to.”
Assembling the portfolio wasn’t as simple as handing over a resume. Misner had to prove she satisfied the HPA program’s formal competency domain structure, which maps specific learning goals to each required course across a progression from introductory to mastery levels.
Guiding Misner through the process was Anita Yuskauskas, associate teaching professor of health policy and administration and HPA program coordinator. Yuskauskas said that the HPA programs across Penn State work closely together to ensure their graduates are mastering the necessary competencies for the field.
The HPA program had only just begun to offer credit by portfolio for HPA 395 in 2025. Yuskauskas said HPA program leaders are dedicated to bringing the same level of methodical scrutiny to portfolio submissions as they do for those who are completing internships.
“In my mind, if these are the test cases, we should have justification for our approval process,” Yuskauskas said.
She also said that having a credit by portfolio option is crucial, especially for those who aren’t traditionally aged college students coming right from high school.
“Working full time and being on your own and taking care of a family, you're pulled in a lot of different directions, and so our students need support, and this kind of process really is helpful,” she said, and added that it respects students’ competencies.
She said that considering the demographic of students is rapidly changing, different kinds of students will need to be accommodated.
“We're looking at students who are in the workforce already, and lifelong learning,” Yuskauskas said. “This, to me, is a very natural response to that, and I think it's a wonderful step in the right direction.”
How prior learning works at Penn State
Penn State’s academic departments and colleges have independent decision-making power about which course credits can be earned through exams and portfolios, and how to structure the process. Academic departments also have independence on how they handle transfer credits, military experience and prior experience in fields such as law enforcement and nursing.
Students who are interested in earning credit by exam or portfolio can use the “Prior Learning Request” form available in LionPATH. It can be accessed from the Student Home Base by clicking the “Transfer Credit” button, then selecting “Prior Learning Request” on the left-side menu. Students will see a list of which courses at their campus or college can be earned by exam portfolio. Once students apply through the online form and they receive prior approval, they can continue the process and will be billed electronically through the bursar’s office. They will then present their portfolio or sit for an exam.
According to data compiled by the Prior Learning Assessment office, in 2025 students provided a wide range of justifications in their applications for credit by exam. Some had transfer credits that did not have equivalents in their required courses and felt they could pass an exam. Others had prepped for external examinations in subjects such as math and felt they had a solid understanding of a course’s concepts.
Among the most common reasons for credit by portfolio was work experience in one form or another. Some had extensive professional experience in fields as varied as homeland security, human resources, information security and risk analysis, ballet, product testing, health care and software engineering that qualified them for academic credit.
In all, credit for 152 courses was earned for prior learning demonstrated through exam or portfolio, with some students earning credit for several courses, both major-related and elective.
“Allowing students to earn credit for their prior learning lets them know Penn State values that learning, while giving them the opportunity to save money and shorten their time to degree,” said Michele Rice, director of the Office for Prior Learning Assessment.
The Office for Prior Learning Assessment supports and coordinates prior learning efforts across Penn State and is part of Penn State Undergraduate Education.