We know that learning happens in many different contexts and encourage you to pursue as many kinds of prior learning credit awards as you can.

Transfer Credit

Transfer credit may be awarded for credits/hours earned at another postsecondary institution. If you attended other institutions in the past, you are encouraged to submit all official transcripts to the Office of the Registrar for potential transfer credit. 

To be eligible for transfer, the credits/hours must have been earned at an accredited institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and carry a grade of “C-” or better (undergraduate course) or “B” or better (graduate course). Grades of “Pass,” “Credit,” or similar may be considered if the source institution indicates its equivalence to Purdue Global’s minimum acceptable letter grade.

Courses taken through a foreign institution may also be eligible for transfer, following comparable guidelines. In lieu of a transcript, you must submit a course-level credential evaluation from an approved foreign credential evaluator. Note: If you are applying to a program that requires completion of a prior degree, rather than seeking transfer credit, a transcript-level evaluation with GPA calculation is generally sufficient.

You or your prior institution may be asked for a course syllabus or similar documentation to assist in the evaluation of a particular course. Failure to provide the requested documentation may prevent transfer credit from being awarded.

Credit by Examination

Credit by examination may be awarded for external exams such as DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSSTs), the College Level Examination Program (CLEP), the Advanced Placement Program (AP), Defense Language Proficiency Tests (DLPTs), Cambridge International, and other similar exams.

To be eligible for credit, the exam must have been recommended for credit by the American Council on Education (ACE) or other approved agency or recommended by Purdue Global faculty, and a minimum acceptable score must have been earned.

Experiential Credit

Experiential credit may be awarded for prior learning acquired through military training, professional learning or licensure, noncollege coursework, or work or life experience. Prior learning reviewed and recommended for credit by the American Council on Education (ACE) or other approved agency is eligible for transfer. Purdue Global has also established credit recommendations based on an internal faculty review of the curriculum or training programs of certain organizations. 

Assessment Credit

Assessment credit may be awarded for learning directly assessed by university faculty via an Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (ASK) exam or experiential learning portfolio. See Registration for more information about ASK exams. If you wish to submit a portfolio in consideration for experiential learning credit from work or other experience, you must first enroll in EL206 Academic Prior Learning Portfolio or LRC100 Pathway to College Credit - Portfolio Development. You are strongly encouraged to complete this course as one of your first courses. Upon successful completion of the portfolio course, you may submit a portfolio for up to 15 undergraduate traditional courses (or one or more of their module course components).

You may only submit one experiential learning portfolio during your time at Purdue Global and will be charged a portfolio development course fee.