Credit for Prior Experiential Learning (CPEL)
Students may earn academic credit (awarded as “CR” rather than a letter grade) through the Credit for Prior Experiential Learning program for college-level learning experiences for which no academic credit has been awarded.
CPEL credit can be used as general elective units towards a degree, as credit for a course or elective credit in a major, minor or certificate or to satisfy an area of GE. Departments may exclude or limit the amount of CPEL credit used for majors, minors or certificates, in which case any CPEL credit will be used as general university elective credit towards the 120 units needed for a degree.
Typical experiences include significant work or life experiences, volunteer activities, research projects and structured internships. Students must document college-level learning using a portfolio defined in consultation with a faculty in the relevant academic area and evaluated by that faculty.
A maximum of 30 units of credit (or 25% of the total # of units in the degree) can be earned. CPEL units count towards the total units registered for a given semester and appropriate tuition and fees must be paid.
Student Eligibility
- Student must be admitted at SFSU in a state -support or self-support academic program and enrolled in courses in the term in which they are seeking CPEL credit. Non-Admitted students enrolling in courses through Open University are not eligible for the CPEL program.
- No academic credit must have been awarded for learning experiences for which the student is seeking CPEL credit. Credit granted cannot duplicate credit already included on the student’s transcript.
Requirements for the CPEL Process
- Students are responsible for paying any tuition or fees resulting from enrollment in CPEL units. Units awarded through CPEL do not count for financial aid reporting.
- Students must provide evidence that learning is university level, demonstrating appropriate theoretical, historical and conceptual knowledge and competence.
- Students must find faculty in their program department to act as the evaluator for CPEL credit. If students need assistance finding faculty to work with, the Associate Dean of Academic Planning can facilitate (email ueap@sfsu.edu with the subject of credit for prior learning).
- CPEL requests are typically made during the fall and spring semester. Summer requests may be allowed if faculty are available to serve as the evaluator and if the student meets eligibility requirements.
Timeline and Process
- Requests for CPEL must be initiated by the student within the first six weeks of the semester and evaluation must be completed by the last day of instruction in the same semester.
- The student and the faculty evaluator will complete the CPEL Proposal Form to define the CPEL credit being sought, the work that will be submitted in the portfolio and the deadline. Contact ueap@sfsu.edu to request the CPEL Proposal Form.
- When the work has been submitted, the faculty evaluator will evaluate the portfolio to award of CPEL credit and determine if CPEL credit should be applied to a specific course or elective credit in a major, minor or elective (if allowed by the department). Contact ueap@sfsu.edu to request the CPEL Completion Form to authorize the award of credit to the student record.
- CPEL credit will be recorded on the student transcript and degree progress report by the Registrar’s office once the completion form has been received and after the end of the grading period.
Portfolio Information
- Students must provide evidence that learning is university level, demonstrating appropriate theoretical, historical and conceptual knowledge and competence.
- Students should be provided with learning outcomes associated with the program or course and asked to provide evidence of how their prior work or life experience meets these outcomes.
- Students can be asked to write a reflection about how their prior experience meets learning outcomes, referencing evidence provided in a portfolio.
- Evidence can include reports, presentations, writings, recordings of performances or exhibits, or other documents from the student’s work or life experiences, volunteer activities, research projects or structured internships.
- Evidence can include something that the student creates in response to the learning outcomes if they do not have documents or other evidence readily available.