AmericanCouncil onEducation

JOINT STATEMENT ON THE TRANSFER AND
AWARD OF CREDIT1
INTRODUCTION
Today’s students are increasingly taking nonlinear paths toward completing a college degree or credential. They are
more likely to attend multiple colleges and universities and to bring with them postsecondary learning acquired
outside of a traditional higher education setting. These trends will only continue to accelerate in the coming years,
with students becoming ever more mobile and pursuing their education through a variety of institutional and extrainstitutional settings. Students who take nonlinear paths through postsecondary education are also the ones at greatest
risk of failing to complete a degree and are disproportionately nontraditional, low-income, and students of color.
Unfortunately, many of these students find it difficult to receive credit for learning they have already acquired. It isimperative that colleges and universities take a close look at their transfer and award of credit policies and practices todetermine whether changes are needed to better serve students.
This statement was developed by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers(AACRAO), the American Council on Education (ACE), and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation(CHEA) and is directed to college and universities concerned with the award of academic credit for learning acquiredelsewhere. It sets forth the principles and key considerations that should serve as the foundation for sound, equityminded institutional policies and practices for the award of credit. An essential principle is that every institution isresponsible for determining its own policies and practices with regard to the award of credit, consistent with its individual mission and academic standards. As such, the principles and key considerations outlined below should be used
as a tool to help develop specific institutional policies and practices and not in lieu of such institutional policies. By
ensuring that these principles and key considerations are reflected in institutional-level policies, in a manner consistent
with the missions of individual campuses, colleges and universities can make a degree more affordable, increase equity,and spur student success.
Higher education has a key role to play in driving upward social mobility and boosting individual well-being andeconomic prosperity. But transfer of credit policies and practices that hinder students’ ability to achieve success willworsen existing inequities that have already been exacerbated by the recent pandemic. For many students, sensible
transfer and award of credit policies that recognize a student’s prior learning are essential to making a college degree
accessible and affordable. Failure to award credit for learning already acquired doesn’t just increase the cost of a degree
in terms of time and money, but it can also end the student’s pursuit of postsecondary education entirely, with lifelong
ramifications.
It is no longer uncommon to see state policies encouraging, or even mandating, colleges and universities to award
more credit for learning already acquired. However, the fundamental principle of academic autonomy remains criticaland is a key reason that the diversity and quality of U.S. higher education is the envy of the world. In the spirit ofpreserving this autonomy and better serving students, we believe that now is the time for all institutions to carefully
review their own policies against this framework—to conduct a self-audit—in order to remove impediments thatprevent timely and appropriate awarding of credit for learning already acquired. Only through careful and in-depth
self-study can institutions ensure that they are putting students’ needs first.
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AACRAO, ACE, and CHEA first issued a joint statement on the transfer and award of credit in 2001 and revised it in 2017.
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KEY CONSIDERATIONS IN THE TRANSFER AND AWARD OF CREDIT
Many colleges and universities already have award of credit policies and practices in place that comport with theseprinciples. However, we encourage all institutions to review their policies for consistency with the key considerations
outlined below and adjust them as needed, with the goal of driving greater equity and success for students.
Fundamental to every decision about whether to award credit for learning acquired elsewhere are three factors:••

The educational quality of the acquired learning for which the student seeks credit
The comparability of the content, scope, and rigor of the acquired learning to that offered by the receiving
institution• The appropriateness and applicability of the learning experience to the programs offered by the receiving
institution, in light of the student’s educational goalsWhile these considerations have historically, and more commonly, guided the transfer of credit from one college oruniversity to another, they also guide decisions about the award of credit for extra-institutional learning opportunities
that have expanded dramatically over the past decade. There are also a variety of third-party assessments of learning
occurring outside a traditional higher education setting that institutions can use to understand the learning objectives
acquired and ensure that the content, scope, and rigor of the learning fits with their own institutional requirements.
These include, for example, the American Council on Education’s military credit recommendations, the Council for
Adult and Experiential Learning’s portfolio assessments, and others.
Institutional autonomy, particularly the right to set the academic standards that the conferral of a degree from an
institution represents, is at the heart of these considerations. However, denial of credit without a reasonable basis andclear rationale undermines both students’ and the public’s trust in our system of higher education as a societal good
and a driver of upward mobility.
Mindful of the importance of the content, scope, and rigor of the acquired learning and the right of institutions toset standards regarding academic quality, we offer these key considerations to help colleges and universities implement
credit award policies that lead to greater student success and reflect equity-minded practice.
First, the standards for evaluating and awarding credit for prior learning should be the same, regardless of where
the prior learning took place. This is true whether the learning was acquired at another institution, as part of a highschool dual-enrollment program, during on-the-job training at an employer or in the military, or through experiential
learning. The award of credit also needs to be independent of the learning modality by which it was acquired.
Second, credit award decisions must be applied consistently and equitably for all students. The process for evaluating
and awarding credit for prior learning should be standardized, to the maximum extent practicable, across the receiving
institution. Also, in general, policies for how credit award decisions are made should be consistent across the institution, regardless of the particular school, college, department, or program of study.
Third, policies should aim to maximize the amount of credit applied to fulfill requirements on the path to a student’s
chosen degree or credential. Awarding credit for students’ prior learning to fulfill electives or even to simply acknowledge their success with prior college-level learning, while sometimes helpful, must not be the focus of our efforts.
Credit for prior learning is most beneficial when it is applied to fulfill a specific degree or credential requirement.
Fourth, policies and practices must be reasonable, transparent, and easily understood. Prior to enrollment, colleges
and universities should make clear what credits will be awarded and how they will be applied to a student’s degree
pathway. It is incumbent on institutions to provide quality advising to students to help them navigate learning
pathways in an efficient and cost-effective manner. Whenever possible, cross-institutional advising approaches amongfrequent sending and receiving partner institutions should be used. Creating a culture of cooperation between frequentsending and receiving institutions, as well as extra-institutional learning partners, is key.
2Fifth, institutions should remove unnecessary obstacles that prevent students from accessing their transcripts. Withholding transcripts to collect on such things as relatively small unpaid bills and other institutional charges owed bya student puts students in a bind—unable to obtain a transcript to allow them to continue their progress toward adegree or get a job that would allow them to pay off these debts.
Sixth, the award of credit should not be denied based on the type of accreditation of the sending institution, provided
that the institution’s accreditor is, and remains, recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or theU.S. Department of Education.
Seventh, accreditors should ensure their accreditation standards are consistent with efforts to create more transfer
friendly institutional policies and with the principles of this joint statement. They should seek to incorporate and elevate these principles in their review standards, policies, and practices. Accreditors should be flexible and should makeclear that their accreditation standards do not preclude an institution from considering and awarding credit from otherinstitutions or from alternative sources. This includes learning acquired and demonstrated through competency-basedapproaches.
Finally, institutions should leverage innovative technologies to facilitate the review, awarding, and application of credit
to the educational credential sought in order to provide greater consistency across credit award determinations andto maximize efficiency, transparency, and the timeliness of the process. These technologies include the sending andreceiving of machine-readable digital transcripts; the consistent use of a trusted degree-audit system; a platform forprospective students to determine how their prior learning would be applied toward a credential; and technology that
supports the efficient, timely, and consistent evaluation of prior learning that has not previously been reviewed by theinstitution.

CONCLUSION
Given the rapidly evolving higher education landscape and the increase in student mobility and extra-institutional
learning, it is critical that higher education leaders support credit award policies based on equity-minded practice andprinciples. We strongly encourage institutions to conduct an audit of their own credit award policies and practices,including surveying transfer students to learn about their experiences navigating these policies at their institution.
Armed with this information and the framework outlined above, colleges and universities can help students increasingly relying on nonlinear paths to successfully earn a college degree or credential.

Melanie Gottlieb, Interim Executive Director
American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers
December 15, 2021

Ted Mitchell, President
American Council on Education
December 15, 2021

Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, President
Council for Higher Education Accreditation
December 15, 2021
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