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"Degrees & Programs"
  1. Ways to Save
  2. Work & Life Experience

Earn college credit for work & life experience

The skills you've gained from work and life may count as credit toward your degree. Find over 200 savings opportunities for work and life experience credit.

Select opportunities

What other students saved with work & life credits*

$3k-5k

3-9 months

A prospective student has gathered his professional licenses and certificates into a messenger bag to submit as credit.

*Based on the 25th and 75th percentile of work and life experience credits awarded to University of Phoenix undergraduate students in 2021. 

Combine with more savings

How to complete your work/life experience portfolio

Review

See which work and life experiences apply to you.

Write & collect

Write life experience essays or collect work experience documentation.

Submit

Submit your work and life documents or essays for review.

Contact us

Review

See which work and life experiences apply to you.

Write & collect

Write life experience essays or collect work experience documentation.

Submit

Submit your work and life documents or essays for review

Contact us

Explore opportunities for credit

Choose from work experience, life experience or employer discounts — or pick all three to find the most savings.

Work experience

On-the-job training professional licenses and certifications can count as credit Find documents

Life experience

Write essays on approved topics for credit demonstrating your learning from life experiences. Explore topics

Employee discounts

See if your employer helps pay for tuition at University of Phoenix. Find employers.

Life experiences

See what essay topics you can write about for credit.

University of Phoenix is a member of CAEL. The Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) is a national nonprofit leading the work to improve education-to-career pathways for adult learners.

Your employer may help cover your tuition

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There are other ways to save on tuition, like scholarships, transferring eligible credits and having your prior experience evaluated for potential credit. Learn more about these options by calling 844-937-8679to speak with an enrollment representative.

See if your employer is on our list of over 1500 alliance organizations.

Frequently Asked Questions

Work and life experience credits are an evaluation of your learning experiences outside of the classroom.  Upon evaluation, the review of these experiences can lead to credits earned toward a degree.  For every 3 credits earned through work and life experience you can graduate 5 weeks faster and save $1200 in tuition.

Have your relevant work and life experience evaluated for potential credit through our work and life experience evaluation process — at no cost to you.

Examples of experiences that may qualify for credit include:

Work Experiences

  • IT certificates

  • Policy Academy Training 

  • Real Estate License

Review the full list of work experiences

Life Experiences

  • Interviewing 

  • Communication and Management

  • Parenting

Review the full list of life experiences

While the categories are separated between the nature of the experience (work versus life), students have the option of submitting for any and all experiences that might qualify.  In fact, submitting documents for both work and life experiences provides the greatest opportunity to earn credit.

The information provided within the work and life experiences resources represents experiences that have previously been evaluated and deemed eligible for college credit.  If you don’t see your experience listed, we encourage you to speak with an advisor to see if it makes sense to have your experience evaluated for possible credit.

You must first be admitted to the University and be enrolled in a program that is eligible for work and life experience (a limited number of programs are not eligible. Please speak with your Enrollment Representative to learn more. If you’re already student, you can visit the work and life experience page on your student portal to start the process.

If you are not yet a student, please speak with an Enrollment Representative to determine if your experiences might be eligible for credit.  If you are an existing student, your Academic Counselor can help you determine if work and life experience credits can help you save time and money toward your degree.

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