An EduPlan Case Study

At age 49, Janet Jamison was looking to finish the bachelor's degree she started 20 years ago. The Director of Engineering at a Silicon Valley firm, Janet came under a new CEO's mandate that all managers must have a college degree, so Janet's Human Resources Manager set her up with an EduPlan counselor.

After learning Janet's goals, background and skills, the counselor made an assessment:

• Janet's units from 20 years ago would be transferable to a college that offered degrees for working professionals.
• Much of Janet's life and work experience could be submitted to the college for academic credit.

Choosing the right degree was the first step. Though she would have preferred a degree in Engineering, Janet did not want to spend 5 years getting there. The EduPlan counselor helped her set up an education plan toward a business degree which would take her only 12-18 months, depending on the number of life experience credits she could earn.

To convert her life experience into credits, Janet had to take an Assessment of Prior Learning class that outlined the various ways she could earn college credits. In this class, she put together a portfolio of life/work experience. In her portfolio, Janet had to:

• Identify which skills and knowledge would equal a college course.
• Write an essay describing how she acquired and used this knowledge.
• Document her learning through performing technical operations, delivering a speech, providing transcripts, letters from mangers or a detailed resume.

Janet documented learning in 10 areas, including Engineering Technology, Strategic Management and Project Planning. Her volunteer and home life experience included Marriage and Family, Personal Investments, Religious Studies and Principles of Youth Leadership (coaching).

After submitting her Portfolio of Prior Learning, the faculty evaluated the material and assigned her the maximum of 30 credits to her degree. These credits saved Janet more than 2 years and $10,000 in tuition, fees and books.

Janet is typical of many corporate learners who come to EduPlan seeking the fastest, most cost-effective route to a degree. In fact, Janet's case study is just one of many great success stories EduPlan has had with the employees of HP, AT&T, Sun Microsystems and the like.

To learn more about how EduPlan can put your organization and employees on the most efficient path to learning, click here.