06 Dec UW System Awarded Grant To Improve Pathways To Degrees For People Of Color
Goal Is To Make It Easier For Military, Work Experience To Count Toward College Credits
By Rich Kremer
The University of Wisconsin System wants to make it easier for work, military and other life experiences to count as college credit as adult students work to earn degrees and other credentials. The hope is that crediting what the system calls “prior learning” can help with retention and completion, particularly for people of color.
The UW System has been awarded a $450,000 All Learning Counts grant from the nonprofit Lumina Foundation to build what the system calls “clearer pathways” to degrees and other professional credentials for adults and people of color.
The grant was part of a $3.5 million national campaign by Lumina to “ensure that knowledge, skills, and abilities gained outside formal higher education-through work, military and other experiences” can be counted as college credit to put toward degrees or certificates, according to the grant announcement from Lumina.