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Prior Learning Assessment


Your Journey Matters.

Learn how your experience can help you earn credit towards your degree.

Every student has a different story. At Biola University, we are committed to helping you use the work and life experiences you’ve gained to earn credit towards your undergraduate degree. Through our Prior Learning Assessment, students can earn credit for past work experience, military training, ministry, volunteer experience, or independent learning through a PLA portfolio, ACE evaluated courses and occupations, CLEP standardized tests, AP/IB recognized exams, and/or Biola challenge exams.

 

How does a portfolio work?

Once you’ve enrolled in one of Biola’s degree programs, you will work with an advisor to determine your eligibility.

Earning credit through Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is a rigorous academic process. It is not a fee-for-credit system. Instead, the PLA process is a structured, semester-long curriculum that guides you through converting your existing professional and life experiences into a highly structured academic portfolio. The goal is to successfully demonstrate to a faculty assessor, using concrete, verifiable evidence, that you have already met the specific learning outcomes for the course requested.

  1. Get connected. Meet with your program advisor (who will determine if your experience aligns with a specific course) to discuss the potential for earning academic credit through PLA. Please see the links to contact program advisors below.
  2. Create a portfolio. Once your application for PLA is approved, you’ll take a portfolio development course to help you prepare a portfolio to be reviewed and assessed by qualified faculty.
  3. Earn college credit. If your portfolio is approved, your Biola transcript will be updated to reflect that you have successfully met the requirements for course(s) eligible for Prior Learning Assessment.

 

Prior Learning Assessment Guides

You can check out our downloadable PLA Guides to see courses you can earn credit for through PLA. You must use your biola.edu account to access the guides. If there are courses not listed in the PLA guides that you’d like to inquire about, contact the PLA specialist. You are eligible to earn credit for courses outside of your major if you need general elective credit.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

How much credit can I earn towards my Biola degree?

  • Up to 25% of the degree may be fulfilled through Biola’s PLA (excludes external standardized examinations such as ACE, AP, CLEP, IB, etc.).

What are the steps for earning credit through a PLA portfolio?

Meet with your program advisor

  • First, discuss the potential for earning academic credit through PLA with your program advisor. This meeting serves as an "Evidence Audit." To move forward, your advisor must confirm that you have access to verifiable materials (work samples, project documentation, etc.) that directly demonstrate the required competencies. Narrative descriptions of your history or letters of recommendation are insufficient for approval.

Enroll in the portfolio course and submit your official portfolio

  • Once your PLA application is approved, enroll in GNST 106 Prior Learning Assessment via the normal course registration process. To be successful, your portfolio must move beyond simply describing your experience or providing letters of recommendation. It should provide concrete, verifiable materials that directly showcase the knowledge and skills you have gained, such as full work samples, project documentation or detailed training materials. These materials serve as the primary evidence for faculty to assess your learning of specific competencies and outcomes. After completing your portfolio, submit the Official PLA Portfolio Submission Form, along with the required $150 processing fee.

    Important Deadline: The portfolio and processing fee must be submitted by the last day of finals week in the semester the Inquiry Form was submitted. Failure to do so will require a new inquiry form to be submitted to restart the process.

Assessment of the portfolio

  • A qualified faculty assessor will evaluate your portfolio. The possible outcomes are:
    • Approval: You earn course credit.
    • Approval with a Waiver: A course requirement is waived, but you still need to fulfill the total units for graduation.
    • Needs Clarification: You'll be given two weeks to provide additional information for re-evaluation.
    • Denied: The evidence provided was insufficient.
  • Approval will be displayed on the student transcript as a course requirement fulfilled with credits earned or a course requirement waived.
  • If you want to submit additional portfolios in the future, you must submit a new PLA Portfolio Inquiry Form, but you are not required to retake the "Designing Your Experiential Learning Portfolio" course. The portfolio and processing fee must be submitted by the last day of finals week in the semester the Inquiry Form was submitted otherwise a new inquiry form must be submitted to restart the process.
  • The process for PLA credit must be completed prior to the beginning of your last semester.

Are there additional course requirements?

Students interested in earning PLA credit will enroll in Designing Your Experiential Learning Portfolio — a course offered online each semester which guides the student through completion of the PLA portfolio process. Designing Your Experiential Learning Portfolio may be waived by the appropriate department chair.