Earn Credits for Certification and Work Experience

Turn your professional development, work experience, and certifications into earned credits.

• Decrease your tuition costs
• Reduce the time to complete your degree
• Minimize redundancy in learning
• The Certification-to-Credit Program at Central Michigan University is the perfect way to use a professional certification you have earned and apply it to the degree you want – saving you time and money.
• The Credit by Examination program allows you to be awarded graduate-level credit for learning you have acquired from on-the-job experiences.

Master of Public Administration certification to credit options

Master of Public Administration (MPA) students with public sector experience can substitute up to six hours of academic credit with prior learning credit (three hours of credit for the internship course PAD 795 and three hours of credit for an elective course). These experiences must be from the previous 7 years or the completion date of the students most recent undergraduate degree.

Prior learning credits are assessed and awarded based on months of relevant experience:

• 10-15 months: 1 credit
• 16-20 months: 2 credits
• 21-25 months: 3 credits
• 26-30 months: 4 credits
• 31-35 months: 5 credits
• 36-40+ months: 6 credits

Students seeking prior learning credit should contact the MPA Director, Sharon Kukla-Acevedo, before they begin the program.

To apply for prior learning credit, a student constructs a portfolio describing their learning experiences. The portfolio is first evaluated for approval by the MPA program. From there, the portfolio is formally submitted for approval by the University’s Prior Learning Assessment Committee. More information about the prior learning experience at CMU and the fees involved with it can be found on our Credit for Prior Learning website.