California State University Announces Systemwide Policy to Grant Credit for CLEP®

May 2010

Programs and Services

The Academic Senate of California State University (CSU) has unanimously endorsed a policy providing guidelines for the use of College-Level Examination Program® (CLEP®) examinations as the basis for awarding general education credit. This policy applies to CSU students and to those planning to transfer to a CSU campus. CLEP offers students the opportunity to receive college credit by earning qualifying scores on any of 33 examinations. The new policy, which covers all 23 California State campuses, takes effect immediately.

CSU reviewed the CLEP program by holding a series of panels that took into consideration such factors as general education issues, articulation between campuses, academic rigor and admission before proposing updates to CSU’s coded memorandum, which were voted on and accepted May 7. Passing scores on CLEP exams will satisfy CSU general education breadth requirements, an important benefit for students transferring into the system or entering as first-year students. “We are confident that the CLEP process is a useful and valid alternative for demonstrating the attainment of student learning objectives,” said John Tarjan, chair of the CSU Academic Senate.

CLEP’s benefits for students are consistent with the goals of the Troops to College initiative, which seeks to attract more veterans to California’s public colleges and universities. Because CLEP exams are funded by the Department of Defense for active-duty military service members, many veterans transitioning to college have already earned credit through CLEP. The new CSU policy allows them to apply that credit to a degree program.

U.S. colleges and universities are seeking ways to meet the financial and enrollment challenges of graduating more students with fewer resources. As the most widely used college-based credit-by-examination program, CLEP provides an academically sound tool to accomplish both goals by awarding able students credit for their knowledge and allowing them to move into more appropriate and engaging course work. This, in turn, frees up classroom space in introductory-level courses for students who really need them. A recent study conducted by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning and the Lumina Foundation for Education revealed that students who earn college credit through programs like CLEP are much more likely to earn a bachelor’s or associate degree, and to earn it faster, than students who do not. By succeeding on a CLEP exam, individuals may earn between three and 12 college credits at 2,900 institutions.

California has joined Florida, Kentucky, Minnesota and North Dakota in setting a systemwide CLEP policy. These articulation agreements make it easier for students to take advantage of CLEP and transfer between institutions.