Yet according to a recent survey, most U.S. adults don’t understand how their professional and personal experiences can be applied toward obtaining a college diploma. That means all of them are largely unaware of MEGA-related opportunities! Our findings show that 59% of respondents do not believe that life experiences can have credit awarded for them. Moreover, 45% of all employed Americans feel that experience on the job is not helping people earn degrees. This historic lack of awareness and understanding creates difficulties for working adults who want to further their education and career.
The survey raises troubling issues related to professional training and prior collegiate course work. Nearly half—43%—of U.S. adults say they are doubtful of the credit-earning promise touted by vocational training programs. What’s more, 33 percent don’t believe their past college classes will transfer to a new degree. Alarmingly, 57% of workers who don’t have a degree beyond high school aren’t aware that their years of work experience may count toward earning one. This underscores the pressing necessity for increased awareness and educational leadership.
Decline in Professional Development Opportunities
Additionally, the survey sheds light on a serious issue with the availability of professional development opportunities. Even more astonishing, 72% of workers are not even willing to entertain those offers, and many don’t have to tell you why. The main obstacles are cost, with 35% of people reporting that inability to pay prevents them from seeking additional training. Moreover, 32% of the respondents cited time conflicts due to other work activities as a major barrier.
A lack of employer support is the number one reason cited as causing this sharp drop in continued professional development. This challenge was underscored by 18% of survey respondents. These barriers can make it nearly impossible for working adults to gain higher skills and move up the career ladder.
“Clear guidance and transparent evaluation of eligible experience is needed to help working learners pursue degrees more efficiently, potentially reducing time to completion as well as cost.” – John Woods, Ph.D., Provost and Chief Academic Officer at University of Phoenix.
Financial Burdens and Self-Financed Training
Not only does the survey highlight the barriers workers currently face, it highlights the financial burdens for workers and those looking to retrain. That’s close to 47% of U.S. adults who have gone out on a limb and self-funded their own training. Furthermore, 55% have paid out-of-pocket for training costs that their employers haven’t covered. Alarmingly, 23% of workers have paid for their own training several times. This speaks to a deep-rooted drive for self-improvement, despite the lack of institutional backing.
A staggering 90% of employees say they spend zero hours per month learning or acquiring new skills on the job. Of these, 18% spend over 20 hours per month on this quest. Their ongoing dedication to lifelong learning only emphasizes the need for acknowledging and awarding credit for experiential learning as an essential component of formal education.
Creating a Culture of Credit Mobility
Experts emphasize the need for educational institutions to foster a culture that values experiential learning and recognizes the potential for credit mobility. Devin Andrews, Vice President of Admissions and Evaluation at the University of Phoenix, stated:
“Institutions can establish a credit mobility culture that sets policies, processes, and support in place for working adult learners to consider the value and potential of their earned college [credit] and lived experience.”
Andrews notes that integrating this culture can help students understand what is possible earlier in their educational journey:
“We have done this at the University of Phoenix, and it helps us make students aware of what’s possible early in their journey, so that they engage with the evaluation and have the potential to apply more credits toward their educational progress.”
John Woods, Ph.D., reinforces this perspective by highlighting the skills developed by working adults:
“Working adults are building skills every day, in their jobs, yet too many assume that starting or returning to school means starting from scratch.”
This survey paints a compelling picture of the ongoing need to communicate better. We all need to do better at communicating how work and life experiences translate into potential college credits. As the new reality goes, more adults are looking to earn a degree or credential. Institutions have to do more to serve those working professionals well.