University of Phoenix releases white paper on Credit for Prior Learning as a catalyst for internal mobility and retention

Analysis by Vice President of Admissions and Evaluation Devin Andrews highlights opportunity to expand credit mobility culture to the workplace

2026-01-16

(Press-News.org) University of Phoenix announced the publication of a new white paper, “Untapped Potential: How Credit for Prior Learning Can Redefine Employer Outlook on Professional Development,” by Devin Andrews, MBA, M.Ed., Vice President of Admissions and Evaluation. The report draws on a national University of Phoenix employee engagement and retention survey of 610 human resources (HR) managers and 1,195 employees conducted by The Harris Poll that examined how credit for prior learning (CPL) impacts internal mobility, employee retention and skills development. The analysis finds 98% of HR managers are aware of CPL—and that 92% agree that degrees or certificates that allow "credit for prior learning" are just as credible as similar degrees or certificates that do not.

The white paper highlights a significant opportunity gap between employers’ stated priorities and employees’ lived experiences—especially for working adults who are balancing jobs, caregiving and other responsibilities while trying to complete a degree. An estimated 40 million Americans have some college credit but no degree, and many of those credits could be evaluated as CPL to accelerate completion and unlock advancement opportunities at work.

“Through an academic admissions and evaluation lens, I see every day how much meaningful learning happens outside the traditional classroom,” said Andrews. “Many of our students are managing full-time work, parenting, military service and community leadership. Credit for prior learning is one way we say to them, what you already know counts. When employers and universities recognize that learning, remove redundant coursework and create clear, credit-bearing pathways, adults can move more quickly toward a degree, and their career aspirations. That is what true credit mobility looks like for working adult learners.”

Among the report's key findings:

Internal mobility matters, but feels out of reach for many workers. While 98% of managers rate creating internal talent mobility as important, including 22% who call it "absolutely essential," 33% of employees disagree that their company offers clear advancement opportunities and 41% only somewhat agree, signaling substantial room for improvement. CPL can unlock the value of unfinished education. According to National Student Clearinghouse, more than 43 million Americans have some college credit but no degree; those credits represent "untapped potential" that can be evaluated as CPL to support career progression and retention, particularly for working adults. Managers see CPL as credible and retention-enhancing. The study finds that 89% of HR managers are very/somewhat familiar of CPL, and 92% agree that degrees or certificates allowing CPL are just as credible as those that do not. Two-thirds of managers (67%) cite increased employee retention as a reason they want employees to be able to apply work experience or third-party training as credit toward a degree or certificate. Employees see CPL as a way to communicate skills and move faster. More than 2 in 5 employees (45%) agree CPL gives employers a better understanding of their skills, 41% say it helps them better communicate skills they’ve acquired from prior experiences, and 31% point to CPL enabling students to focus on higher-value learning or specialization. CPL is already delivering time and cost savings for working adult learners. The analysis also details how University of Phoenix deploys CPL and PLA to support working adult learners-recognizing work and life experience, on-the-job training, workplace certifications and military service as potential sources of college credit. Over the past three fiscal years (2023-2025), more than 32,000 University of Phoenix students leveraged CPL opportunities-including Prior Learning Assessment (PLA). In fiscal year 2024–2025, the institution accepted more than 188,000 CPL credits for bachelor’s and associate degree programs, averaging 14 CPL credits per participating student and an average tuition savings of $5,408 per participating student whose degree program included CPL. The white paper outlines how employers can use CPL strategically to build a "credit mobility" culture that values experience, reduces redundant training and supports internal career pathways for working adults. Recommendations include: partnering with institutions that offer structured CPL and PLA processes; making CPL options more visible and easier to navigate; aligning CPL with tuition benefits and learning and development strategies; and closing the perception gap by reassuring employees that CPL-inclusive credentials are credible and valued.

Andrews has served as vice president of Admissions and Evaluation at University of Phoenix since 2015 and first joined the University in 1999 as an academic counselor. She has extensive experience leading University-wide initiatives focused on technology, innovation and transfer credit to improve outcomes for diverse stakeholders, with a particular emphasis on increasing credit mobility and credit for prior learning opportunities for working adult students. Andrews is also an active voice in the national conversation on CPL, contributing course content on transfer credit and CPL for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) and co-authoring a prior University of Phoenix white paper on credit mobility.

The “Untapped Potential: How CPL Can Redefine Employer Outlook on Professional Development” white paper is available for download at the University of Phoenix Media Center.

About University of Phoenix

University of Phoenix innovates to help working adults enhance their careers and develop skills in a rapidly changing world. Flexible schedules, relevant courses, interactive learning, skills-mapped curriculum for our bachelor’s and master’s degree programs and a Career Services for Life® commitment help students more effectively pursue career and personal aspirations while balancing their busy lives. For more information, visit phoenix.edu.

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Canada losing track of salmon health as climate and industrial threats mount

2026-01-16

Canada is failing in a decades-old pledge to monitor the health of Pacific salmon, according to new research from Simon Fraser University. At a time when government policy is geared towards accelerating industrial development across sensitive B.C. watersheds, an SFU study published today in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences reports that monitoring of salmon spawning populations has dropped 32 per cent since Canada adopted its Wild Salmon Policy 20 years ago. The decline in publicly-available data means that scientists are ...

Molecular sieve-confined Pt-FeOx catalysts achieve highly efficient reversible hydrogen cycle of methylcyclohexane-toluene

2026-01-16

Professor Qiming Sun of Soochow University and Researcher Manyi Yang of Nanjing University successfully achieved confined loading of highly dispersed Pt-FeOx nanoparticles within nanosheet molecular sieves. This catalyst exhibited excellent catalytic performance in the dehydrogenation of methylcyclohexane and the hydrogenation of toluene, realizing hydrogen energy storage and release mediated by the "methylcyclohexane-toluene" reaction. The study shows that the Pt-FeOx catalyst possesses excellent ...

Investment in farm productivity tools key to reducing greenhouse gas

2026-01-16

CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE FOR RELEASE: Jan. 16, 2026 Kaitlyn Serrao 607-882-1140 kms465@cornell.edu Investment in farm productivity tools key to reducing greenhouse gas ITHACA, N.Y. - A new study from Cornell University researchers finds improved farm productivity has been the driving force in keeping greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture in check. In the study, published Jan. 16 in Science Advances, researchers analyzed worldwide data from 1961-2021 to determine why agricultural production has far outpaced emissions. They found consistently that farmers’ ability to produce more output per unit of input, ...

New review highlights electrochemical pathways to recover uranium from wastewater and seawater

2026-01-16

As the global demand for clean and low-carbon energy grows, nuclear power is expected to play an increasingly important role. Yet the expansion of nuclear energy brings a persistent environmental challenge: the release of uranium into wastewater, mining effluents, and even the ocean. A new review paper published in Science of Carbon Materials provides the most comprehensive overview to date of how electrochemical technologies could help solve this problem by selectively capturing uranium in its most mobile and hazardous form. Uranium in water typically exists as uranyl ions, a highly soluble and toxic species that can spread easily through natural and ...

Hidden pollutants in shale gas development raise environmental concerns, new review finds

2026-01-16

Shale gas has become a cornerstone of the global energy transition, supplying large amounts of natural gas through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. But a new scientific review warns that the extraction process also generates vast quantities of waste that carry a complex mixture of emerging contaminants, many of which pose potential risks to ecosystems and human health. In a comprehensive review published in New Contaminants, researchers systematically examined the sources, characteristics, and environmental risks of emerging contaminants released throughout the shale gas lifecycle. The study ...

Discarded cigarette butts transformed into high performance energy storage materials

2026-01-16

Every year, billions of cigarette butts are discarded worldwide, creating one of the most pervasive and persistent forms of environmental litter. Now, researchers have demonstrated that this problematic waste can be converted into advanced carbon materials capable of powering next generation energy storage devices. In a new study published in Energy & Environmental Nanotechnology, scientists report a method to transform waste cigarette butts into nitrogen and oxygen co doped nanoporous biochar with exceptional performance ...

Researchers highlight role of alternative RNA splicing in schizophrenia

2026-01-16

In an important new study, Chinese researchers have discovered the previously unrecognized role of alternative splicing of the DOC2A gene in schizophrenia. The research was conducted by scientists led by LI Ming from the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and published in Science Advances on January 16. Splicing is a process in which RNA is cut and recombined into the final RNA strand that determines how a protein—encoded by DNA—is formed. Different splicing ...

NTU Singapore scientists find new way to disarm antibiotic-resistant bacteria and restore healing in chronic wounds

2026-01-16

An international team of scientists, led by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore), has discovered a new way that could speed up the healing of chronic wounds infected by antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Worldwide, chronic wounds represent a major health challenge, with an estimated 18.6 million people developing diabetic foot ulcers[1] each year. Up to one in three people with diabetes are at risk of developing a foot ulcer during their lifetime. These wounds are a leading cause of lower-limb ...

Research suggests nationwide racial bias in media reporting on gun violence

2026-01-16

Mass shootings in white-majority neighborhoods received roughly twice the news coverage of mass shootings in neighborhoods where a majority of residents were people of color, while coverage of police-involved shootings was disproportionately high in majority-minority communities, according to new research. This study by researchers at the University of California, Davis, Northwestern University and the University of Washington is thought to be the first to systematically document bias on gun-violence reporting in a large-scale, nationally representative sample of news media coverage, researchers said. Researchers analyzed nearly ...

Revealing the cell’s nanocourier at work

2026-01-16

An international group of researchers led by Pompeu Fabra University has discovered the nanomachine that controls constitutive exocytosis: the uninterrupted delivery of spherical molecular packages to the cell surface. This is an essential activity present in virtually all organisms to preserve cell fitness and other vital functions such as communication with the cell’s exterior, cell growth and division. According to Oriol Gallego, who has led the research, “despite being one of the largest nanomachines in ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Harm reduction vending machines in New York State expand access to overdose treatment and drug test strips, UB studies confirm