Response from: Jeremy

Why shouldn't they be taken seriously. Why is it that a Government agency (CHEA) controls the entire education structure in America when there are alot of collage students that spend 75% of their time in collage Partying why do they deserve one more than someone that goes out and works 40 to 60 hours a week then finds time to volunteer as a Fire fighter or at a church Etc. It is a Proven fact that one learns more out hear in the real world than in school why should they be rewarded with a Degree when there are people learning more working their life away in the real world Education after 8th grade is B.S. unless you are becomming a Doctor and even most of that is best learned by actualy dooing it this is why they have Internships which is bacicaly Life Experience training anyway isn't it. So what is everyones Problem with giving Deserving Life Students a Degree and excepting it? I would except one if I were one of those big corprat Asses. who would you rather hire a kid fresh out of school or someone with experince? We allow our Government way to much control of our lives things like this we should be able to decide for ourselves if we want to spend our lives in collage or work and be able to get a degree to help us advance our life by using what we have learned in life.

Response from: John Jackson

Life experience degrees should not be taken seriously as there is no way to standardize the experience. In my opinion, unless the training granting authority has undergone rigorous evaluation (ala Department of Defense training and SMART transcripts), the notion of life experience credit should not be discuss. In fact, LE degrees place the whole industry in jeopardy. eLearners.com http://community.elearners.com,
discusses this in depth. Its a shame that this debate continues.

Response from: Monica Franklin

I feel that experience gets the promotion. A degree can get you the job. So in my opinion life experience degrees should count for something. I certainly would use my experience to make a claim for a promotion so why not use a life experience degree.

Response from: Rickey Samuels

I agree that they should be recognized but there should be some control on how and to whom they are issued. I have worked in the field of Project Management for 20 years and at no time whatsoever has the decision to hire someone been their qualification, it has always been their experience. Qualifications are important please do not get me wrong, its just that once you are out in the job market and aiming for the jobs that really pay the big bucks it is ALWAYS experience. I can prove it.

Response from: Buster Jones

Life Experience Degrees are a short-cut for consumers and they are making educators very nervous. Perhaps if traditional universities weren't such a rip-off these Life Experience Degrees would not flourish. According to AboutLifeExperienceDegrees.com, If you think that five hundred bucks for a Life Experience degree is a rip-off, be aware that York University charges $1200.00 just in parking fees! Texas Tech charges an I.D. Maintenance fee. Here are some more actual fees charged by "legitimate" universities
Information Technology Fee
Library Fee
Cultural Activities Fee
Medical Services Fee
Student Services Fee
Late Payment Registration Fee
Testing Fee
Drop/Add Fee
Computer Lab Fee
Graduation Fee
Student Union Fee
Student Recreation Center Fee
Student Transportation Fee
ID Card Maintenance Fee
Student Business Services Fee
Intercollegiate Athletic Fee
Energy Fee, and more.
By the way, these fees are charged to all students. Not just the 50 percent that graduate.

Response from: K. Paddle

There are schools out there that evaluate and confirm a person's claim to have experience/training in the chosen field. If they feel the individual has the equivalent of a degree then a degree is granted. That should be recognized and most likely would be recognized by most employers. However, there are scammers out there that never check the information for accuracy and would issue a degree to anybody with the money to pay the fee. That is what tarnishes the life experience degree. Should life expereince degrees be recognized? Yes! If the person holding the degree can verify that he/she actually has enough experience to warrant the degree. In my opinion that would be confirmed in the reference check that all employers should conduct before hiring anybody. I have another thought. Has anybody ever had a classmate that got pushed through just because the teachers were pressured by parents and administration to give them a pass, even though everybody knew they couldn't pass thaier poop without a laxative. Yes... we all know at least several instances. I have taught students in college who graduated high school. They were accepeted by adminintration of a brick and mortar school into an accounting program but couldn't convert 1/4 to 0.25. In one case it took me three weeks of valuable class time to teach conversion of fractions to decimals to a group of high school graduates. Give me the person with the experience anyday. If they happen to have more education that would be a bonus but the experience is far more important. You learn more in one year on the job than in five years in school being told how to do a job.

Response from: N. Chapel

As much as I wish my life experience were equivalent to a degree program, I know it isn't. Scholarship is a very different frame of mind than practitionership. If I were to go for my PhD in Education, I would have to reflect upon my career's worth of work in a way that I have never had the time to do while working, in the context of a large body of codified knowledge that I currently would not have the time to read. Experience and education are different. Degrees are not just recognitions of ability, but also recognition of demonstrated learning that is deeper and broader than demonstrated ability, such that the person can react in new ways as the situations they encounter change, and they can enter into dialogue with the rest of the expert community along the way, following the discourse and its terms and theories. Apples and... pears - similar, but not the same.