Sauk Valley Community College offers credit – for what you already know

Sauk Valley Community College is proud to offer a variety of programs that meet the needs of the community. These programs are built and shaped through several conversations with the community and its industry members. Within all of our industries are the many great professionals that have a demonstrated mastery or competency in a given field.

To ensure that knowledge or art is not repeated or duplicated, we offer credit for prior learning experiences. This credit is provided through demonstrating your skills, providing us with licenses or certifications, or other evidence of completion that is reviewed.

We have had many great student success stories that have taken advantage of this opportunity. Not only does it help the student, but it also assists our local industries with hiring our graduates sooner.

A few examples in which students have taken advantage of prior learning experience can be found within manufacturing and public service areas. Do you have a background in welding? Perhaps you worked for a local industry? Maybe welding is a skill that you learned growing up? Those skills can translate to college credit with us and have you on the fast track to a degree.

Have you served the community as a police officer? Perhaps attended the police academy at the University of Illinois, like many local officers? Maybe you assisted in processing a crime scene, patrolled our community, or worked for our local correctional facilities? This is yet another great career field in which you can hit the ground running with that background and experience.

Perhaps you work in education and have certifications in the field? Many of our education programs, particularly Early Childhood Education, have many certifications stacked into the degree. So, it’s quite likely that your certifications could already have you on the path to completion.

How about licensures in computer fields, such as Cisco or Microsoft? Bring those in, even virtually, and let’s have a conversation about how they can help you in your academic journey. Speaking of conversation, did you perhaps learn to speak a foreign language as part of a life experience? We would love to talk more and in multiple languages, of course!

Registration is upon us this month. Think about the great learning experiences you have enjoyed over your lifetime. You just might be sitting on some college credit that can lead to new and exciting chapters.

Jon Mandrell is Sauk Valley Community College’s vice president of academics and student services. Reach him at on.d.mandrell@svcc.edu.