LEAP (Life Experience Assessment Program) has, since the 1970's, been an integral part of CCSJ's approach to providing educational options to adult students. To be considered for LEAP alternative credit, you must attend one of various LEAP seminars held on the CCSJ campus. Seminar dates for the fall 2007 semester include:

Thursday, May 15, 2008
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008

All workshops will be held at the Whiting Campus, Room 203
6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Please bring a copy of your transcript evaluation and graduation checklist to the workshop.
Please note: dates occasionally change. Please register so that you can be notified if a change is necessary.

To register, call the Office of Admissions at 219-473-4209 or
877-700-9100 ext. 209

The LEAP program gives you an opportunity to earn college credit for what you have learned from a variety of life experiences--at work, in community or religious organizations, in the arts, etc.--by relating what you have learned from these experiences to specific college courses. (Referred to as benchmark courses)

Having the experience in and of itself is not enough to earn you credit. You must demonstrate that you acquired the same college level knowledge that you would have acquired if you had actually taken the course you selected as a benchmark.

Students seeking life experience credits do so by assembling and submitting a LEAP portfolio, a collection of essays and documentation plus various other LEAP materials.

The faculty evaluator's task is to determine whether you have successfully demonstrated that what you learned from your life experience is equivalent to what students learn in the benchmark course you have cited as part of your request for credit for prior learning through LEAP.

Credits awarded through LEAP are posted on your CCSJ transcript with no grade assigned. As such, these credits will not affect your grade point average. You are then billed for the LEAP credits posted on their academic record, by the CCSJ Business Office.

You may be able to fulfill one or more academic objectives through a LEAP portfolio. Please be sure to work closely with an academic advisor and faculty in the divisions to explore whether you might be able to.