Accreditor Approves Competency-Based Degree at U. of Wisconsin

One of the nation’s six regional accreditors has approved a new competency-based degree program at the University of Wisconsin known as the “Flexible Option.”

The program—one of the first of its kind at a major public university—will offer credit to students who can demonstrate mastery of the skills they acquired through jobs, military service, or prior learning, no matter how much (or how little) time they actually spend in a course. The university’s Board of Regents has proposed tuition for the program at $2,250 for three months.

The Flexible Option will offer bachelor’s degrees in nursing, diagnostic imaging, and information science and technology, along with a certificate in professional and technical communication.

Most of those programs will be administered by the university’s Milwaukee campus, but degrees in other programs, such as communication and art history, are in development on other campuses. The programs were approved by the Higher Learning Commission, a part of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.

Wisconsin has up to one million people with some college credit but no degree, and university officials and state policy makers have seen the Flexible Option as a way to increase the number of degree holders in the state. According to a Lumina Foundation report, Wisconsin’s degree-attainment rate is slightly above the national average, but it lags behind that of three neighboring states, Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota.

Last year Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who is one of those with some college credit but no degree, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that even he was considering enrolling in the program. “I’m pleased to see this come to fruition because we’re making it easier for people to pursue higher education,” he said in a written statement.