Don’t Start from Scratch: How Fleming Turns Your Real-World Experience into College Credit 

Education isn’t one-size-fits-all. While thousands of students join the Fleming community throughout the year to embrace the exciting challenge of learning a brand-new discipline from the ground up, others arrive with an extensive toolkit of real-world experience. If you fall into that second group, your journey looks a little different. Hitting the reset button isn’t necessary; you just need a gateway to turn that learning experience into academic progress. 

At Fleming College, we believe learning doesn’t just happen inside a classroom. It happens on the job, during volunteer activities, through professional licenses, and throughout your unique life experiences. That’s exactly why Fleming offers the Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) program. 

Even better? Fleming provides you with an AI-supported tool called FastPass. It evaluates your experience in seconds and predicts how close you are to your goals. 

What is PLAR? 

PLAR is a pathway that allows you to receive formal academic credit for the knowledge and skills you’ve already acquired outside of school. 

If you can demonstrate that your work, volunteer, professional training, and lived experiences meet the exact learning outcomes of a specific Fleming course, you can earn a credit and bypass that course entirely. 

What counts as prior learning? 

• Work Experience: Years spent managing teams, handling logistics, programming, or working in community services. 
• Professional Development: Corporate training programs, military training, industry certifications, or licenses. 
• Volunteer Work: Running community initiatives, coordinating large-scale events, leading other volunteers, or managing budgets for a non-profit. 
• Life Experience: Deep, practical skillsets forged through life pathways. 

Do college or university courses count as PLAR? 

Courses completed at another college or university are generally reviewed through the Transfer Credit process. However, they may still be considered as part of a PLAR assessment if they help show learning that has not already been recognized through transfer credits. 

The Benefits of PLAR 

PLAR isn’t just a convenience, it’s a huge accelerator for your professional future. By matching your experience with Fleming College courses, you can: 

• Save money: Reduce your overall tuition costs by only paying for the assessments of courses 
• Save time: Cut down the weeks, months, or even semesters required to finish your program. 
• Fast-track your achievement: Graduate with a certificate or diploma and step into your new career or promotion much faster. 

Focus on new knowledge and skills: Spend your time and energy learning brand-new skills rather than repeating what you already know or do every day. 

FastPass: Your Instant Credit Predictor 

Historically, trying to determine if you qualified for life-experience credits required hours of work. Fleming has changed that with FastPass, an AI-supported tool built into our PLAR system. Here’s how FastPass works: 

• Step 1  |  Upload your resume: Simply upload your resume into the platform. Within moments, FastPass generates a list of Fleming course credits you may be eligible to fast-track based on the College’s catalogue of learning outcomes.  
• Step 2  |  Connect with us: Once you receive your FastPass results, reach out to a PLAR administrator to help you map out the most efficient path forward, including how to complete your formal assessment. Depending on the course, this might mean submitting a portfolio of your past work, challenging an exam, or finishing a brief assignment. 
• Step 3  |  Complete your assigned PLAR assessment. (Don’t worry, our administrators will still guide you through this step of the process.) 
• Step 4 | Confirm your credit: Once your assessment is approved, the official credit is logged right onto your transcript.  
   

Your Experience is Valuable. It’s time to get credit for it. 

Whether you want to achieve a professional development certificate or earn a new diploma, you don’t have to start from scratch. Your experiences hold great value. We’re ready to help you convert that value into academic credentials. 

Find out your FastPass results today!   
Click here to access our Fleming FastPass tool. 

For more information, visit our PLAR web page here or e-mail us at fastpass@flemingcollege.ca. 

More information:
communications@flemingcollege.ca