How to Promote Your CLEP Program
CLEP can be a valuable tool in your arsenal for advising students who want to advance to more challenging courses, meet graduation requirements, or overcome financial challenges and stay enrolled. Here’s how to help students get the most out of their education.
Instructions
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Know your institution's CLEP policy.
Before talking to students, you should know the basics of your institution's CLEP policy so that you can give complete and accurate information. Each institution can develop its own CLEP policies to align with the institution’s overall academic mission. CLEP and the American Council on Education (ACE) provide recommendations and guidelines for setting and administering policies as well as immediate notification of exam scores to expedite credit-granting decisions.
Use the following questions to help you assess your familiarity with CLEP at your institution:
- Which CLEP exams does your institution recognize for credit?
- What is the score required on a CLEP exam in order for students to earn credit?
- How much credit is granted for each exam?
- Are there any conditions or prerequisites set by your college for students to earn credit through CLEP?
- What is the course equivalent for each exam?
- Is your CLEP policy available in written form, such as in a brochure or flyer?
- Is your CLEP policy included in your college catalog, website, or other recruitment literature?
- Is your institution a CLEP test center? If so, what is the testing schedule?
If your institution is not a CLEP test center, do you know where the closest ones to you are located? Visit the CLEP test center search to find a center.
If you don't know the answers to these questions, speak with the department on your campus that handles CLEP testing or score posting.
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Establish CLEP advocates on your campus.
Ensuring that students receive timely and accurate information about credit-by-exam options, including CLEP, requires the collaboration of faculty and staff in various departments on your campus. Share the benefits of CLEP with: department chairs, deans, faculty, academic advisers, continuing education advisers, international student advisers, admission officers, financial aid officers, registrars, and test center administrators.
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Encourage recruiters to share CLEP policy.
Before orientation, encourage recruiters to share information about your CLEP policy while visiting high schools or hosting on-campus open houses. Include a copy of your institution’s CLEP policy in the admission and orientation mailings to accepted applicants.
During orientation, include CLEP promotional materials in your information packets. Free CLEP brochures, posters, and materials can be ordered online. You can also refer to the CLEP Digital Toolkit for additional resources to promote CLEP on your institution's website and social media.
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Open a test center.
If your institution is a test center, or plans to become a test center, you have the benefit of recruiting test takers who are interested in taking CLEP exams on your campus. In addition, instantaneous score reporting will make credit decisions simple and fast.