Adult Degree Program

Lipscomb University’s Adult Degree Program (ADP) offers a variety of formats and is designed to accommodate the schedules of busy adults. Courses are offered in the evening, online or in a hybrid format in eight-week academic terms throughout the year. Non-degree seeking students may take classes for professional development, personal enrichment and preparation for graduate studies.

A special competency based program, PACE, began in 2016-17. All course requirements for those students are the same as those in this catalog, but some additional program regulations and processes are outlined in the CBE Experimental Sites Program Handbook. This program is approved as a Federal Experimental Site Initiative by the US Department of Education.

Degree Programs

Bachelor of Business Administration

Bachelor of Science

Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Professional Studies

Organizational Leadership

Bachelor of Social Work

Social Work

Institutional merit scholarships (academic transfer scholarships), merit and need-based aid, and veterans’ benefits are available for degree-seeking students in the Adult Degree Program who qualify. See the Financial Aid section of this catalog for more information.

For more information, academic counseling and/or evaluation of previous college coursework contact John Williams, Director of Marketing and Enrollment, 615.966.5279.

Adult Degree Program students and those with at least two years of military or work experience may be eligible to seek Lipscomb University credit hours for college-level learning experienced outside the classroom. Interested students should contact the College of Professional Studies to begin the process.

Prior Learning Assessment through Portfolio Evaluation

Lipscomb University acknowledges certain adult learners come to the university with a significant body of professional or voluntary experience that may have equipped them with knowledge and learning that can be demonstrated through the portfolio process. Therefore, the mission of prior learning assessment through portfolio evaluation is to recognize and grant undergraduate academic credit for demonstrated achievement of higher learning objectives.

The College of Professional Studies will administer the self-evaluation process and supply the students with a copy of the learning outcomes for the course(s) for which they desire to seek credit through the portfolio process. Students who demonstrate strong potential for the portfolio process will be invited to register for INST 2000 Portfolio Workshop. A new self-evaluation form is required for each individual portfolio.
INST 2000 Portfolio Workshop will be required as a prerequisite to submitting a portfolio for credit; the course itself is non-credit and will run online for four weeks in Aug. and Jan., respectively. A prerequisite for INST 2000 will be at least a “C” in Composition I or Lipscomb Experience. Students will pay $750 for the course, with one portfolio review included in the fee. Students will not be guaranteed portfolio-based credit simply for completing the portfolio preparation course. Students must complete all the assignments associated with the PLA course in order to continue with the portfolio process. Students who do not successfully complete the course within the allotted four weeks but wish to pursue the portfolio process must re-enroll and pay the fee to re-take it.
The portfolio will be completed to meet the learning outcomes of the particular course for which the student is seeking credit and submitted to the College of Professional Studies. Fall and spring portfolios are due by the last day of ADP Term I for that respective semester, and summer portfolios are due by the end of Junemester. Students not submitting their portfolio by the end of the semester for which they completed a self-evaluation must update their form with the College of Professional Studies. For each course a student is seeking credit, a separate portfolio must be created. Each portfolio yields either no credit or the number of credits of the course being challenged.
Courses generally deemed ineligible for portfolio credit include practicum or field study, internships, travel, senior projects, major capstones and 4000-level courses. Courses that are subject to credit by examination or challenge by examination are typically not good choices for portfolio credit. Please discuss with your advisor.
The first portfolio is included in the cost of the PLA preparatory course. Students will pay a $300 review fee for each subsequent portfolio. The $300 will be charged to the student’s account.
Students may earn up to 30 nontraditional credit hours through portfolio evaluation in combination with credit-by-exam, CLEP and DSST but must abide by academic program and graduation requirements as stated in the Undergraduate Catalog including number of credits required to be earned at Lipscomb University.
If the student does not receive an “S” for satisfactory, but the assessor identifies corrections, the portfolio will be returned to the student with noted areas to improve. The student will have two calendar weeks from the date of return in which to make the corrections and resubmit. The assessor will reevaluate and rescore the portfolio within two calendar weeks of its resubmission. If the student is not granted credit after the edit process, that student must enroll in the course itself in order to satisfy that course requirement. The student may submit a separate portfolio seeking credit for a different course. Assessors reserve the right to return a portfolio with the grade of “U” for unsatisfactory without noting areas for improvement.
If the student receives credit for the course for which the portfolio was compiled, a Credit By Portfolio form (similar to the Credit By Special Examination Form) will be completed, which will require signatures from the faculty assessor, department chair, dean of the college, provost and registrar. The student will pay a $70 transcription fee (the same amount currently charged for transcribing credit-by-exam, CLEP, or DSST) and the course will appear with a “CBC” grade to indicate it has been satisfactorily completed by competency.