Abstract
More than ever before, college students are more likely to have years of life and professional experience and are often considered to be nontraditional. There is a need to better define “nontraditional student” and what unique needs they may have within an academic program. Nontraditional students may have foundational or applied knowledge due to life or work experience that could be applied to their college degree. Educational institutions may wish to include credits transferred from other institutions, through trainings by examination, standardized examination, or assessment. This chapter will discuss the various ways to include nontraditional or life experience credit in the academic program, what types of experiences the individual may have, and additional ways to recognize the experiences of students within the academic program, as they relate to comorbid substance use and mental health diagnoses.
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Sisselman-Borgia, A., MacMillan, T. (2018). Creating Programs for Professional Development and Academic Programs: Integrating Previous Knowledge and Experience into the Educational Program. In: MacMillan, T., Sisselman-Borgia, A. (eds) New Directions in Treatment, Education, and Outreach for Mental Health and Addiction. Advances in Mental Health and Addiction. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72778-3_17
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