But many colleges use their own internal methods to track the credits they award, so there\u2019s no authoritative system showing how many students across the state have actually been served. The chancellor\u2019s office operates a public dashboard<\/a>, which says that over 40,000 students in California have received at least one credit for pre-college work or education in the past few years. Samuel Lee, a senior adviser to the community college chancellor who oversees the dashboard, said the real total is roughly twice that, though he couldn\u2019t provide any exact figures.<\/p>\n Among the students who count toward this 2030 goal are those who gain credit by taking Advanced Placement, or AP, exams \u2014 which have existed for decades. What\u2019s new is awarding students credit for work experience, such as computer courses or military training. Because it\u2019s so new, \u201cit\u2019s taking the colleges a while,\u201d Lee said. \u201cSome are nowhere and some are really down the road.\u201d<\/p>\n Historically, veterans have benefited the most from these credits, but students with professional experience in plumbing, first aid, foreign languages and hundreds of other skills can also qualify, either by showing an industry certification or taking an exam. At Cabrillo College in Santa Cruz County, for instance, students can get college credit for wine courses if they can prove sufficient knowledge in French, Italian or Spanish wines.<\/p>\n Just a few additional credits can save students over $14,000, according to one California study<\/a>. These students are more likely to graduate<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n Because she\u2019s a veteran, Rivers\u2019 education and living costs are supported by the federal government, including through the GI Bill. These benefits only last a few years so every class she can skip saves her time \u2014 and ultimately money that she can put toward her future education.<\/p>\n Want to get ahead in tech? Get a degree<\/p>\n Even without a college degree, Rivers was doing well<\/a> in tech, making over $70,000 a year, first at Amazon Web Services and later as a support engineer at a startup.<\/p>\n California\u2019s tech industry has been vocal about dropping degree requirements<\/a> for jobs, but research by the Burning Glass Institute shows that employers still prefer college graduates<\/a>, even when college education isn\u2019t a requirement.<\/p>\n \u201cComputer science is really male-dominated, white-dominated,\u201d said Rivers. \u201cI\u2019m a Black woman, but it\u2019s hard to get my foot in the door. Even though I have 13 years of experience, they move the goalpost.\u201d When the startup she was working at was sold to another company in 2024, she enrolled at West Los Angeles College, hoping to eventually transfer to a four-year institution, get a degree and land a management job in the tech industry.<\/p>\n But Rivers didn\u2019t know that any of her prior work could translate into college credits until months after enrolling, when a college dean noticed her military and computer science experience.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it should just be built into the registration process instead of people having to find out about it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt took me a whole semester to figure it out.\u201d<\/p>\n Starting last fall, West Los Angeles College made it a requirement that all transfer-oriented students\u00a0 learn about opportunities to get credit for prior work experience, either during meetings with a college counselor in the first semester or at orientation, said Allison Tom-Miura, the dean of academic affairs and workforce development for the campus. \u201cThis is a big equity issue,\u201d she said. \u201cHow can we help students from repeating courses that they do not need?\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/012926-Adult-Credits-WLAC-AD-CM-02.jpg\")
Laylah Rivers at West Los Angeles College in Culver City, on Jan. 29, 2026. Photo by Ariana Drehsler for CalMatters<\/p>\n