Earning college credit for working while going to school is becoming a reality for more students as some of the nation's largest employers encourage their workforce to pursue higher education.
It's a sign that schools recognize experiences that occur outside a traditional college classroom can be just as valuable as those happening inside -- and that doesn't always have to include an office or boardroom.
Companies like Walmart and McDonald's are convincing schools to allow retail and fast-food workers to earn college credit for what they learn on the job, much like they've long offered for corporate training or military experience, according to a report by NPR.
Under the process, students earn academic credits for retail and fast-food work experience which they can apply to a college degree, reducing the number of credits -- and time spent sitting in a classroom -- needed to complete a program.
As students receive credit for work experience and what they already know, they can receive their degree earlier and pay a lower rate than traditional students.
The hurdle is determining how much credit on-the-job skills are worth.
"It's a complex thing," Haley Glover, director of Aspen Institute's UpSkill America initiative, told NPR. "It requires an employer to be very rigorous about how they're codifying and assessing, and that's a capacity that a lot of employers don't have. It also requires institutions of learning to be very open and progressive."
Walmart offers training courses that can translate to credit at partner universities, while McDonald's is working on a pilot program with community colleges to convert work experience to credit, per NPR. Either
Companies and education officials have committed to working out the rules for the future in an effort to help more people obtain higher education. In the meantime, experts say students should carefully research a school's policies on earned credit, as well as education assistance programs offered by prospective employers, if they want to get a degree faster and potentially cheaper.