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National PONSI and the New York State Board of Regents

The National Program on Noncollegiate Sponsored Instruction (National PONSI) is conducted by the Board of Regents of The University of the State of New York, the most comprehensive educational organization in the nation. The University encompasses and has responsibility for all educational concerns in the State, including public and private institutions of higher learning, elementary and secondary schools, museums, libraries, historical societies, and other agencies whose primary function is education. The Regents and the Commissioner of Education determine the State's educational policies and establish standards for maintaining quality schools. Among other things, they charter educational institutions and organizations, approve and supervise academic programs leading to college degrees, and regulate the preliminary educational requirements for admission to the practice of most professions in the State. The New York State Education Department is the executive and administrative arm of the Board of Regents. The Department's Office of Higher Education, which regulates postsecondary education and accreditation activities in the State, also oversees the administration of National PONSI.

The National Program on Noncollegiate Sponsored Instruction was established by the  Board of Regents in keeping with its aim of increasing access to higher education for working adults. National PONSI reviews formal courses and educational programs sponsored by noncollegiate organizations, makes appropriate college-level credit recommendations for the courses and programs evaluated, and promotes academic recognition of these learning experiences to the nation's colleges and universities. Descriptions of evaluated learning experiences and credit recommendations have been published up until 2002 in the print publication College Credit Recommendations and now in CCR Online. The credit recommendations are intended to guide college officials as they consider awarding credit to persons who have successfully completed evaluated noncollegiate sponsored instruction.

National PONSI is based on the position that it is sound educational practice to grant academic credit for high quality educational programs conducted by noncollegiate organizations, provided that these experiences are at the college level, and that the credit is appropriate to an individual's degree program. Moreover, experience has shown that the awarding of credit for prior learning will in many cases motivate students to enroll in formal postsecondary programs of study. Many college officials use College Credit Recommendations or CCR Online to identify and actively recruit nontraditional students who have completed noncollegiate learning evaluated by National PONSI.

National PONSI serves noncollegiate organizations throughout the country. These include corporations, labor unions, professional and voluntary associations, government agencies, hospitals, proprietary vocational schools, and other nondegree granting organizations. The courses and programs that have been evaluated cover a wide variety of subject areas, including accounting, art, auditing, banking, botany, computer science, counseling, criminal justice, early childhood education, electrical engineering, finance, health services administration, insurance, information technology, management, mathematics, maritime transportation, nautical science, nuclear engineering technology, nursing, office information systems, and psychology.

Updated September 7, 2007