Although you cannot earn a degree solely using life experience, at Biblical Life College and Seminary, you can earn up to a semester's worth of credit based on your ministry experiences, evaluations, accomplishments, recorded teaching sessions and other criteria. If you are pursuing an undergraduate degree there, you may acquire up 30 credits based on life experience and up to eight credit hours for the graduate level.
First you must find a school that recognizes life experience as part of its curriculum. You must also be of a certain age, 30 or over, although it may vary between different institutions. At Biblical Life College and Seminary, you must also have been engaged in full-time ministry for five years or more as a licensed or ordained minister. Each institution will also have a limitation on the percentage or number of credits that can be applied for through life experience or experiential learning courses.
If you have more than a decade of ministry experience, some institutions, such as Biblical Life College and Seminary, may allow you to sit in on challenge exams. This will allow you to apply the knowledge from your life and ministry experience toward credit for certain graduate level courses. Biblical Life requires that you get a grade of 85 percent or higher on the exam.
According to Baker's Guide, you should be wary of programs that offer a master's or PhD based completely on life experience. This is because these higher degrees are mainly based on new learning and research. While some seminaries may offer some credit for life experiences, no accredited seminary -- or any accredited institution -- in the United States offers a credible degree based only on life experience.