FAQ

Thank you for inquiring about the National Labor College, the only accredited college devoted exclusively to training and educating union members, leaders, activists and staff. At the National Labor College you can earn a degree and only be away from your job and family for as little as a week a semester or less, especially if you take advantage of our new online degree program. Use our degree programs and individual courses to advance in your career, earn valuable certifications, build the labor movement and be better prepared to take on the challenges of a modern economy.

We have developed a set of detailed answers to frequently asked questions about the National Labor College. While we are eager to answer your specific question, we have found that prospective students benefit from reviewing the answers to these FAQs first. Many of your questions may be answered by reading through the answers to the questions below. If they are not, many of the answers direct you to the person at the NLC who can best answer your question. Please take a few minutes to see if the information you need is here so you can start to find out more about us.

Please direct specific follow-up questions to the appropriate person or Division at the National Labor College. Do not respond to this e-mail address; you will receive these FAQs again. Thank you.

What are the National Labor College’s requirements for a Bachelor of Arts degree?

To receive a Bachelor of Arts degree, a student must complete a total of 120 semester credits. Those requirements may be met in several ways:
- Students may transfer credits from an accredited institution of higher education, from formally assessed union apprenticeships or training programs and/or from credits accumulated through military training and service.
- Up to 30 semester credits may be awarded for experiential learning through the portfolio process. Most of our students are surprised that the skills and accomplishments that they have gained by living and working account for something here!
- 15 credits must fulfill the general education requirements, noted in “2” below. These courses can be taken at another accredited institution, be a course that is a part of a formally assessed union apprenticeship or training program, accumulated through military training and service, or awarded through experiential learning.
- d. Students with fewer than 90 semester credits may take a range of elective courses with the NLC or any other accredited higher education institution of their choice.
The remaining 3 credits are taken as an elective NLC course. Students should note that NLC week-long Union Skills courses are assessed for credit, and can be used as electives and to fulfill major requirements. Students may discuss these course offerings with the Student Services Department.
In order to fulfill the general education requirements, a student must successfully complete at least 3 semester credits in each of the following disciplines:
1. English Composition
2. Arts and Humanities
3. Mathematics
4. Biological and Physical Sciences
5. Social and Behavioral Science
Five core courses are required of all Bachelor of Arts degree candidates:
1. Introduction to Labor Studies
2. Educational Planning
3. Comparative Research Methods
4. Senior Seminar
5. Senior Project

How many credits do I need to be admitted to the Bachelor of Arts program?
To be a fully-admitted student you need to have 56 credits. There are various ways to reach the 56-credit threshold. NLC accepts credits from accredited colleges and universities (grades must be a “C” or above) and training classes, apprenticeships and military training that have been formally assessed by accredited colleges or by independent organizations such as the American Council on Education (ACE). If you already have some of these credits (26 or more would be ideal), you can apply to NLC as a provisional student. You can then take the NLC Educational Planning class, which introduces you to the College and helps you begin the process of documenting your prior learning. You may earn a maximum of 30 credits through your prior learning portfolio. (See also: What credits do I need for admission to the NLC)

How do I know if my previous college work will be accepted as transfer credits by the National Labor College?
In most cases, all classes with a grade of “C” or better from an accredited college are transferable to the NLC. We do not have a time limit on what courses can be accepted; even if you took accredited college classes 20-30 years ago, we will accept those classes in transfer if they meet all other requirements. The state of Maryland limits the number of lower-level (e.g., 100-200/freshman-sophomore) credits we can accept to 70. With the appropriate mix of lower and upper-level classes, the NLC can accept up to 90 credits.

In order to determine the credits that can be applied to your NLC degree, our Registrar’s office needs to review your official transcripts. In order for us to do this, you first must apply to the NLC, which requires filling our application form and paying the application fee of $50.

You may complete an application online on NLC IQ.Web.

You may mail or fax a printed version of the NLC Application Form.

At the same time you apply, contact the Registrar’s Office of the college you attended and ask them to send an official copy of your transcript directly to the NLC Registrar. It is also a good idea to ask the college to send you a copy of your transcript, but our Registrar can only accept transcripts sent directly from another college. There is sometimes a small fee to have transcripts sent from a college.

Do you accept international transcripts?
The National Labor College does accept credits earned at accredited institutions outside the United States. Applicants who have attended a college or university outside of the United States must arrange, at their own expense, to have their academic records evaluated on a course-by-course basis by Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), a non-profit public service organization, located at P.O. Box 514070, Milwaukee, WI 53203-3470. Request forms can be obtained from the Registrar’s Office at the National Labor College or by printing the form at www.ECE.org. An official copy of the report should be sent by ECE directly to the Registrar’s Office at the National Labor College.

Is my training in the military is assessed for academic credit?
You may receive college credit for training you received in any of the military services. The American Council on Education has evaluated military training for college credit. Each service has a method for obtaining a personal copy of your transcript and having an official copy sent to the Registrar’s Office. The military often refers to official copies of transcripts that are sent to college registrars as “institutional copies.”

Army: To receive your Army, National Guard or Reserve transcript, go to the Army/American Council on Education Registry Transcript Service (AARTS) web site, http://aarts.army.mil/. There are links for personal copies and official copies on the site.

Navy/Marines: For Navy or Marine transcripts, use the Sailor/Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript (SMART) web site, https://www.navycollege.navy.mil/transcript.html.

Air Force: The Community College of the Air Force issues Air Force transcripts. Visit their transcript web site for directions on requesting your transcript, http://www.au.af.mil/au/ccaf/active_transc.html.

Coast Guard: To get the form to receive your Coast Guard transcript, go to the U.S. Coast Guard Institute web site at http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cgi/forms.html and click on the U.S. Coast Guard Transcript Request link. The request form must be submitted via regular mail.

If the military cannot provide you with a transcript of your training, you will need to submit a DD214 to the NLC Registrar. The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is the official repository for records of military personnel who have been discharged from the U.S. Air Force, Army, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard. You can request your DD214 via regular mail. To expedite this process, use the online eVetRecs system web site: http://www.archives.gov/research_room/vetrecs/index.html.

Note that not all military training has been assessed for credit. If you have military training that has not been formally assessed, it is still possible for this training to be assessed as part of your portfolio of experiential learning.

Will my apprenticeship training be accepted for academic credit?
Many apprenticeship training programs have been assessed for academic credit by the American Council on Education and/or by a number of community colleges. We accept ACE credits and accredited community college transcripts with academically assessed apprenticeships as long as the apprenticeship has been assessed and broken out into course offerings on the transcript. Your Local or International Union Apprentice Director should know whether your apprenticeship has been assessed for credit. Make sure to send a copy of your completion of apprenticeship certificate to the NLC along with your application form.

While the list changes over time, at present the following unions have some form of apprenticeship assessed for credit: IBEW, Ironworkers, Asbestos Workers, SMWIA, UA and Elevator Constructors. In addition, some local and international unions have segments of apprenticeship programs offered through community colleges and the NLC can review those transcripts to evaluate credit. Please note that, as with transcripts, we cannot guarantee actual credits until our Registrar reviews your official forms and transcripts.

What if I have an apprenticeship or training that has not been assessed for academic credit?
The National Labor College has a course, Educational Planning, that helps you develop prior learning portfolio. This portfolio describes and documents various aspects of you life experience and work that has resulted in learning that can be assessed as the equivalent of college-level coursework. Depending on the results of the assessment of your portfolio, you can earn up to 30 college credits, which can be counted as part of the 90 credit maximum allowed in through transfer or other training and education that has been formally assessed for academic credit.

I have taken various classes offered by my union. Do those count for credit?
They may, depending on the union and the class. The National Labor College has partnerships with a number of unions, and within those partnerships some courses have been assessed for credit. Your international union apprenticeship and/or education director may be able to let you know which classes have been assessed. Once you apply to the NLC, we can review certificates through our Educational Planning process or training transcripts sent to us by your union. In addition to AFL-CIO courses, we currently have partnership with the following unions and some of these unions’ course offerings have been assessed for credit: AFGE, APWU, AFSCME, CSEA (California), CWA, IAFF, IAMAW, IBEW, Ironworkers, LIUNA, OAPSE/AFSCME, SMWIA and USWA.

When would I come to campus for classes?
The NLC offers individual classes year-round. If you are coming to campus for a degree program, we have three semesters per year—Fall, Winter and Spring. Typically the Fall semester begins online in September and the residence dates are in October, Winter begins in January and residence is in February, and Spring begins in April and residence is in May. Consult the website at www.nlc.edu for exact class and week-in-residence dates.

Is the National Labor College accredited?
Yes. The accrediting body is the Middle State Commission on Higher Education, the unit of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools that accredits degree-granting colleges and universities in the Middle States region. To look us up on their site or for more information about how accreditation works and what it means, go to www.msche.org.

Are you a four-year college?
We are licensed and accredited as an upper-level-degree completion institution; most of our courses in the degree programs are offered at the equivalent of the junior and senior year. This means that we are best suited for students who have already obtained some number of academic credits through study at other colleges or have earned credits through academically assessed apprenticeships or licensure programs or through military service. We also have a course that helps students to develop a detailed life experience portfolio that can document learning that can result in students being awarded up to 30 semester credits. See the section on Educational Planning and portfolio for more information on this class.

What degrees do you grant?
We grant a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree and a Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies (BTPS).

What subjects can I major in at the NLC?
The Bachelor of Arts offers six majors: Labor Studies, Labor Education, Labor History, Labor Safety and Health, Political Economy of Labor and Union Leadership and Administration. The Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies degree does not offer majors, but instead offers areas of specialization, which currently include Health and Safety, Leadership, Music and Art, Information and Communications Technology and, starting the Fall of 2006, Construction Management.

How do National Labor College courses work?
We have designed our classes to make a degree program accessible to full-time working people. In our Bachelor of Arts program, while some courses are available entirely online, the core of the program is offered through a hybrid style of class; BA classes begin online for a month (you may take 2-3 classes at a time), followed by a six-day intensive residency period at the National Labor College campus in Silver Spring, Maryland. After the residency period, students complete the remainder of the 14-week semester online. The Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies is a fully online and distance degree program. The National Labor College offers three 14-week semesters per year.

What do I need to do to apply to the National Labor College?
Please fill out our application form:

You may complete an application online on NLC IQ.Web

You may mail or fax a printed version of the NLC Application Form.

At the same time you send the application, you will need to send:

The required one-page essay
Proof of completion of high school degree or GED
Copy of your union membership card, to be eligible for the AFL-CIO subsidized tuition rate.
All transcripts from other colleges you have attended.
If you have served in the military, AARTS or SMARTS transcripts (see details under section on military transcripts) or a copy of your DD214.
If you have completed an academically assessed apprenticeship program (see details under discussion of apprenticeships), send a copy of your Completion of Apprenticeship certificate, or ACE transcript, or community college transcript with your apprenticeship work on it.
If you have taken courses through any of our academic or union partnerships (see partnership discussion below), contact your union and/or academic institution to send your transcripts to the Registrar.

What credits do I need for admission to the National Labor College?
The Bachelor of Arts program requires the applicant have at least 56 credit hours to be granted full admission. The Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies (BTPS) program requires the applicant to have at least 45 credit hours to be granted full admission.

Credits may be earned in the following ways:

Through a regional, national, professional or specialized accredited two- or four-year college; and/or
Through an approved military or technical training program assessed for credit by the American Council on Education or other recognized agency; and/or
By successfully completing an apprenticeship training program recognized by the American Council on Education or the National Program on Non-Collegiate Sponsored Instruction; and/or
Through prior learning documented through NLC’s Educational Planning class and portfolio process and/or the College Level Examination Program or other approved test-for-credit program.

Provisional Admittance
Students who do not meet these minimum requirements, but hold a high school diploma or General Equivalency Diploma (GED) may be admitted provisionally. Provisionally admitted students will be advised by College administrators as to the appropriate steps needed to achieve full admission to the program.

The NLC is an upper-division, degree completion institution and students are expected to perform academically at the level of a college junior or senior. While students may be able to earn credit for their prior learning through the NLC, many students find it helpful to begin at least some of their general education coursework (i.e., English, Math, Science, Humanities, and Social Science) at their local community college. This helps students adjust to college-level work prior to beginning the NLC’s upper-level classes which require a great deal of writing and analysis. If you have questions about whether NLC’s upper-level degree completion program is the best first step for you, call our Student Services Department to speak with a pre-admissions advisor.

Does the National Labor College offer online courses or a fully online degree?
Yes, we have online courses which can be taken as part of our BA program or by students just interested in taking an online class. In addition we have a fully online and distance program—a Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies.

What is the Bachelor of Technical/Professional Studies Degree?
The BTPS program provides union members who have participated in challenging apprenticeships and training with online access to the courses needed to earn a college degree. This program offers an opportunity to continue your education and advance your career without disrupting your current lifestyles and schedules.

We focus on providing a human touch in addition to high technology. We are committed to providing personal attention and academic support when you need it. The flexibility and dynamic interaction of online education at the NLC also allows for innovative learning opportunities.

Like the NLC Bachelor of Arts degree program, the BTPS program offers a high degree of flexibility and recognition of experiential learning—education received on the job and/or in specialized training or internships. Unlike the B.A. program, most, if not all coursework is done online or at a distance—with easy-to-follow, easy-to-navigate instruction. BTPS courses run on the same schedule as the NLC Bachelor of Arts program. Interested in learning more about BTPS and our online offerings? E-mail us at btps@nlc.edu to explore whether the BTPS program is right for you.

Eligibility
Union members may be admitted to the BTPS program if they:

have a high school diploma or equivalency, AND
have completed a union apprenticeship training program, which has been credit assessed to the equivalent of a minimum of 45 semester hours, OR
have completed an associate’s degree program and that has been assessed to the equivalent of a minimum of 45 semester hours.

Credit
The NLC will accept up to 69 semester credits of independently assessed apprenticeship training. In addition to credit earned through an apprenticeship program or associate’s degree program, an integral component of the BTPS degree program is the Service Internship Courses. The NLC works with students and unions to develop internships that will maximize both the academic and professional benefits to students.

Do you offer graduate degrees?
While the National Labor College is not accredited as a graduate institution, we have established partnerships with four graduate institutions to offer Masters degrees in a format similar to our undergraduate program so they are accessible to full-time working people. The programs and contact people are:

University of Baltimore Masters of Public Administration. Contact Program Director Dan Martin at dmartin@ubalt.ed
University of Baltimore Masters of Legal and Ethical Studies. Contact Program Director Jeffery Sawyer at jsawyer@ubalt.edu.
American University Masters in Organization Development. A recommendation from your International Union President is required for admission. For more information contact Assistant Director, Ka Flewellen in the Program Office at American University at flewelle@american.edu.
Argosy University Masters in Adult Education and Training. Starting Summer 2006; contact Mindy Carlson at mcarlson@nlc.edu.
University of Massachusetts Amherst Masters in Union Leadership and Administration. Visit their website at http://www.umass.edu/lrrc/aboutlrrc.html.

I have a demanding job and a family. How much time will getting a degree take me and what kind of time commitments will I need to make outside of the courses I attend?
Over a thousand National Labor College graduates have successfully grappled with these issues. Several of our graduates have agreed to be contact people for prospective students to talk to you about questions and concerns. Go to http://www.nlc.edu/html/alumni_mentors.html for a list of NLC graduates who have volunteered to answer student questions about their experience and feel free to contact them.

How much is tuition?
Tuition for active members of the AFL-CIO affiliated unions is subsidized by union dues at only $150 per credit. Tuition for eligible non-AFL-CIO affiliated union members is $200 per credit. Tuition for union families and members of Working America—who are permitted to enroll in the BTPS degree program--is just $200 per credit.

There are some limited additional fees depending on courses taken by students throughout the program; consult the NLC catalogue for more detail. The cost of books and materials varies depending on the course, but averages about $60.00-$125.00 per course.

The National Labor College has hotel-quality, fully-unionized facilities on campus. While students are not required to stay on campus when they come to take courses, many students find that staying on campus with union members from many different unions, states and often other countries is an integral part of their NLC experience. They also tell us the food is wonderful! The costs for housing and meals together are:
            $107.50           per night/double occupancy, includes three meals
            $170.00           per night/single occupancy, includes three meals
            $ 20.00            per day commuter fee (for persons not staying overnight, includes lunch and coffee service).

There are a limited number of single occupancy rooms available at $152.50 per night (including three meals).