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Many of you congratulated me on LinkedIn this Spring when I added University of Maine - Presque Isle to my education profile as a degree in process — and the good news is that I’m already done with the program. Competency-based education (CBE) has the potential to disrupt higher education, and with it the notion of what “college prep” means, so I decided to try it out firsthand. My experience with UMPI’s marketing degree program makes me even more convinced that our Catholic high schools need to find ways to lean into this new model.

Unlike traditional education models built around time spent in the classroom, CBE emphasizes mastery of specific skills and competencies, allowing students to progress based on their individual understanding and abilities rather than rigid course timelines. In my quick journey through the marketing program, I was able to spend more time on the things I wanted to learn while assessing out of the things that I already knew. Classes were designed to ensure that I not only absorbed theoretical knowledge but also developed practical skills applicable in the marketing field. I worked on projects that simulated real-life marketing scenarios, from crafting campaigns to analyzing market research data; professors encouraged students, who were mostly working adults, to connect classwork to application in their day jobs.

As I reflect on my experience with CBE, I can’t help but consider its potential impact on our Catholic high schools, which mostly brand themselves as "college preparatory." Our schools pride themselves on preparing students for higher education and fostering well-rounded individuals. College attendance has fallen, however, and with the rise of competency-based models, the way a new generation of students think of college will change. 

So how do we respond? One answer is to head in this direction ourselves. For Catholic high schools, integrating CBE principles could enhance their curricula, aligning them more closely with the demands of the modern economy while taking into account the kind of education many of our students will come to expect. CBE could easily upend the traditional AP or dual enrollment models; what if high school students could earn school or college credit by assessing out of a particular class at any time? Imagine a high school where students could earn credits by demonstrating proficiency in skills like digital marketing or ethical leadership, reflecting competencies valued by colleges and employers.

College, of course, is about much more than just book knowledge, and brick-and-mortar universities should remain the goal for Catholic school graduates. At UMPI, contact with professors was infrequent; I never met a single classmate; I had no occasion to learn firsthand the soft skills that are so important in business, nor was I socialized into any particular culture. We are proud of our rigorous academics at Catholic schools, but the real lessons are learned in community, and not just in the classroom. Catholic school graduates go on to be engaged servant-leaders who understand discourse and debate, who understand the importance of helping others, and who are more likely to observe their faith. Our mission is to build a bench for the Church and the world, and we prepare our students to attend colleges and universities that continue that trajectory - and to give back to their communities once they are established.

Competency-based education is part of a new world that is already upon us. My degree at UMPI was cheap, practical, and useful. I updated my skills in a field that is important to me. I would be hard-pressed to articulate how a more expensive in-person program would have been more useful for me. But I’m not eighteen, either; I already had my true undergraduate experience. This was something else.   

Should we change what we are doing as Catholic high schools because of CBE? In part, yes. By embracing competency-based education as another way to gain credit, private Catholic high schools can maintain their identity as institutions that prepare students for college while also equipping them with the tools they need to thrive in an ever-evolving job market. We will also find ourselves with alumni and employees who have competency-based degrees, and we should not discount the substance of what they have learned.

Not everything we learn at Catholic school is about academic knowledge, and the most important lessons that our in-person, faith-based schools provide can’t be taught online. I am happy with my degree from UMPI for what I learned, but I love my Catholic schools for who I have become thanks to them. So the next time you speak with an alum or a colleague about their competency-based degree, congratulate them — and then talk about how they will never find another community like their Catholic school.

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Footnote: My Degree Path

I found out about the University of Maine - Presque Isle marketing degree through a discussion forum, DegreeForum.net, that takes the notion of the cheap and speedy completion of a college degree to the level of high art. (The world of the college speedrun is a rabbit hole, but who can really knock a subculture based on higher education?) I was interested in both updating my marketing skills and learning about CBE, so after research on the forum and talking to enrollment officers, I applied for a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration - Marketing in UMPI’s online YourPace program. UMPI is a legitimate, accredited state college that is part of the University of Maine system.

To earn the degree, I had to complete 41 classes in total, including all transfer credits.

• For completing my previous undergraduate degree, UMPI waived 21 of those 40 classes, including all of the mandatory general education curriculum requirements.
• While preparing for the program, I took 12 classes at Sophia Learning and 10 classes at Study.Com. (I had initially planned to get my marketing degree from Western Governors University, which would not have waived nearly as many classes, so I took more classes at Sophia and Study.Com than I needed for the UMPI degree). I spent anywhere between 2 and 20 hours on each of these classes, depending on their difficulty and my familiarity with the content - in several classes, I reviewed the materials, challenged the tests, and passed. I ended up using transfer credits for 2 classes from Sophia Learning and 3 classes from Study.Com. I do not consider the other classes a waste, as many of them made for excellent professional development, and I can still transfer them into other programs in the future if I wish to pursue another degree.
  • Sophia Learning classes are straightforward and simple. The subscription provided for an unlimited number of classes for a monthly fee, though you can only take two classes at a time.
  • Study.Com classes are for the most part more rigorous than Sophia. Study.Com classes consist of 70-120 individual lessons with a quiz at the end of each. The exams are proctored virtually and feel like a college final. Some classes require a final paper, the most challenging of which took me 10 hours to complete. (I could have completed it faster, but as my goal was actually mastering the material that I didn’t know, I did my best on the product, just as with UMPI).
• I had previously taken classes in accounting and business math at community colleges in the Sacramento area. UMPI accepted 3 classes from American River College for transfer.

This left me with twelve classes to complete at UMPI: an orientation and eleven classes in the major itself, mostly focused on marketing. It took me thirty-two weeks to complete those classes. I completed these classes over the course of four eight-week sessions, meaning that I averaged one class every 2 ⅔ weeks. My pace of work was not even throughout the program; some weeks were busier than others. UMPI issues an F for classes that are not completed by the end of a session, so students do face an objective deadline with teeth. (Classes that are not completed have to be retaken the next session, and you only get one shot - though the grade from the retake, and not the F, is the one that is averaged into the GPA).

The classes were real. I completed some challenging projects dealing with marketing and business development that upped my professional skills. Class materials consisted of readings, videos, and lectures, and for the most part made for a good mix of content. Though I did not correspond with every professor, I always got prompt replies and good input or feedback when I did reach out. Assessment consisted of “milestone” papers at the end of each unit, with classes having four to eight units each; some classes had quizzes as well. The final assessments were serious work, and took me anywhere from four to twenty hours each to complete. Some finals were term papers; others were PowerPoint presentations in which I recorded myself presenting; and I had to complete some projects in Excel as well. 

I could have gone faster with many of the classes, but because my goal was professional development and not just degree completion, I took the time to really learn the things that I did not know. I feel that my overall business skills, and my marketing knowledge in particular, improved considerably thanks to the program. I feel much more confident in addressing digital marketing content, strategies, and trends than I did before taking the program - I cut my teeth in business in a pre-social-media age, and I wanted to be sure that I keep up with the times.

My total marginal expense for the program was $6,000 in tuition for UMPI, and approximately $700 in tuition and exam fees for Sophia Learning and Study.Com. I could have saved money and time by moving faster with UMPI and not taking as many classes with Sophia and Study.Com, but I felt that the pace of 2-3 classes per session at UMPI was a lot for a working adult with a family.

I would recommend the program to anyone who is a self-starter and looking for a comprehensive, rigorous professional development program in a particular field. Other than correspondence with the professors, the program offered no real socialization or peer contact. I plan to attend graduation in May 2025 at the physical campus in Presque Isle, Maine, which will make it a less abstract experience. In any case, I learned a lot about marketing and a lot about where education is headed in today’s world.