Basic Education Requirement Combining Education and Experience
Definitions:
EXPERIENCE: One year of work experience is twelve months working full-time (at least 35-40 hours per week). Part-time experience can be pro-rated (i.e., a year at 20 hours per week is credited as 6 months of experience). If your position consisted of mixed duties, experience credit is given for the percentage of time that you spent on qualifying duties (i.e., if you held a position for 2 years, full-time, consisting of 25% personnel work and 75% budget work, and then applied for a budget position you could calculate your experience as follows:. 2 yrs = 24 months. 24 months x 75% [percentage of time spent on budget duties] = 18 months of qualifying experience.)
UNDERGRADUATE EDUCATION: A year of undergraduate education is 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours or the equivalent of college study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent was a prerequisite.
GRADUATE EDUCATION: In the absence of specific graduate program information, a year of graduate education is 18 semester hours or 27 quarter hours of graduate level college course work, or the number of credit hours the school attended has determined to represent 1 year of full time study. This education must have been obtained in an accredited college or university.
To combine your education and experience, you must convert each to a percentage and then add them together, following Steps 1, 2, and 3 below.
Step 1—Education
Successfully completed progressive education of a course of study leading to a bachelor's or higher degree is credited on its relationship to 120 semester hours or 180 quarter hours. Thus, 30 semester hours or 45 quarter hours of progressive study is comparable to 1 year of undergraduate education. To combine education and experience you must have the appropriate number of required credit hours of specific course work as described in option "B" of the Basic Education Requirement for the series you are applying for. Compute your percentage of semester or quarter hours with this formula:
FORMULA: YOUR NUMBER OF SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED SEMESTER HOURS DIVIDED BY 120 SEMESTER HOURS OR YOUR NUMBER OF SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETED QUARTER HOURS DIVIDED BY 180 QUARTER HOURS.
EXAMPLES:
- Education totaled 44 semester hours of progressive study (includes required # of credit hrs. in directly related courses). (Formula: 44 divided by 120 = .366 or 37%)
- Education totaled 67 quarter hours of progressive study (includes required # of credit hrs. in directly related coursework). (Formula: 67 divided by 180 = .372 or 37%)
Step 2—Qualifying Experience
Determine your qualifying experience as a percentage of the experience required for the position you are applying for. NOTE: Your qualifying experience must make up for whatever amount of the 4 years (48 months) of education you lack. Acceptable experience must be sufficient to demonstrate that when combined with your creditable education it provides you with the knowledge, skills, and abilities, including the necessary analytical and communication skills required to perform the work of the position you are applying for. Your combined experience and education must be comparable in type, scope and thoroughness to that normally acquired through successful completion of a full 4-year course of study as described in option "B" of the Basic Education Requirement for the series you are applying for.
FORMULA: YOUR NUMBER OF MONTHS OF PERTINENT EXPERIENCE DIVIDED BY 48.
EXAMPLES:
- If you have 36 months of the right kind of experience, 36 divided by 48 = .75 (75%)
- If you have 8 months of the right kind of experience, 8 divided by 48 = .166 (17%)
Step 3—Combining Education and Experience
Now, take your percentage of education and your percentage of experience and add them together. In order to meet the basic education requirement through a combination of education and experience, the total of the two percentages must be at least 100% or you do not meet the requirement.
EXAMPLE #1:
- Education totaled 44 progressive semester hours (includes required # of credit hrs. in directly related courses). (Formula: 44 divided by 120 = .366 or 37%)
- Pertinent experience totaled 36 months. (Formula: 36 divided by 48 = .75 or 75%)
- TOTAL: 37% + 75% = 112% (100 % OR MORE = MEETS THE BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT)
EXAMPLE #2:
- Education totaled 50 progressive semester hours (the 50 semester hrs. does not meet the required # of credit hrs. in directly related courses
- NO FURTHER CALCULATION IS NECESSARY = DOES NOT MEET THE BASIC EDUCATION REQUIREMENT.