Career Services

Cooperative Work Experience Education

Cooperative Work Experience Education is a program that enables you to earn .5-8 college units per semester for learning new work skills in your current job. The job may be full or part-time, paid or volunteer. The job can be major/career related or be general work experience. It's a great way to combine education and work experience, learn new skills, complete elective units and impress your employer with your initiative.

Register for Coop Classes
What's better than earning money on your job? Earning Coop academic credit, too! In addition,

• Earn CSU transferable units
• Earn units toward your AA/AS degree
• Have your work experience pay off in grades and promotions

For all Coop Sections
75 hours of paid work = 1 unit of credit
60 hours of unpaid work = 1 unit of credit
Day and evening students may register for all sections
Grade options: Credit/No Credit or letter grade

To complete enrollment you must:

1. Register on-line through WebSMART by the last day to add classes (some late start classes may be available)
2. Enroll in Coop 640 if your work is general in nature and unrelated to your major/career and Coop 641 if your work is related to your major/career
3. Come to one of the mandatory orientation sessions printed in the Schedule of Classes. (If you miss the orientation, please contact the Coop Coordinator, Steve Cooney.)
4. Buy the Coop handbook in the CSM bookstore for $5 plus tax or download it here.

Contact the Coop Coordinator, Steve Cooney, at (650) 358-6762 or cooney@smccd.edu, if you have any questions.

Cooperative Work Experience Education Forms

Tell us what you think about our services: Cooperative Work Experience Evaluation (survey)

FAQs

What is Cooperative Work Experience?
It's a program that allows you to earn academic credit for work performed in a job. It's a work-learn program in which the learning objectives are developed by you and your work supervisor. There are no class meetings to attend, except for a mandatory orientation session and two meetings with a CSM instructor. Students receive a letter grade.   Coop can be taken multiple times

How can I earn credit for working? 
Your COOP options are to enroll in either COOP 640 (for general work assignment) or 641 (for work related to your major or career goals). You can take a maximum of 3 units a semester for COOP 640 and a maximum of 4 units for COOP 641.  In terms of registration, you'll need to work 75 hours in a paid job during the semester for every unit you register for or 60 hours of unpaid work for every unit. For example, to register for 3 units of COOP 641, you'll need to ensure that you work at least 225 hours during the semester in a paid job related to your major/career.

Are Coop units transferable?
Up to 12 units of COOP are eligible for transfer to the CSU system and some private universities. COOP units also apply to the associate degree requirements; however, COOP is not transferable to the UC system.

Can I register for Coop before I find a job?
No.  You'll need to have a job or internship prior to registration.  Otherwise, you won't know how many units to register for, since you won't know how many hours you'll be working.  In addition, you won't be able to provide employer contact information.