Leadership Certificate FAQs

Applications are not required to participate in nearly all our programs. You can enroll directly for your program of interest.

An application is required for the 9-month Certificate in Foundational Leadership program. To apply for this program, submit your application here by June 15th.

Certificates are not eligible for federal aid. There are a number of ways to fund a certificate:

• Employer Funding: Many employers sponsor their employees to participate in continuing education and professional development programs. Some employers pay fees directly, some submit tuition vouchers to the university, and some reimburse the employees after they have successfully completed the course.
  • To find out whether your employer will cover the cost of your programs, reach out to your supervisor or Benefits department.
• Payment Plans: If you would like to pay in installments, no problem! You can easily set this up when you are enrolling in the course.
• Discounts: For some programs, we offer a limited number of 30%-off discounted spots to employees of 501(c)3 non-profits and government agencies. The discount also extends to public K-12 employees, first responders, military personnel, military spouses, and veterans. You can easily apply the discount when enrolling in the course.
• Partial scholarships are available for some programs and are considered on a case-by-case basis. To be considered for a scholarship, complete a scholarship application, which can be found on a program’s enrollment page. Priority will be given to scholarship applications submitted by June 1 for fall programs and by November 1 for winter/spring programs.

Those who successfully complete the following certificates - Foundational Leadership, Design Thinking, Healthcare Leadership, Servant Leadership, and Women’s Leadership - have the option of applying a maximum of three (3) credits towards completion of a Master’s in Organizational Leadership, Master’s in Communication and Leadership or Master’s in Business Administration at Gonzaga, contingent upon admission and within 5 years of certificate completion.

If you hope to transfer credit from a certificate into a graduate or doctoral program either at Gonzaga or another university, we recommend that you confirm whether this will be possible before starting the certificate.

No, courses through the Center for Lifelong Learning do not provide academic credit. They provide continuing education credits/units (also referred to as CEs/CEUs/CECs).

No, we do not issue letter grades for our courses. Each course is graded on a pass/fail basis.

An online program can be completed without attending any in-person classes. These courses may include online discussion boards, Zoom sessions, and other components that can be completed virtually.

A hybrid program has both online and in-person components. In such a course, you may be asked to complete online activities such as posting on a discussion board or engaging in a Zoom session, while also being expected to attend in-person classes.

Yes, international students are welcome to enroll in our programs.