This digest discusses the assessment of proficiency in a foreign language for credit in higher education. This refers to the process of awarding academic credit for tested proficiency in a foreign language rather than for the number of years a student has spent studying a particular language. The Proficiency Guidelines of the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) provides the frame of reference for this digest. The following questions are addressed: (1) What are the considerations involved in developing language proficiency requirements as credit standards?; (2) How are the ACTFL proficiency guidelines applied to the determinination of proficiency requirements; and (3) Are there examples of proficiency-based programs currently in effect? A case study of the experience of the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts, with implementing a proficiency-based language requirement is provided. (VWL)