Within broad guidelines provided by the Community College of Vermont (CCV), associate degree students write their own individualized, competence-based contracts. Development of the contract includes both assessment of prior learning, and planning for sponsored learning: These are integrated through a "degree development sequence" which includes a variety of workshops; regular meetings with review committee made up of peers, community practitioners and faculty, and CCV staff; and intensive counseling support. The CAEL special project was designed to take a close look at the problems encountered by students in the degree development process, and to create a set of written materials to help students develop better learning contracts. This report summarizes the results of the CAEL project to date. The project and outcomes are described in detail, and directions for future development are suggested. Although the full set of student materials developed in the project is not included, a detailed evaluation report of CCV contracting and review procedures, a copy of the interim report for CAEL, and a summary of an independent research study evaluating some of the impact of the degree development workshops on student values and career aspirations are appended. (Author/NHM)