1. A method for creating a focus credential, which is different from an academic degree credential for a degree as a whole assembled exclusively from entire courses applicable to the academic degree credential for the degree as a whole, and different from an academic field of study credential assembled exclusively from entire courses applicable to a field of study named in the academic field of study credential, where the academic degree credential for the degree as a whole and the academic field of study credential utilize exclusively entire courses, and the focus credential is different from a competency unit degree and field of study credential, where the competency unit degree and field of study credential utilize standard institutional assessments as a replacement for entire courses to determine knowledge and capabilities for earning academic credentials, the method for creating the focus credential comprising: at least one processor programmed to perform: storing a focus credential structure to include focus credential required activities, the focus credential required activities being a student focus content-generating activity consisting of individualized focus content produced by a student that is applicable to a personal focus of the student from courses enrolled in by the student but excluding utilization of entire courses and standard institutional assessments as a replacement for the entire courses, the personal focus of the student being a distinct field of study from the student's primary field of study which an institution does not provide through the academic field of study credential, and the focus credential being differently described, structured, and assembled than the academic degree credential for the degree as a whole and than the academic field of study credential and excluding utilization of the entire courses and the standard institutional assessments as a replacement for the entire courses; associating an instance of the focus credential structure with the student; calculating the student's progress toward completing the focus credential required activities needed to earn the focus credential, based only on the individualized focus content produced by the student applicable to the focus credential and excluding utilization of the entire courses and the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses, and based on the individualized focus content produced by the student from courses in the student's primary field of study and from other fields of study outside the student's primary field of study including general education and other courses and from the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses not applicable to the academic field of study credential that satisfies at least some of the focus credential required activities, and based on a distinct grade assessed for the individualized focus content produced by the student and excluding utilization of a grade for the entire course and a grade for the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses and excluding course content grades for assessed course activities, the course content grades for assessed course activities being the grades for assessed course activities in which the student in the entire course participates regardless of whether the student has the personal focus, and based on an academic credit value of the individualized focus content produced by the student and excluding utilization of the academic credit value of the entire course and of the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses, as stored in at least one database; awarding the focus credential to the student, where the focus credential is an institutionally certified additional degree credential beyond the student's primary field of study and other institutional degree credentials determined by the entire courses and the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses, when the focus credential required activities have been satisfied according to institutional requirements to earn the focus credential; storing the institutional requirements to earn the focus credential including a minimum number of academic credits required to earn the focus credential, a cumulative average grade earned by the student across all the student focus content-generating activity as calculated by the institution, a minimum grade accepted by the institution for the student focus content-generating activity when required in order to apply the student focus content-generating activity to the focus credential, and the academic credit value which the institution applies to the student focus content-generating activity; storing institutional assessment rules for assessing the focus credential, the institutional assessment rules including a definition of the applicability toward the focus credential of the individualized focus content produced by the student excluding utilization of the entire courses and of the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses, and utilization of a distinct grade for the individualized focus content produced by the student that is different from the course content grades and a grade for the entire course and also different from a grade for the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses, in determining whether the institutional requirements to earn the focus credential have been met; storing institutional rules for determining a subject and a name of the focus credential, the institutional rules including the subject and the name that have been approved by the institution and institutional rules for adding additional subjects and names, and the name of the focus credential being earned by the student after the name of the focus credential has been determined; storing an instance of the focus credential structure associated with the student for which the student is completing the focus credential required activities; storing a record of the individualized focus content produced by the student from courses in the student's primary field of study and from other fields of study outside the student's primary field of study and from the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses not applicable to the academic field of study credential that satisfies at least some of the focus credential required activities, the record being different from the grade for the entire course and the course content grades for the assessed course activities and also different from the grade for the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses; storing a record of a number of units of the academic credit value that are applied toward the focus credential for the student focus content-generating activity including one or more institutional rules for calculating the academic credit value, with the number of units of the academic credit value that are applied toward the focus credential from the student focus content-generating activity during the course and during the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses being less than an academic credit value for the entire course and for the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses in which the individualized focus content is produced by the student, and with the number of units of the academic credit value for the individualized focus content produced by the student applicable to the focus credential varying substantially between entire courses of the same academic credit value depending on the academic credit value of the individualized focus content produced by the student during the course and between the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses; storing institutional identifiers of the courses from which the student focus content-generating activity originates to allow identification of the course from which the student focus content-generating activity originates, the institutional identifiers including titles and numbers; and storing records of student focus content-generating activity assessments, excluding the course content grades and the grade for the standard institutional assessments as the replacement for the entire courses and a grade for other institutional assessments applicable only to the academic field of study credential, as required by the institution for the student focus content-generating activity in each course and each standard institutional assessments as the replacement of the entire courses containing the individualized focus content produced by the student that the student applies to earning the focus credential.