How to Find Online Colleges Accepting Transfer Credits

For the easiest transfer possible, choose a new school that has an arrangement or system in place to accept transfer credits. This can be a special agreement with the student’s current school or it may be an online program that primarily depends on accepting transfer students to fill its classrooms.

Many community colleges have special arrangements (sometimes called articulation agreements) with state universities. These agreements allow students who complete their associate degree at the community college to quickly and easily transfer to the nearby state university. From there, they can spend the next two years working toward their bachelor’s degree, allowing them to graduate after four total years of schooling.

“We tell our students to seriously consider a year at a community college,” Haitz said. “Community College credits come at about a 70 percent discount to typical college credits. A lab science is a lab science. For all degrees, there is a set of core curriculum that needs to be met and those core courses vary slightly by university. Lab sciences, mathematics, rhetoric, humanities, history and social sciences often find their way into these core set of classes. These types of classes are perfect for transferring.”

For schools who depend on transfer students, there will be a streamlined process in pace. These schools are also more likely to be familiar with coursework from other schools. This means students who want to know if their earlier courses will transfer can get an answer much faster.

Generally speaking, students transfer into schools that have better name recognition and reputation. What if, however, the student is unable to attend that particular school? Students should look at accreditation, graduation rates, financial aid available and many other points to make a decision on which school might be best.

If the new school uses a different academic term system than the current school, the determination of how many credits will transfer will be more difficult. And once the determination is made, it’s possible the student will not receive as many credits as they hoped.

This is common when a student transfers from a school with a quarter system to a school with a semester system. Courses in a quarter system can easily run several weeks to a month less than courses in a semester system. This means a student may not receive the same number of credits at a new school. For example, if a student took a 3 credit class at the old school, the new school may only give two academic credits.

When it comes to transferring prior credits to a new school, there are two primary limitations. The first is the total number of credits a student can have transferred into the new institution. Depending on the school this can range from 15 to 88 credits.

Second, there may be a limit as to how long ago a course may be complete for it to be accepted as transfer credit. Then there’s the particular type of course a student is seeking to transfer. For instance, changes in technology, methodology or accepted principles in an area of study can affect when and if prior coursework “expires.” Typical time limits, if there are any, are usually several years.

Each school and department will have its own policy and rules, but transfer students need to understand that even if a course is accepted for transfer, it’s possible it will only be accepted as an elective and not in the anticipated major or as a core course requirement. This policy can serve as a significant limitation on the total number of courses that can transfer since a student will only need so many electives to graduate.

Even if prior coursework is accepted for transfer, the student may still need to take additional classes to get on schedule at the new school. One such example is when the incoming student hasn’t taken all the necessary courses to start a specific program. As a result, they may need to take prerequisite courses to be fully prepared for the new program.