Transfer Manual: Tips for Advisors

Credit is accepted in transfer from:

• Regionally accredited (or candidate) colleges and universities within the United States.
• Select colleges and universities outside of the United States - check with the Admission Office.
• Non-traditional training sources as recommended by ACE and National PONSI.
• AP, CLEP, and International Baccalaureate exam results.

Helpful Hints

1. If the school is unfamiliar to you be sure to check its accreditation status (i.e. accrediting body, date of accreditation or candidacy (you can call the regional accrediting bodies to check the candidacy date)).
2. Is the credit listed as semester hours or quarter hours? Often quarter hour courses will be listed as 4 credit hours and the period of enrollment will be listed as Fall/Winter/Spring instead of Fall semester/Spring semester.
3. Was the student disqualified from the last institution attended within the last 10 years? If yes, the student may not be admissible.
4. Is the credit baccalaureate level, graduate level, or remedial. If the credit is from a California community college, is the credit designated as CSU transferable? This information can often be found on the transcript, in the school's catalog, by calling the community college's transfer center, or at http://www.assist.org. Caution should be taken when the course number of an unusual course varies from the system designating regular academic credit.
5. Never use the cumulative total of units listed on the school's transcript to determine the number of transfer units. The total should be reached by examining the transcript course by course.
6. If the transferability of a course is questionable it is better to leave it off the degree plan. Err on the side of caution. Better to have the student delighted to have more transfer credit on their degree audit than disappointed to find less.
7. There are three areas of transfer credit subject to a 9-unit cap: repeated art/music activity courses in the same subject; physical education activity units; and work experience units. Please see the chart on page 9 to review the types of credit, which fall into these categories.
8. For out of state two year schools and foreign schools - generally only academic credit transfers, at the discretion of the University Evaluator. When in doubt call (or fax the transcript to) the evaluator in the Admission Office.
9. If the GPA is close to 2.00 double check to make sure that all the course work used in the calculation is clearly transferable. Always double-check a marginal GPA.
10. A grade of "U" on a transcript more than likely is an "F." Check to see whether the school which issued it counts it in the GPA. USF counts all grades for all classes taken including those listed as "excluded" or "academic renewal."
11. In order to receive credit for military training, MOS, or other nontraditional training the information on the transcripts, certificates, or other documents (dates, location, course title, etc.) must match exactly the information in the ACE and National PONSI guide books. A photocopy of the page in the guide where you located the credit recommendation should be included with the student's documents.
12. When evaluating whether a student's military MOS is eligible for credit check the Grade, Rate or Rank box on the DD214. This may contain something like "AZ2" or "NE1" these rankings are not listed in the indexes of the ACE books but instead may be found listed alphabetically in the pages of the MOS chapter in the books.
13. PEAI forms should be submitted prior to the student taking the class. Students who wish to PEAI and are looking for an on-line course may wish to try NewPromise.com, a free web directory of regionally accredited distance learning courses. USF has no affiliation with this organization.
14. A student's GPA at USF reflects only the grades for work done at USF. It is not influenced by the transfer GPA.
15. When wishing to make a case for a course to fulfill a USF Core Curriculum requirement check to see what Core requirement that course satisfies at the school where it was taken or what it satisfies for the CSUs.
16. DANTES subject exams are not acceptable, only DANTES CLEP exams.

Back | Index | Next