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Transfer Credit Guidelines

 

General Guidelines in Transfer of Credit

  • MSU Denver only accepts credit from institutions of higher education holding full regional accreditation. Your school must be accredited by one of the following agencies: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, New England Association of Colleges and Schools, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Colleges of Schools, or Western Association of Colleges and Schools. To find out if your previous college or university is regionally accredited by one of these agencies, visit http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/

  • We award up to 64 semester hours of transferable credit from two-year institutions and up to 90 semester hours from four-year institutions or from a combination of two-year and four-year institutions. Even if your previous college or university is regionally accredited, coursework is still evaluated on a course by course basis.

  • Transfer credit is accepted only for those classes in which a grade of “C-” or better is earned and in which class content is similar to that of coursework offered at MSU Denver. Your GPA at MSU Denver will not include your grades from previous institutions.

  • Course equivalency may be granted for a lower-division course from another college that is upper-division at MSU Denver, but the course will not count as upper-division credit at MSU Denver. Credits earned at a two-year college cannot be used to meet MSU Denver's upper-division credit hour requirement.

  • Post-secondary transcripts are typically evaluated within 24-48 hours of their receipt.  Transfer credits awarded appear on your online academic transcript, and can be viewed by visiting ConnectU.  Applicants who have provided a valid email address on their application will receive their evaluation electronically within 48 hours, and students with an MSU Denver email will receive their evaluation electronically as well.     

  • If you have a course that does not transfer after we have received your official transcripts and completed an official transfer evaluation of your credits, take a copy of the course description and a Transfer Course Approval Form (Acrobat Icon 384 KB) to the academic department that offers the course at MSU Denver (e.g. if it is a math course, contact the Math department). If they approve the course to transfer, the department will sign the Transfer Course Approval Form and submit it to our office.

  • Students who transfer in a previous Bachelor's degree will receive a block of 90 credit hours and be granted senior standing at the university. However, if your program requires that certain previous coursework be pulled out of your first degree and applied to your program at MSU Denver so it appears on your CAPP report, have your departmental advisor complete the Updated Previous Degree Form (Acrobat Icon 256 KB) and return it to our office.    

  • If you have attended any Colorado two-year community college or junior college, you may be eligible to take advantage of several transfer policies that guarantee transfer of credit, e.g. 60 + 60 major programs, gtPathways, or articulation agreements. However, you do not need to complete your AA or AS degree to transfer to MSU Denver; you can transfer at any time. For more information, contact the Transfer Services Office at 303-556-3774.

  • Military training and other educational programs, including DANTES, that have been assessed for college credit by the American Council on Education (ACE) will be evaluated by the Office of Admissions for transfer credit at MSU Denver. For formal military training, copies of training certificates and a copy of the DD-214 or DD-295 should be submitted to the Office of Admissions. In addition, students with Army training should request that an official AARTS transcript be mailed directly to the Office of Admissions by calling 866-297-4427; those with Air Force training should request an official Community College of the Air Force transcript by calling 334-953-2794. Students with training from the Navy or Marines should request an official SMART transcript by calling 877-253-7122. For all other training, request official ACE transcripts by calling 202-939-9434. Credit limit is 30 semester hours.

  • Students with international transcripts should provide official transcripts in their original language for examination. These will be photocopied and returned. A professional course-by-course evaluation completed by a professional transcript evaluation service such as World Education Services (www.wes.org) or Education Credential Evaluators (www.ECE.org) is also required.

  • Students should request official transcripts to be mailed to the following address:

    Metropolitan State University of Denver
    Office of Admissions
    Campus Box 16, P.O. Box 173362
    Denver, CO 80217

  • Students can also request their previous colleges/universities email their official transcripts to: transcriptevaluations@msudenver.edu

Courses that will not transfer:

  • not college level, such as remedial or developmental

  • non-academic, such as vocational, career exploration, cooperative education, or practicum, etc.

  • courses from a non-regionally accredited college or university

  • courses or programs identified as college orientation

Transfer Credit through Examination

For information regarding Advanced Placement, CLEP (College-Level Examination Program), and International Baccalaureate (IB), visit the alternative credit section of our university catalog at: http://catalog.msudenver.edu/content.php?catoid=8&navoid=322 

If you would like to find out more about earning credit for prior learning and work experience, visit the Center for Individualized Learning.

If you have questions regarding any of this information, please call the Transfer Services Office at 303-556-3774.