Transfer Credit Policy | Spalding University Catalog

Transfer Credit Policy

Spalding University grants transfer credit for courses taken at a college or university that is accredited by one of the bodies listed below or by articulation agreements approved by the Provost:

• National Accrediting Organization Recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, CHEA, or both. Current lists may be found on the websites of the Department of Education (https://ope.ed.gov/dapip/#/home) and CHEA (https://www.chea.org/)
• MSA/CHE: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, Commission on Higher Education
• NCA: North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, The Higher Learning Commission
• NEASC-CIHE: New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Institutions of Higher Education
• NEASC-CTCI: New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Commission on Technical and Career Institutions
• NWCCU: Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
• NY State Board of Regents: This agency is listed by the U.S. Secretary of Education for its registration (accreditation of collegiate degree-granting programs, of curriculums offered by institutions of higher education in the state of New York, and of credit bearing certificate and other diploma programs offered by degree-granting institutions of higher education.)
• SACSCOC: Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
• WASC-ACCJC: Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
• Western Association of School and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities

International Transcripts
International transcripts are evaluated by an outside agency that has experience with evaluating these types of transcripts. Spalding University currently uses World Education Services (WES) to evaluate any international transcripts. In order to have international transcripts evaluated, students must submit their official transcripts and translation, if needed, directly to WES along with payment. It is the student's responsibility to pay for this evaluation. WES will, in turn, submit a final evaluation directly to Spalding with recommendations of what credit should be awarded. This evaluation is broken down by subject area and number of credit hours. Upon receiving the official WES evaluation, Spalding University will accept transfer credits for any credit that appears to be comparable to the Spalding University curriculum.

Declaration of Previous College Attendance
Applicants must declare all previous college attendance. Applicants who fail to disclose previous college attendance on the application for admission and/or fail to submit transcripts are subject to denial or cancellation of admission or dismissal from the University.

Transfer Credit Restrictions
Transfer students are required to submit official transcripts from all higher education institutions they have attended.

  • Transfer credit will not be awarded for courses below 100-level.
  • Transfer credit will only be awarded once per course.
  • Transfer credit will be awarded for courses only in which students have earned grades of D or higher (or a grade of P for Pass/Fail).
  • Transfer credit will not be awarded for work completed during a term or semester when academic bankruptcy was filed.
  • For institutions on the quarter system, credit will be awarded for two-thirds of the credit earned at a student’s previous institution.

As of August 1, 2003, transfer credits accepted at Spalding University will not affect grade-point averages. The transfer credits will be accepted as credit only and a student's previous grade received will not be listed on any Spalding University transcript.

Determination of Course Equivalencies
Initial transfer credit equivalencies are determined by the Transcript Analyst based on prior transfer of a course, articulation agreements, and comparison of course titles/descriptions:

  • Transfer credit will be awarded to similar courses based on course numbers from the Spalding University catalog at the time the evaluation is conducted.
  • Transfer credit will be awarded to courses not in the current Spalding University curriculum as general elective credit.
  • Discipline chairs may be consulted to determine course equivalency.
  • The Registrar makes the final determination on transfer credit equivalencies.

Transfer Credits Limitations
To graduate

  • students must earn at least one-half of the credit hours required in their major field(s) and, if applicable, their minor field(s) at Spalding University.
  • students must earn at least 25 percent of the credit hours required for the degree through instruction offered by Spalding University unless otherwise stated.

For baccalaureate degrees requiring 120 hours, the minimum number of hours that must be completed at Spalding is 30. For associate degrees requiring 60 hours, the minimum number of hours that must be completed at Spalding is 15. Individual academic units may place additional restrictions on the total number of transfer credits that can be used to fulfill major requirements. The maximum number of transfer credits brought in from any accredited institution is 90.

Transfer credits not allowed to fulfill pre-requisite or major requirements will remain on the student's transcript. Students who change majors must meet all of the requirements of the new major.

Credit is not awarded for experiential learning unless validated through credit by examination such as CLEP or DSST.

Recency Restrictions
Recency restrictions of transfer credit by major are as follows:

Accounting Majors - No credit more than 10 years old from the date the student declares the major will be allowed to fulfill the requirement for ACC 315 Tax I: Individual Taxation or ACC 415 Tax II: Corporate Taxation.

All students - BA 220 – No credit more than 5 years old from the date the student declares the major or minor will be allowed to fulfill the requirement for BA 220, unless approved by the Chair of the School of Business.

Communication Majors - No credit more than 10 years old from the date the student declares the major will be allowed to fulfill the requirement for COM 201 Effective Speaking.

Education Majors - No credits more than 7 years old from the date the student is accepted into the program will be allowed to fulfill the major requirements. Education technology credits more than 5 years old from the date the student is accepted into the program will not be allowed to fulfill the major requirements. A maximum of 9 hours of Education transfer credits will be allowed to fulfill major requirements if a student has not been officially admitted to a teacher preparation program at another institution. If a student has been admitted to a teacher preparation program at another institution, a maximum of 26 hours of Education transfer credits will be allowed to fulfill the major requirements. No transfer credits are allowed to fulfill Student Teaching or the Capstone course.

Natural Science majors - No credit more than 10 years old from the date the student declares the major will be allowed to fulfill the major requirements.

Nursing majors - Credits more than 10 years old from the date the student is accepted into the program will be allowed to fulfill the following pre-requisites and major requirements for the program: BIO 261, BIO 262, BIO 263, BIO 264, BIO 256, BIO 257, and BIO 301; and HS 350 or NURS 322 (or equivalent Health related research course). A maximum of 12 nursing transfer credit hours will be allowed to fulfill the major requirements with approval from the School of Nursing chair.

Occupational Therapy majors - A maximum of 6 transfer credit hours of Occupational Therapy will be allowed to fulfill the major requirements for the Bachelor of Science in Health Science with approval from the Auerbach School of Occupational Therapy chair.

Psychology majors - No credit more than 10 years old from the date the student is accepted into the program will be allowed to fulfill the major or minor requirements in Psychology.

Transfer Credits for Students with an AA or AS degree

Transfer students with an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree will be considered to have completed the baccalaureate University Studies requirement under the following conditions:

• Students must have completed a minimum of 30 unduplicated University Studies credit hours;
• Among these 30 credit hours, there must be at least one course in each of the following areas: Humanities/Fine Arts, Social/Behavioral Sciences; Natural Sciences/Mathematics;
• Depending upon the Spalding academic program the transfer student chooses to enter, additional specific University Studies courses may be required if equivalent courses have not been transferred.
• Students will be advised on their remaining coursework to meet their degree requirements and encouraged to enroll in University Studies courses when appropriate for academic progress.
• The credit hours of transferred University Studies courses count at face value toward the 120 total earned credit hours required for graduation. The fulfillment of the University Studies requirements under this policy is not a waiver of the 120 total earned credit hour graduation requirement.
• Evaluation of transcripts for University Studies transfer credit will be performed by the Director of University Studies in consultation with discipline Chairs.

Back to Undergraduate Academic Policies