General Transfer Credit Policy

SUBJECT: General Transfer Credit Policy

PURPOSE: To delineate policy and procedures followed to award credit for course work taken at other colleges and universities.

POLICY:

1. For undergraduate programs, the Registrar has the responsibility for the evaluation and awarding of transfer credits according to university transfer policies.
2. For graduate programs, the appropriate school has the responsibility for the evaluation and awarding of transfer credits.
3. For undergraduate programs, credit will be accepted if the following requirements are met.
   1. Credits must have been earned from regionally accredited institutions, as determined by the Transfer Credit Practices of Designated Educational Institutions, published by the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. Credit not ordinarily accepted as shown in this guide may be accepted at Graceland if it is verified that course work from the sending institution is recognized and accepted at any major state university within that state, or if the credits have been approved for acceptance by Graceland’s schools/divisions.
   2. Students must have earned a grade of D- or better for transfer courses to be accepted for credit at Graceland University. (See Procedure N.)
4. An unlimited number of collegiate-level semester hours may be transferred to Graceland University. However, only a limited number of developmental, remedial, physical education activity, vocational-technical, music ensemble and English as a Second Language semester hours are acceptable (see procedure for clarification).
5. No coursework completed at other institutions (transfer work) is included in the calculation of the Graceland University GPA.
6. All graduation requirements as outlined in the current catalog must still be met by students who wish to transfer work to Graceland.
7. Students who have completed an Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) degree from a regionally accredited institution of higher education will automatically receive a General Education waiver. Students who have not completed an AA or AS degree will have credits evaluated on a course-by-course basis as follows:
   1. Students entering Graceland with 1-47 s.h. of transfer credit:
      1. Any college level statistics course that is transferred in will count toward the General Education statistics requirement.
      2. Any college level mathematics courses that are transferred in will count toward the General Education mathematics requirement.
      3. If a student has taken 3 s.h. in college composition, it will transfer in as Composition I. If the student has taken 6 sh. in college composition, they will transfer in as Composition I and Composition II.
      4. If a student has taken 3 sh in public speaking, it will transfer in as Foundations of Public Speaking.
      5. Students who have taken courses in: Ethics, Visual and Performing Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences, Histories, Natural and Physical Science will be allowed to apply courses taken in those disciplines to substitute for the appropriate Liberal Learning General Education requirement.
   2. Students entering Graceland with 48 or more s.h. of transfer credit or students entering online or completion programs automatically qualify for the “Alternative General Education” program. Students must complete a total of 33 s.h. including:
      1. 3 s.h. in each of the following areas: speech, college-level mathematics, and natural science.
      2. 6 s.h. in college composition.
      3. 9 sh in each of the following areas: humanities (literature, philosophy, religion, art, music, theatre, and foreign language courses), social sciences (economics, psychology, sociology, anthropology, political science/government, geography, history).

RATIONALE: To provide for a consistent evaluation of credits taken at other colleges and universities

PROCEDURE:

1. Official transcripts are required and must be received directly from all accredited and non-accredited secondary and post-secondary institutions (VA requirement and regulation for federal financial aid).
2. A maximum of 16 semester hours of vocational-technical course work will be accepted as elective credit, if needed.
3. A maximum of 6 semester hours of physical education activities, including a maximum of 2 semester hours of intercollegiate sports, will be accepted.
4. A maximum of 8 semester hours of music ensemble credit will be accepted.
5. A maximum of 8 semester hours of English as a Second Language will be accepted.
6. A maximum of 6 semester hours of developmental or remedial coursework will be accepted.
7. Credit can be accepted according to the American Council on Education (ACE) Guide to Educational Credit by Examination. Score reports must be sent directly from the testing center to Graceland University for evaluation.
8. Credit for proficiency examinations taken at previous post-secondary institutions is not awarded.
9. Credit does not become obsolete, but application of some credit to a specific program at Graceland may be subject to review by department faculty.
10. Graceland’s course number, as listed in the current catalog, is assigned to equivalent transfer courses.
11. An elective course number, “0000” for lower division courses or “4999” for upper division courses, is assigned to non-equivalent transfer courses.
12. Course titles and semester hours assigned by the sending institution are generally retained on the Graceland record.
13. Quarter hours are converted to semester hours; one quarter hour equals 2/3 of a semester hour.
14. Courses accepted for transfer are accepted as credit only and are recorded with a transfer grade of “TA, TB, TC, TD, or TP” in place of a letter grade. The transfer grades do not carry grade points.
15. All work transferred from two-year institutions will be considered lower division. However, some two-year college courses may meet the intent of specific upper division courses at Graceland. In this case, the courses are assigned a lower division number “0000” and the upper division course is included on the academic record as “WV”. The intent of the course is met, but the hours will not count toward the upper division requirement.
16. Credit for military programs and training is awarded according to ACE recommendations in the baccalaureate category in the Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services.
17. Graduates of colleges and/or schools of nursing located outside the US may find it impossible to obtain official transcripts from the institution. After all other efforts to obtain an official transcript have failed, the student may request a letter from any college attended in the US or from the state board of nursing. A copy of the “foreign transcript” received by the college or state board should accompany the letter with a statement certifying it is a true copy of the official transcript received previously by the college or state board from the foreign institution.
18. Credit may be awarded for post-secondary education completed at colleges and/or universities in foreign countries. A course-by-course evaluation provided by the World Education Service (WES) or International Credential Evaluations (InCred) is required before awarding credit. If the student is pursuing admission to the MSN program, nursing credits earned at an institution outside the US are evaluated by the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools (CGFNS) before awarding credits.
19. Department faculty and college catalogs may be consulted for advice. Undergraduate students may petition the university, appropriate school or college to request variance in program requirements in light of previous background.