If you previously attended college and want to transfer to another institution, you're probably curious about how many of the credits you earned will transfer to your new school. This would be as easy as looking at how many credits you previously earned in a perfect world. But like so many things in the world of higher education, it's not that simple. There are many things to keep in mind when transferring college credits. 

The first thing to understand is all colleges are different. Accrediting bodies enforce minimum standards, accredited institutions still have a certain amount of autonomy to implement their own rules, standards, and internal protocol. It's important to know that a school's accreditation is the first thing considered during a credit evaluation. Where a course was given will impact where that course can transfer to. But that's not the only important aspect of accreditation.

Anyone with enough resources can start a college or university. Furthermore, they can tell you how great their college is, how much you're going to learn and how much money you'll make once you graduate. Your response should be, "That sounds awesome! Are you accredited? If so, by whom?" If the answer is no, or we're working on that, or we're currently trying to regain accreditation, buyer beware. 

Colleges and universities must renew their accreditation regularly and sometimes run into issues with accrediting bodies. This doesn't mean that there is something wrong with the school. Many legitimate factors cause complications with accrediting bodies, so you should look more carefully at the situation to better understand what's going on.

Transferring College Credits

So, you're ready to finish the academic journey you started when taking classes at a few different colleges during your military service. You gather your transcripts from previous institutions and forward them to the college where you plan to finish up. Now what?

The evaluator looks at your transcripts and asks three questions during a credit evaluation.

What Institution Awarded the Credits? 

Going back to the first point of accreditation, if the institution awarding credits is not accredited or has an accreditation that the receiving institution does not recognize, those credits will likely not transfer. If a school is well known and its accreditation is recognized, they move on to the next question.

What's the name of the class? 

General education classes, or gen eds, transfer more easily because they are universally required at accredited four-year colleges. Gen eds refer to courses that all students must take to earn a bachelor's degree regardless of their major. Most college students take these during their first two years of college. They primarily make up the requirements for an associate's.

Major-specific courses are more challenging to transfer because they are more nuanced among four-year colleges. The major requirements at one institution may differ from those at another institution, even if the major is the same. This factor makes major courses more challenging to transfer from school to school. These courses may transfer in as electives but not as major requirements in some cases. When evaluating more nuanced courses, there's one more thing to consider.

What does the course description say? 

The course description will tell you what topics the course will cover during the term. Descriptions are a helpful tool when performing credit evaluations. In short, if the course description from a class taken at a previous institution matches that of a course offered at the receiving institution, that class will likely transfer even if the course title is different.

Transferring schools can be a painful or painless process depending on several factors. Hopefully, you will experience the latter. If your process is painful, you may have some difficult questions to answer, but don't lose sight of the main objective.

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