There are two types of credit that a graduate student may wish to transfer:
- credit completed outside the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, or
- University of Illinois Urbana Champaign graduate level credit.
Different rules apply for each type of transfer of credit.
Transferring Credit from Another Institution
Graduate students may request to transfer credit earned from another institution to be counted toward a graduate degree. This is generally limited to a maximum of 12 semester hours. Credit that can be transferred must be graduate level credit that meets the following additional criteria:
- that has not previously been applied toward a degree or other transcripted credential,
- that is graded graduate-level credit from an accredited institution, and
- for which the student has achieved a grade of B or better, or received a Satisfactory grade in the case of a Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory grading mode.
When supporting requests for transfer credit, it is the program’s responsibility to determine whether the credit is still relevant to the current degree.
Students utilizing transfer credit from another institution to count toward their degree need to be aware of residency requirements and how those limits effect the total number of hours applied. Factors to consider include:
- Credit from outside the Graduate College may not be transferred to count toward Stage II or Stage III of a doctoral program (See Chapter 6.2 Time Limits for Doctoral Degrees).
- To request transfer of credit from outside the Graduate College, a student should submit the appropriate form, accompanied by official transcripts, and validation by subject matter experts in the student’s department that the credit is both applicable and of an appropriate level of difficulty.
- Most transfer credit from outside the university will be reflected on the transcript without course titles and grades. The exceptions are:
- Graduate credit transferred from the University of Illinois at Chicago or from the University of Illinois at Springfield.
- Graduate credit earned through the BTAA Traveling Scholar Program.
Transferring Credit between Programs within the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Graduate students may request transfer of credit within the university to be counted toward a graduate degree. For these requests, there is no limit on the number of hours that a student may request be transferred.
Graduate students may request transfer of credit from one program at this university to another program at this university as long as it was not applied toward another degree and both departments involved approve the transfer of credit from one program to the other. Credit that can be transferred within the university includes:
- Credit taken while enrolled as a Illinois undergraduate student
- Credit taken while enrolled as a Illinois non-degree student
- Credit earned while enrolled in different graduate program
- Credit earned through the BTAA Traveling Scholar Program.
To request a transfer of credit, a student should submit the appropriate form. The Graduate College requires that the transfer of such work into a graduate program be approved by the program’s department or governing unit.