Determining Transferability
How Transfer Credits are Evaluated
When you transfer to KU from another college or university, the following general standards for transfer credits apply for undergraduate coursework taken domestically. A course must be deemed acceptable for transfer by KU before it can be applicable toward satisfying degree requirements.
- Regional Accreditation. Credit is generally awarded for undergraduate college-level coursework completed at institutions accredited by a regional accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Schools accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) are accepted.
- Courses must be similar in nature, level, and content to a course in our undergraduate curriculum and applicable to one of our academic programs.
- Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Exam Preparation (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and military experience from Joint Service Transcripts (JSTs) are all accepted. See Credit for Prior Learning.
We transfer as many courses as possible as a direct match to KU courses. When no course corresponds, we use a transfer credit code to indicate how the course may transfer. Transfer credit codes may fulfill KU Core 34, degree requirements, or count toward overall elective hours.
There are several kinds of courses that don't transfer:
- Courses from a non-regionally accredited school
- Remedial
- Technical
- Vocational
- Medical
- Doctrinal
- Internships
- Coursework not similar in nature, level or content to a course in our undergraduate curriculum
- Continuing education credit, workshops, seminars, and professional development courses
- Graduate-level courses (on an undergraduate record)
These types of courses are generally listed as "Does Not Transfer" on CredTran. To appeal a transfer credit decision, you may submit a transfer credit petition.
- Regional Accreditation. Credit is generally awarded for undergraduate college-level coursework completed at institutions accredited by a regional accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Schools accredited by Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) are accepted.
- Courses must be similar in nature, level, and content to a course in our undergraduate curriculum and applicable to one of our academic programs.
- Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Exam Preparation (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and military experience from Joint Service Transcripts (JSTs) are all accepted. See Credit for Prior Learning.
We transfer as many courses as possible as a direct match to KU courses. When no course corresponds, we use a transfer credit code to indicate how the course may transfer. Transfer credit codes may fulfill KU Core 34, degree requirements, or count toward overall elective hours.
There are several kinds of courses that don't transfer:
- Courses from a non-regionally accredited school
- Remedial
- Technical
- Vocational
- Medical
- Doctrinal
- Internships
- Coursework not similar in nature, level or content to a course in our undergraduate curriculum
- Continuing education credit, workshops, seminars, and professional development courses
- Graduate-level courses (on an undergraduate record)
These types of courses are generally listed as "Does Not Transfer" on CredTran. To appeal a transfer credit decision, you may submit a transfer credit petition.
Send Your Transcripts
To transfer coursework to KU, an official transcript must be sent directly from the previous institution. Transcripts sent by students are considered unofficial and will not be posted as credit. Printed transcripts may be mailed to:
University of Kansas
c/o: Office of the University Registrar
The 1502 Building
1502 Iowa St.
Lawrence, KS 66045
Additional Considerations for Transfer Credit
Transfer credit with grades of D+ and below (or the equivalent grade) are not applied towards degree requirements. If the course is otherwise transferable, grades of D+, D, D-, and F (or the equivalent grades) are used to calculate the cumulative KU Transfer GPA for admission and scholarship purposes. Please see KU's Transfer Courses minimum GPA and GPA Calculation policy and the Determining GPA section below for more information.
Upon submitting a transfer application, a KU Transfer GPA is created for admission eligibility and scholarships. The KU Transfer GPA is a cumulative calculation of all accepted transfer coursework with an A-F grade. Grades from transfer courses are considered in making decisions for admission to the university, entry into specific programs, and for satisfying degree requirements. Transfer students are assured admission with 24+ transferable credit hours at a GPA of 2.5 or higher from a regionally accredited community college, college, or university.
Please note that grades from transfer courses are not used in the calculation of the KU Overall GPA (which is just KU coursework).
Courses are matched as closely as possible by topic, but different colleges and universities may designate different levels of credit for the same course. The originating institution defines the level of credit for a course. A lower-level course completed at your original institution may match an upper-level course (numbers 300 and above) once transferred to KU, but would still retain lower-level credit on your record, and vice versa.
All community college courses transfer as lower-level credit. Please see KU's policy on Course Level Transfer for additional details.
KU does not restrict the number of transfer courses that are accepted. However, the number of credits that are applicable toward degree requirements is limited based on the source of the transfer credits. A maximum of 75 credits from 2-year institutions can be applied to degree requirements at KU. There is no limit of credit that can be applied to degree requirements from a 4-year institution. Students are required to complete at least 45 upper-level credits with 30 upper-level credits in residence to earn a degree.
KU's unit of credit is the semester hour. Credit earned at institutions using a different unit of credit are converted upon being transferred to KU. For quarter hour schools, KU awards the standard .67 semester credits per quarter credit hour of study. Please see the conversion chart below.
| Quarter | Semester |
|---|---|
| .5 | .33 |
| 1 | .67 |
| 2.0 | 1.33 |
| 3.0 | 2.0 |
| 4 | 2.67 |
| 5 | 3.33 |
| 6 | 4.0 |
At the discretion of the major department and the Graduate Division, any graduate student may transfer up to nine (9) hours of graduate credit taken at a regionally-accredited graduate school and apply it to a KU master’s degree plan, as long as the credits were taken prior to the final semester of enrollment at KU. Please see the Graduate Studies policy for more information about the requirements needed to apply graduate credit towards a KU degree. Graduate students interested in transferring credit need to start the transfer credit approval process with their academic department.
International transcripts are evaluated by the Office of International Admissions. Please contact their office at world@ku.edu for more information.