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Academic Catalog 2024-2025

Transfer of Credit Guidelines

The University of Saint Mary general philosophy behind the granting of transfer credit is that students who have already mastered the content and difficulty level of a subject will not be required to take a course similar in content, substance, and difficulty offered by the University of Saint Mary provided all applicable policies and procedures are met. None of the policies, procedures, or other stipulations below should be construed as a contract, promise, or guarantee of the transferability of credit from any source to the academic programs offered by the University of Saint Mary.

Graduate Transfer Credit Policy

Students with transferrable graduate/doctorate level credits may apply those to graduate/doctorate programs at the University of Saint Mary provided all applicable requirements are met:

  • Official transcripts of all previous undergraduate, graduate, and doctorate level education have been received by the Registrar’s Office for evaluation (unofficial copies may be used for unofficial transcript evaluations).
  • The coursework was completed at an institution of higher education that is accredited by an agency recognized by the United States Department of Education.
  • The semester credit hours are clearly designated as graduate or doctorate level education and were not used to satisfy undergraduate requirements.
  • Coursework was completed with a grade of “B” or higher.
  • Coursework cannot be more than eight (8) years prior to the date of admission into a University of Saint Mary graduate degree program.

The following limitations apply to the transfer of graduate and doctorate credit hours:

  • No transfer credits can be used to satisfy practicum hours.
  • No more than 15 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in Athletic Training.
  • No more than 9 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in Business.
  • No more than 6 credit hours may be applied to graduate programs in Education and Psychology.
  • No more than 9 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in Counseling Psychology.
    • No transfer credits can be used to satisfy prerequisite hours required by Counseling Psychology.
  • No more than 9 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in School Counseling.
  • No more than 6 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in Social Work for Advanced Standing status, and no more than 12 credit hours may be applied to Regular Standing status
  • No more than 9 credit hours may be applied to the graduate program in Nursing.
  • No more than 6 credit hours may be applied to the Doctor of Education in Leadership.
  • No more than 32 credit hours may be applied to the Doctor of Physical Therapy.

NOTE: The Doctor of Occupational Therapy program does not accept transfer credit.

Written permission from the Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs and the academic division chair must be obtained in order for students to take graduate or doctorate level courses at another institution while in a graduate or doctorate level program at the University of Saint Mary, with the intent of transferring those hours into the graduate/doctorate program at the University of Saint Mary.

Regardless of the amount of transfer credits applied to a University of Saint Mary graduate/doctorate level degree program, all requirements for graduation must be met by students wishing to obtain the graduate or doctorate degree.

No semester credit hours accepted for transfer from any source will be factored into the calculation of the University of Saint Mary GPA. Transferred semester credit hours will be displayed on the University of Saint Mary transcript as credits earned toward the degree and without an academic grade notation.

Transfer Credit Procedure

In order to provide consistency of transfer credit evaluations from any/all sources of credit recognized by the University of Saint Mary, the following procedure will apply:

  • Per regulations promulgated by the United States Department of Education and Department of Veteran Affairs, official transcripts are required and must be received directly from all accredited and non-accredited secondary and postsecondary institutions and testing agencies.
  • Quarter hours will be converted to semester credit hours; one quarter hour equals two-thirds (0.67) of a semester credit hour. Transfer courses converted from quarter hours to semester credit hours will be rounded down for purposes of meeting University of Saint Mary coursework. (Example: a 5 quarter hour course is multiplied by .67 to equal 3.35. This is rounded down to 3 and would transfer into a 3 credit hour University of Saint Mary course but not a 4 credit hour course).
  • Only those courses that are accepted for transfer will be recorded on the official University of Saint Mary transcript and will be listed without an earned letter grade. No grades for transferred courses will factor into the University of Saint Mary GPA.