Susquehanna University Transfer Credit Policy

Susquehanna University (SU) will accept transfer credit from U.S. institutions accredited by federally recognized accrediting agencies. Transfer credits from institutions outside the U.S. will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. The Office of the Registrar will review the official transcripts from each previously attended institution to determine which credits may be eligible for transfer to SU. All bachelor’s degree candidates take at least 62 semester hours of their total coursework, including 24 of their last 32 semester hours, their major capstone course, and any other course a major program may designate, in residence at SU or in SU-approved off-campus programs, as required by SU regulations. Students must also complete half of the credits in their major and/or minor at SU.

Credit and Course Equivalency

Only courses with grades of C- or above will be considered for transfer credit. Academic courses at SU are typically valued at four semester hours. Credit for approved transfer courses from institutions that follow a standard semester hour system (where most academic courses are valued at 3 semester hours) will be granted based on the credit earned at the awarding institution. Courses transferred from institutions following a quarterly academic calendar will be awarded at 0.67 semester hours for each quarter hour earned at the other institution.

If the transfer of courses results in a shortfall of credit in a major or minor, SU will waive the shortfall of credit up to 3 semester hours. This policy applies to the total hours required to fulfill majors and/or minors and also the Central Curriculum. Students must still complete all the requirements of the academic programs, fulfill all residency requirements and earn a total of 124 hours toward graduation. (See institutional and departmental residency requirement details in related sections of this catalog.)

Courses approved for transfer credit that satisfy specific Central Curriculum or major requirements will fulfill the requirement as long as the required effort and amount of content is deemed comparable to an SU course. (See below for additional information related to Central Curriculum requirements.)

No grade earned elsewhere will be recorded on the student’s SU transcript nor will those grades be used to calculate a student’s Susquehanna GPA, except in the rare circumstances of existing articulation agreements. Please contact the registrar’s office for additional details.

While preliminary transfer evaluations will be provided to students applying for admission or considering taking courses elsewhere during their residency at SU, no transfer credit will be officially recorded without an official transcript. Students should arrange to have an official copy of their transcript sent directly to the Office of the Registrar as soon as final grades are available.

1) Transfer courses may be approved as either equivalent to SU courses or as general elective credit.

a) Equivalent courses:

i) Courses approved as equivalent to a Susquehanna course fulfill all major and/or minor requirements that would be fulfilled if the course were taken in residence at Susquehanna.
ii) Courses approved as equivalent to a Susquehanna Central Curriculum (CC) course carry the CC categories associated with the SU course with the exception of the “Intensive” requirement. The Office of the Registrar will require a copy of the syllabus to determine if a transfer course fulfills the CC intensive category and will consult with the University Curriculum Committee as needed.
iii) Transfer students who are awarded a minimum of 12 semester hours of transfer credit upon admission to Susquehanna are exempt from the First-Year Seminar (FYSE) requirement.

b) General Elective courses:

i) Courses that do not have a Susquehanna equivalent may be approved as general elective credit.
ii) General elective courses fulfill the total hours (124) required for graduation even if they do not fulfill requirements in the major, minor or Central Curriculum.
iii) General elective courses may be approved to fulfill areas of the Central Curriculum. The Office of the Registrar will review the courses and consult with the University Curriculum Committee as needed.
iv) General elective courses may also fulfill major and/or minor requirements when approved by the appropriate department.

2) All transfer courses require the approval of the respective department head(s) to be used in the student’s major or minor, including when used as electives within the major or minor.
3) The following additional criteria will be used when considering courses for transfer credit:

a) Remedial courses do not transfer.
b) Courses repeated for credit at another institution generally transfer only once when the minimum grade of C- is met. Limited exceptions may be made for specific courses (e.g., music performance, studio lessons, topics courses with different titles, etc.). For details related to retaking an SU course at another institution, see the Repeating a Course section of this catalog.
c) Courses taken on a pass/fail basis at another institution will be considered for transfer credit, dependent upon the availability of grade information from the awarding institution to verify that the minimum grade requirement of C- was met. Exceptions may be considered for courses taken during the COVID-19 pandemic (Spring 2020 – Spring 2022).
d) Vocational and technical courses may transfer when the academic content in the course description is deemed appropriate by the Office of the Registrar.
e) Credit awarded through AP and/or IB programs is counted toward graduation requirements and, if approved, may be counted toward major/minor requirements but are not included in the student’s Susquehanna GPA.

Advance Placement (AP)

Susquehanna recognizes exceptional high school achievement by participating in the Advanced Placement Program of The College Board. Students may earn academic credit and/or exemption from entry-level courses by superior performance on AP examinations. In general, departments award credit for scores of four and five.

Some academic departments at Susquehanna also grant credit toward graduation for both the general and the subject examinations of the College Level Examination Program (CLEP). Normally, a CLEP score at or above the 50th percentile receives the equivalent of four semester hours of course credit.

Students who earn exemption or credit through examination for a specific course may not subsequently enroll in and receive credit for the same course. They also may not enroll in any lower-level course in the same department without the permission of the department head.

International Baccalaureate Credit Policy

Susquehanna University recognizes the intellectual rigor, high academic standards and emphasis on international understanding and responsible citizenship of the International Baccalaureate (IB) program. The IB program is an internationally recognized two-year, comprehensive curriculum overseen by the International Baccalaureate Organization, a nonprofit foundation based in Switzerland. The program is available to students between 16 and 19 years of age at numerous domestic and international secondary schools. Recipients of the IB certificate may receive credit for up to two courses in each subject area for which a higher-level examination score of five or more has been achieved, subject to final confirmation by the appropriate university department. Credit for a higher-level examination score of four will be awarded at the discretion of the appropriate university department. No credit will be awarded for subsidiary level examinations.

Language Placement

Students may receive a 101 placement in a language if they have no previous experience with it or have taken less than three years of it. Students who meet these criteria but did not receive a 101 placement can request a placement by contacting the Registrar’s Office (regoffice@susqu.edu).

Students who have the equivalent of three or more years’ previous experience with a language that is taught at SU (e.g., in high school) must complete a placement assessment before studying that language at SU. However, students who have taken less than the equivalent of three years of a language may still take a placement assessment if they feel they could place above the 101 level.

Incoming students should refer to the World Languages placement information available at www.susqu.edu/campus-life/student-and-campus-services/first-year-experience/language-placement-assessments/. Continuing SU students should refer to the advising information regarding placement on MyNest.

Language placements are valid for only two years, and students must retake the placement assessment if their placement expires before they start their language studies.

Scores received on pre-enrollment language proficiency examinations and nationally recognized achievement tests help determine placement level or exemption without credit from the university’s Central Curriculum language requirement. Students who score a minimum of 4 on the National Advanced Placement (AP) examination are placed in the applicable course for their language discipline.

Students may fulfill the World Languages requirement if they received their secondary education in a language other than English, including ASL, or provide evidence of proficiency equivalent to the Central Curriculum requirement via a recognized testing body (e.g., ACTFL).

For further information on exemption and placement examinations, please contact the Office of the Registrar at 570-372-4109.