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Transfer Student Information
If you have been admitted to MSU Denver, below are some resources to help you navigate the transfer process.
Please note- if you have not yet been admitted to MSU Denver, please check out the Transfer Admissions website for the best resources to help you begin your transfer application process.
Once you are admitted to MSU Denver, as a degree seeking undergraduate student, and after we have received your official transcripts, we will evaluate your credits for transfer. This evaluation will come to your MSU Denver email with instructions on how to interpret your evaluation. To see details about your evaluation, view your Degree Progress Report in your Student Hub on a regular basis. Here you will see how all your course work, both transfer and MSU Denver, applies toward your degree progress.
Transfer Evaluation Frequently Asked Questions
- Electronic submission- must be sent from your transfer school directly to MSU Denver to be considered official: [email protected]
- Mailed submission- must be sent from the transfer school to be considered official: Metropolitan State University of Denver, Office of the Registrar, Campus Box 84, PO Box 173362, Denver, CO 80217-3362
- In-person: Office of the Registrar, Jordan Student Success Building, Counter 3. Transcripts must be in a sealed envelope from your transfer school to be considered official.
- Your Degree Progress Report (DPR) is a tool to help you track your degree progress and how your transfer credits are evaluated
- To view the DPR, visit the MSU Denver Student Hub and click on the Degree Progress Report tile in the first section
- Some Degree Progress Reports are not available for the newest catalog years. They typically are available in the fall semester.
- If you are waiting for your catalog year to appear, we recommend you get a general idea of how your transfer credits apply to your degree, by choosing the “What If” option for the previous catalog year.
- Steps to run a “What If” audit are listed in the What If DPR Guide
- Please note that there may be differences between catalog years and a “What If” report for a different catalog year is not a guarantee.
- Check your DPR to see if the course has an asterisk * next to it. Courses with an asterisk are under review by department faculty.
- If there is no asterisk, work with your academic advisor regarding your transfer credits. In some cases, transfer courses require faculty or department approval to gain equivalency or to be transferred to MSU Denver.
Prior Bachelor’s Degrees
- Students with previous bachelor’s degrees from regionally accredited universities will receive 90 credit hours toward a second bachelor’s degree from MSU Denver. All General Studies requirements will be satisfied. Programs may still require certain courses to be taken to meet graduation requirements.
Colorado AA/AS
- Students with an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree from a Colorado public institution will be admitted with junior standing. In addition, all General Studies requirements will be satisfied. Programs may still require certain courses to be taken to meet graduation requirements.
Colorado gtPathways Core Curriculum
- Students who have completed the Colorado gtPathways core curriculum from a Colorado public institution will have all their General Studies requirements satisfied. Programs may still require certain courses to be taken to meet graduation requirements.
- Transfer Credit Evaluations are only completed by the Registrar’s Office for undergraduate degree-seeking students.
- Graduate students may have any graduate transfer credit evaluated by their specific academic program.
- Non-degree and Certificate-only students will only have transfer credit applied if they change to a degree-seeking undergraduate program.
- See the program advisor for questions about how prior credit may impact course selection and prerequisites.
Yes! Review the MSU Denver Alternative Credit page for more information about college credit through prior learning experience.
Visit the Office of Admissions website for International Student and International Transcript Information.
Transfer Credit Guidelines
The evaluation and application of your transfer credit is an important step in your degree completion. MSU Denver strives for timely completion of your transcript evaluation. Completed transfer credit evaluations are available in your Degree Progress Report in the MSU Denver Student Hub.
Undergraduate students will have transcripts evaluated within one to two weeks after the official transcript is received and is guaranteed to be done in 30 days per Colorado SB24-164.
Graduate students with graduate courses from other institutions that have not been included in a completed degree inquiring if their previous coursework can apply to their program at MSU Denver should work with their program director or program advisor to discuss transfer credit options.
Once the official transcripts are received by MSU Denver and the credit is approved, the program director or advisor will work with the MSU Denver Graduate Studies to complete the Graduate Program Transfer Course form. Once that form is completed, MSU Denver will evaluate the transfer credit within 30 days.
Review the guidelines below which explain how MSU Denver determines eligibility for transfer credits
MSU Denver only accepts credit from institutions of higher education holding full regional accreditation. Your school must be accredited by one of the following agencies: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, New England Association of Colleges and Schools, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, Southern Association of Colleges of Schools, Higher Learning Commission, or Western Association of Colleges and Schools. If you have questions, please contact the Transfer Evaluation Team to verify whether your previous college or university is regionally accredited by one of these agencies.
Students beginning at MSU Denver in fall 2022 and later are not limited to the amount of transfer credit that can be accepted from regionally accredited institutions. Students are required to complete the university’s residency requirement.
Student admitted prior to fall 2022 are subject to a limit of transfer credit. We award up to 64 semester hours of transferable credit from two-year institutions and up to 90 semester hours from four-year institutions or from a combination of two-year and four-year institutions. Even if your previous college or university is regionally accredited, coursework is still evaluated on a course-by-course basis.
If you have attended any Colorado community college, you may be eligible to take advantage of several transfer policies that guarantee transfer of credit, e.g. 60 + 60 major programs, gtPathways, or articulation agreements. However, you do not need to complete your AA or AS degree to transfer to MSU Denver; you can transfer at any time.
Check out MSU Denver’s Colorado Community College Transfer Guides.
Find out about how to submit international application materials here. Click on the “College/University Transcripts” drop-down menu for instructions on how to submit non-U.S. college or university transcripts. Please note that other contents, including TOEFL, visa, etc do not apply to non-F1 students.
Transfer credit is accepted only for those classes in which a grade of “C-” or better is earned and in which class content is similar to that of coursework offered at MSU Denver. Your MSU Denver GPA is not affected by your transfer credits.
- Not college level, such as remedial or developmental.
- Non-academic, such as vocational, career exploration, cooperative education, or practicum, etc.
- Courses from a non-regionally accredited college or university.
Course equivalency may be granted for a lower-division course from another college that is upper-division at MSU Denver, but the course will not count as upper-division credit at MSU Denver. Credits earned at a two-year college cannot be used to meet MSU Denver’s upper-division credit hour requirement.
Transfer Credit Appeal Process
Questions may arise about how MSU Denver evaluated your transfer credit. If you have questions or concerns about your transfer credit evaluation, you have many resources to assist you.
You should direct all initial inquiries with your academic advisor. If your concerns are not resolved after that, you may appeal to the MSU Denver Academic Affairs Office to the Vice Provost. If your concerns are not resolves after that, you may appeal to the Colorado Department of Higher Education.
Read about the detailed process for each of these solution pathways below.
- Your academic advisor works with the Office of the Registrar’s Transfer Evaluation Team
- You may be required to provide additional documentation about the nature of your coursework as a part of this process, for example Syllabi for the course in question.
- All international coursework will require additional documentation for this kind of review and may take more time to review.
- The Transfer Evaluation Team either updates the record (with faculty consultation) or confirms the transfer decision
- You will submit an appeal to the MSU Denver Academic Affairs Office to the Vice Provost
- After reviewing the appeal, the Vice Provost collaborates with Registrar on the transfer decision
- The Transfer Evaluation Team either updates the record (with Vice Provost consultation) or confirms the transfer decision
- Students must exhaust appeal options at their institution before taking appeals to the Colorado Department of Higher Education
- The Colorado Department of Higher Education works with students and the institution to resolve the issue.
Colorado Reverse Transfer Program
You’ve done the work, you deserve the credit! The research is clear: a degree boosts earning potential and career opportunities.
Colorado Reverse Transfer Program is a process that allows students who have transferred from a Colorado community college to MSU Denver to combine credits from both institutions and apply them towards an associate’s degree.
If you are a transfer student, this means you can earn the associate’s degree you started at your community college while still working toward your bachelor’s degree.
- Each spring, potentially eligible students will be emailed the option to opt-in to this process. The opt-in gives your consent to have MSU Denver share your transcript with the community college where you studied.
- MSU Denver will contact students who may be eligible for this great opportunity.
- You may be eligible for a reverse transfer if:
- You have completed 15 credit hours at a community college in Colorado.
- You have a minimum of 70 credit hours, including coursework at MSU Denver.
- You transferred to MSU Denver since Summer 2012.
- Your completed credit hours meet the requirements for an Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, or Associate of General Studies, to be determined via a degree audit from your community college.
- You have not requested that your data be withheld at either institution.
- You have not already received an associate’s or bachelor’s degree.
- You may be eligible for a reverse transfer if:
- Interested students will need to opt into the program; these students agree for their credit information to be sent to their former community college.
- Students will then be contacted by their former community college to either grant the degree or inform students of how many more credits are required.
- Learn more about CDHE Reverse Transfer!
- If you have questions about this process, please contact the Transfer Evaluation Team.