Transfer Credit Evaluation & Guidelines

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.

Students who transfer in a previous bachelor’s degree will receive a block of 90 credit hours and be granted senior standing at the university. However, if your program requires certain previous coursework be pulled out of your first degree and applied to your program at MSU Denver so it appears on your Degree Progress Report, have your departmental advisor complete the Previous Degree Form and return it to the Office of the Registrar.

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 GPA at MSU Denver will not include your grades from previous institutions.

• 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
• Courses or programs identified as college orientation

After we have received your official transcripts and completed an official transfer evaluation of your credits:

If you have a course that you believe should have transferred, if you need a specific course equivalency, or if you need the course to apply to a specific degree requirement, you may take a copy of the course description and a Transfer Course Approval Form to the academic department that offers the course at MSU Denver (e.g. if it is a math course, contact the Math department). If they approve the course for transfer, the department will sign the Transfer Course Approval Form and submit it to the Office of the Registrar.

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.

Military training, Military Occupational Specialties, and other educational programs that have been assessed for college credit by the American Council on Education (ACE) and have department approval, will be evaluated by the Office of the Registrar for transfer credit at MSU Denver.

In addition MSU Denver offers the following package of transfer credit and waivers:

• 6 semester hours of lower division elective credit (MILR 8000) for all students who have served one enlistment of four years.
• 6 additional semester hours of upper division elective credit (MILR 9000) for students who have either served two enlistments of four years each or attained the rank of E5 or above.
• 3 credits of SPE 1010 for all students who served at least one enlistment and achieved the rank of E5.
• Waiver of the Global Diversity requirement for all students who deployed abroad in the armed services for at least 6 months.

Applicable credit and waivers will be granted upon presentation of evidence of either continued active service, transfer to the Reserve component, or discharge under conditions other than dishonorable. Students who have been discharged from active service should submit their form DD214 to the Transfer Office for evaluation.

• To request a military transcript click here.
• To request your official Community College of the Air Force transcript click here.

Questions regarding credit awarded for military experience or other prior learning assessment options should be directed to the Prior Learning Specialist in the Office of the Registrar at 303-605-5574.

For information regarding Advanced Placement, CLEP (College-Level Examination Program), and International Baccalaureate (IB), visit the alternative credit section of our university catalog.

If you would like to find out more about earning credit for prior learning and work experience, visit the Office of the Registrar Prior Learning Website.