​Acceptance and Evaluation of Undergraduate Transfer Credits

Policy

The policy hereafter is applicable to undergraduate-level coursework.

Institutional Accreditation
Minnesota State University, Mankato will review credits for transfer from an accredited college or university recognized by CHEA or the USDE.

Minnesota State Mankato complies with Minnesota State College and Universities policy and procedure:

• Undergraduate Course and Credit Transfer and the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (Board Policy, 3.21)
• Transfer of Undergraduate Courses, Credit, Associate Degrees, and the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (System Procedure, 3.21.1)

International Degrees and Courses
International degrees determined valid by the Minnesota State Mankato Admissions Office will be recognized. To be considered for transfer credit international courses must be evaluated by an outside agency recognized by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services. In addition, courses fulfilling Minnesota State Mankato General Education Goal Area 1A (English Composition) may be subject to a university review and/or appeal process.

Discretionary Rights for Determining Transferrable Credit
A university record is considered a continuing one. Students who transfer credit may not disregard a poor record/course grade(s) during the transfer process as a means of academic forgiveness. Students should consult with their previous institution(s) regarding college and/or university policies governing academic forgiveness prior to transfer. Minnesota State Mankato will recognize and apply academic forgiveness from previous institutions who have formally given approval for this provision, as documented on the transcript of the previous institution. Acknowledgement of attendance at previous colleges or universities is required. Failure to list each college/university attended on a student’s application for admission may be considered reason for cancellation of admission or dismissal from the University.

University General Education Requirements and Previously Earned Degrees

• Baccalaureate Degrees: Students with a Baccalaureate degree from an institutionally accredited college or university recognized by CHEA or the USDE will have satisfied Minnesota State Mankato’s General Education requirements.
• Associate of Arts Degree (AA): Students transferring with an earned AA degree from an institutionally accredited college or university recognized by CHEA or USDE will have satisfied the General Education requirements of a Baccalaureate degree at Minnesota State Mankato.
• Associate of Science (AS) Degree and Associate of Applied Science Degree (AAS): Students transferring with an earned AS or AAS degree from an institutionally accredited college or university recognized by CHEA or USDE must complete the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum that requires 40 credits of courses that fall in Goal Areas 1 – 10 for General Education to be considered complete at Minnesota State Mankato. Goal Areas 11-13 are not part of the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and are unique to Minnesota State Mankato. Therefore, Goal Areas 11-13 will not be required and will not be included in the MnTC 40 credit total.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC)
Completion of MnTC fulfills the General Education requirement for any MinnState College or University. Therefore, students transferring with a completed MnTC are not required to complete Goal Areas 11-13. Per Minn State system policy regarding MnTC, completion of goal areas at the sending institution will be accepted as completion of that same goal area at Minnesota State Mankato. Minnesota State Mankato will always assign courses into general education goal areas based on assignments at the sending institution. In the case where the sending institution has not assigned a course to any goal area, Minnesota State Mankato may evaluate and assign a goal area.

Determining Course Comparability or Equivalency
Course(s) to be transferred must be comparable in nature and content to courses offered by Minnesota State Mankato. In evaluating courses for transfer equivalency, the review standard will require at least 75 percent comparability of course content. For courses in a sequence, students need sufficient preparation to succeed in the next course in the sequence.

A lower-division course that is documented as equivalent to upper-division coursework at Minnesota State Mankato will apply toward the 40-credit upper-division requirement defined in the university’s Undergraduate Requirements for Degree Award policy. However, a lower-division course that results in a substitution to satisfy an upper-division course requirement rather than a documented course equivalency will not apply toward the 40-credit upper division requirement.

Transfer equivalencies are based on current policies and reflect course numbers from the Minnesota State Mankato catalog when the evaluation is conducted. Minnesota State Mankato courses and course numbers are subject to change; thus, transfer equivalencies are subject to change as well. Course equivalency guides are maintained within Transferology. Users of Transferology should note when the transfer course was completed in determining applicability.

Transferring Credits According to Transfer Agreements
Minnesota State Mankato will accept all credits defined within formal transfer agreements it has established with a sending institution. Transfer agreements must be completed in full to receive credit as outlined by articulation agreements. Students completing courses as part of the articulation agreement without completing the full articulation agreement will receive credit for current course equivalencies which may differ from the articulation agreement.

Transferring Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC) Credits
Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, Board Policy 3.21, allows for the transfer of MnTC courses, including all courses for which a grade of D- or higher was earned.

Minimum Academic Grade Standard for Acceptance of Transfer Credit
All transfer courses for which a grade of D or higher (grades of D- do not transfer with the exception of MnTC courses) was awarded will be evaluated.  Degree programs may require a higher minimum grade to satisfy major requirements. Minnesota State Mankato uses all accepted transfer courses in the calculation of transfer GPA and credit hours.

Transfer of Occupational/Professional Course Credits
Minnesota State Mankato will accept in transfer as electives a minimum of 16 semester credits of occupational and/or professional courses (also known as technical college credits) which are not comparable or not equivalent to specific courses taught at the receiving college or university. Students may petition a department/major for an evaluation of occupational/professional course credits believed applicable to the major.

Additional credits beyond 16 may be accepted into a major through a course substitution when approved by department/major, or as outlined in an approved articulation agreement for the agreement's duration.

Credit for Prior Learning
See Minnesota State Mankato Policy on Credit for Prior Learning for Undergraduate Students including but not limited to: Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB) credit, Military Course Completion following American Council on Education (ACE) Guidelines, Project Lead the Way (PLW) credit, StraighterLine, Sophia Learning, and Course Specific Examinations as determined by each academic department.

Transfer of Developmental Courses
Developmental courses will not be granted college-level credit; however, a developmental course appearing on a student's transcript shall be evaluated to determine the student's readiness for college-level coursework at Minnesota State Mankato.

Credit Limit
Minnesota State Mankato will not limit the total number of credits a student may earn through transfer; however, the residency requirement of Minnesota State Mankato must be met.

Procedure

This procedure supports the Acceptance and Evaluation of Undergraduate Transfer Credits Policy.

Submitting Transfer Credentials/Coursework to Minnesota State Mankato
Upon application to Minnesota State Mankato, request that an official transcript(s) be sent directly to Minnesota State Mankato Admissions Office by each college or university previously attended. Credits accepted in transfer will be placed in the term of first enrollment. Minnesota State Mankato has access to the official transcripts of other Minn State Colleges or Universities once you have applied.

Transcripts which have not been sent directly from other colleges or universities or personally delivered in a sealed envelope to the Minnesota State Mankato, will not be considered official documents by Minnesota State Mankato.

Transfer Credit Evaluation/Degree Audit Report
Students should receive their initial evaluation of transfer work and a degree audit report within 10 business days of admission to the University and before the student registers for classes. The degree audit report will indicate all coursework that has been accepted in transfer and how it applies to university and major requirements. There are some instances when this may take longer. We understand the impact of a timely and accurate evaluation on student success.

Determining Course Equivalency
Per Minn State policy, Minnesota State Mankato uses TES Evaluation Tracker Workflow for courses that need to be routed to faculty for approval. Courses should be reviewed within 30 calendar days of proposed equivalency entered in TES. If there is no decision within 30 calendar days, Minnesota State Mankato will follow their escalation steps and timelines.

International Credits
Before any transfer credit is evaluated, all transcripts or academic records from universities outside the U.S. must first be evaluated by a recognized outside agency as confirmation of the courses taken and grades earned. Educational Credential Evaluators, Inc. (ECE) serves as Minnesota State Mankato’s preferred international credit evaluation agency. Students must submit a credit-by-credit evaluation. Information about the ECE evaluation process will be included in the letter of acceptance mailed with the I-20. Students may begin the ECE process prior to being accepted. For more information about ECE, go to http://www.ece.org. There is also a list of recognized and allowable evaluation services at http://www.naces.org/.

Transfer Credit Appeal Process
Students may inquire about their transfer credit evaluation by contacting Registration and Academic Records.

If at that point the student feels their credit was not evaluated per policy, they may appeal through the Transfer Credit Appeal Process. The appeal process will include a re-evaluation of coursework by the academic program/department or its designee. Students who request a course be re-evaluated are asked to submit a course syllabus if the transfer course is not from a MinnState institution, which provides more detailed information than a catalog listing. Students not satisfied with the decision of the transfer credit appeal at the institution level may submit a MinnState transfer appeal.

Rationale

Definitions

Transfer Agreement
A formal agreement between two or more educational entities identifying the courses and credits within a program that transfer to a specific academic program using the system transfer agreement template, or equivalent evidence of course transfer encoding in the degree audit system. Formerly known as an articulation agreement.

Consortium Agreement
Students may need to take a course for their degree or certificate program through another college or university. The Consortium Agreement is a process where a student can add credits from another institution (Host School) to the credits or enrollment at Minnesota State Mankato (Home School) to increase their credit load and the amount of financial aid. Credits completed at other institution(s) through a consortium agreement will be considered as resident (local) and reflected on the transcript along with the name of the institution where the courses were completed. Procedures for requesting a consortium agreement can be found here.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC)
Each institution within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities certifies the courses for the ten goal areas within the MnTC. Students choose courses in each goal area as required by the institution where they are intending to complete the MnTC. To complete the entire MnTC, students must earn a minimum of 40 credits in the ten goal areas, as well as the requirements for each of the goal areas. Passing grades (A to D-) for MnTC courses apply including transfer courses; however, a cumulative MnTC GPA of 2.0 is required to complete the entire 40 credit package. There may be specific MnTC courses that require a minimum grade. Note: Beginning January 1, 2002, all MnTC courses, goal areas, and completed MnTC (40 credits) offered by Minnesota State system institutions must transfer to other Minnesota State system institutions into the goal areas as designated by the original sending institution.

Learn more about the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum.

Reverse Transfer
The Minnesota State system periodically audits students for reverse transfer eligibility. Students are informed of eligibility and must consent to participate. Once a student has met all the following criteria, an Associate of Arts (AA) degree can be conferred:

• Completed the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum (MnTC)
• Completed at least 12 credits at a community college
• Transferred to a university
• Completed at least 60 overall college level credits

Learn more about Reverse Transfer.

Transferology
Transferology is the recommended resource to view how courses will apply to Minnesota State Mankato. Transferology includes information on transfer for general education requirements, equivalent courses, and application to major or minor requirements. When viewing transfer information, users should refer to the timeframe/semester when the course was taken, not when it was transferred.

Transfer Evaluation System (TES)
TES is a tool used to research courses throughout the United States. It houses course catalogs, history, and transcript keys. TES Workflow is Minn State’s required method of evaluating courses for equivalency at Minnesota State Mankato.