Transfer Admission
An applicant who has attended another regionally accredited post-secondary institution in any capacity, regardless if credit is earned, after the completion of high school is a transfer student. Transfer applicants for admission must submit:
1. Completed Undergraduate Application
2. Official transcripts from all post secondary institutions attended (you must also submit a final official transcript for all coursework in progress up until the time of enrollment prior to beginning of classes at the University)
3. High school transcript and official SAT/ACT scores if less than 24 semester hours of college-level work have been attempted in a regionally accredited college or university
4. Specified non-refundable application fee
Priority deadlines to submit transfer applications:
Fall term: July 1
Spring term: December 1
Summer Term: Two weeks prior to the beginning of the term
Transfer applications received after these deadlines will be accepted only if space is available. No applications will be accepted after classes have started.
To be considered for admission, the transfer applicant should have earned a minimum cumulative 2.0 GPA or a C average in at least two full-time semesters (24 semester credits) or its equivalent from a regionally accredited college(s). For information about transferable credits, applicants should refer to the Evaluation of Transfer Credit section of the catalog. Applicants who have earned less than 24 semester credits or its equivalent must meet both transfer and freshman admission requirements.
All applicants for transfer admission must be eligible to return to the last institution attended as a degree candidate. The applicant must submit transcripts of all previous work whether or not credit was earned and regardless of whether there is a desire to transfer any credit from another institution. An official transcript from each institution attended must be sent directly to the Office of Admissions. Failure to submit transcripts may constitute sufficient cause for dismissal from the University.
Credit for work completed at other institutions by Coastal students will not be accepted for transfer if the student has previously failed to earn the required grade in an equivalent course at Coastal.
Regardless of the point in the student's academic career in which the student enters the University, all course credit beyond 90 credit hours must be earned "in residence" in Coastal Carolina University courses. (See "in residence" under the Graduation section of the catalog.)
Evaluation of Transfer Credit
After having completed all requirements for transfer admission, matriculated students will be given a statement of credits accepted for transfer by the University within the first semester of enrollment. Students from regionally accredited colleges and universities may transfer credit for academic courses completed with grades of C (meaning C-, C or C+) or above, but the University reserves the right to determine what credit, if any, for courses taken elsewhere will be counted toward its degrees.
Transfer applicants with advanced standing from colleges and universities not accredited by a regional accrediting association must validate, by examination, all credits presented for transfer. Detailed explanation of validation procedures may be found in the Credit by Examination section of the catalog or may be obtained from the Registrar. Credit from foreign colleges/universities is evaluated by the International Programs Office in coordination with the dean of the student's major and the dean of each course in review.
A maximum of 76 transferable credits from any regionally-accredited two-year college transfer program will be applicable toward a Coastal Carolina University degree.
A maximum of 90 transferable credits from any regionally-accredited four-year college
or university will be applicable toward a Coastal Carolina University degree.
A maximum of 30 credit hours may be applied toward a bachelor's degree from the combined sources of military credit and correspondence credit, provided that the student was not enrolled in such courses while on suspension from Coastal or any other college-level institution.
Transfer credit is evaluated and applied in one of three ways at Coastal Carolina:
a) as parallel credit (the course must have involved at least the same amount of class
time and have had the same content), or
b) as a departmental elective (courses in the discipline must be offered at Coastal), or
c) as a general elective.
Academic courses completed with a grade of C (meaning C-, C or C+) or above at regionally-accredited institutions are normally transferable to Coastal Carolina. Courses that are not usually accepted for transfer are those which are:
a) occupational or technical in nature,
b) remedial in nature, or
c) courses from a two-year institution that are not recognized in that institution's catalog as a part of its college parallel (transfer) program.
Exceptions to this rule may be made only by the dean of the student's major or the Provost and only in specific cases where such courses are judged to be uniquely relevant to the student's degree program.
Certain degree programs do not recognize transfer credit from a two-year institution for courses which are considered upper division or upper level courses at Coastal Carolina. In no Coastal degree program may such courses fulfill any upper level requirement within the major concentration, the minor, or the cognate. However, some degree programs will grant transfer credit for such courses in the lower level elective category or within the core curriculum requirements.
Grade point average (GPA) is calculated on the basis of all work in the student's career at Coastal Carolina University. Credits earned at other institutions and transferred to Coastal may be used to satisfy program requirements but will not be calculated as a part of the GPA. However, graduation with honors will be based on a GPA calculated on the basis of all work in the student's postsecondary career, i.e. collegiate GPA. The criteria for graduation with honors may be found in the Graduation with Honors section of the catalog.
Transfer Credit
A student transferring to the University from another college or university should, before enrolling in any course at the University, have transcripts evaluated by the Office of Admissions. It is only through such evaluation that a student will know which transferred courses may be applicable toward Coastal degree requirements. Students from regionally accredited colleges and universities may transfer credit for academic courses completed with grades of C (meaning C-, C or C+) or above, but the University reserves the right to determine what credit, if any, for courses taken elsewhere will be counted toward its degrees. A maximum of 76 credits may be transferred for degree credit from any regionally accredited two-year college transfer program. A maximum of 90 credits may be transferred for degree credit from any regionally accredited four-year college or university.
The regional accrediting associations are: Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, New England Association of Schools and Colleges, Northwest Association of Schools and Colleges, Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, and Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
Students cannot receive degree credit for a course taken at Coastal if they have received transfer credit for an equivalent course taken previously at another institution. Similarly, transfer credit will not be awarded if a Coastal equivalent, regardless of the grade earned, appears on the Coastal academic record. A student can never be awarded more transfer credit for a course than the original institution awarded. In some instances, the originating institution may have granted more credit for a course than Coastal awards for the equivalent course. In these situations, Coastal's lower level of credit shall be used to meet appropriate requirements such as core curriculum or major/minor/cognate credits. Excess credits will not be forfeited, but rather applied to the elective category.
Credits earned at another institution while a student is on suspension, academic or non-academic, from Coastal Carolina University are not transferable and cannot be applied toward a degree or used in improving the grade point average.
A maximum of 30 credit hours may be applied toward a Bachelor's degree from the combined sources of military credit and correspondence credit.
A student planning to pursue work at other institutions or through correspondence must complete this work before attaining senior classification (90 credit hours). All course credit beyond 90 credit hours must be earned "in residence" at the University and at least 12 credit hours of the student's major courses and 6 credit hours of minor courses must be earned at the University. Some programs impose higher student residence and/or major requirements.
Grade point average (GPA) is calculated on the basis of all work in the student's career at Coastal Carolina. Former USC-Coastal Carolina College students should consult with their adviser and the Admissions Office regarding their former course work and their GPA calculation. Coastal Carolina University students granted approval to complete course work at other institutions (transient/visiting students) will not have this work calculated in the GPA. Credits earned at other institutions and transferred to Coastal, may be used to satisfy program requirements but will not be calculated as part of the GPA. Graduation with honors, however, will be based on a collegiate GPA calculated on the basis of all work in the student's postsecondary career. The criteria for graduation with honors may be found in the Graduation With Honors section of the catalog.
College Parallel Course Credit - Regionally Accredited Institution
Academic courses completed with a grade of C (meaning C-, C, or C+) or above at regionally accredited institutions normally are transferable to Coastal Carolina. Courses that usually are not accepted for transfer are those which are:
a) occupational or technical in nature;
b) essentially remedial in nature; or
c) from a two-year institution and are not recognized in that institution's catalog as
a part of its college parallel (transfer) program.
Exceptions to this rule may be made only by the dean of the student's major or the Provost, and only in specific cases where such courses are judged to be uniquely relevant to the student's degree program.
Certain degree programs do not recognize transfer credit from a two-year institution for courses which are considered upper division or upper level courses at Coastal Carolina. In no Coastal degree program may such courses fulfill any upper level requirement within the major concentration, the minor, or the cognate. However, some degree programs will grant transfer credit for such courses in the lower level elective category or within the core curriculum requirements.
Non-College Parallel Course Credit - Regionally Accredited Institution
Non-college parallel courses taught at regionally accredited institutions are not acceptable for transfer credit unless validated by examination. If credit is to be awarded for a Coastal equivalent course, validation will be by Departmental Examination. The examination will be administered and success will be determined by the department offering the equivalent course. When there is no Coastal equivalent course, the department chair or dean of the major may validate the course through their departmental process. Validation by departmental process will award elective credit only and only for the specific major in which the student is enrolled at the time of validation. There is no fee for examinations taken to validate non-college parallel courses taken at a regionally accredited institution.
Course Credit - Non Regionally Accredited Institution
With the exception of international institutions, the University does not accept transfer credit from institutions which are not accredited by the appropriate regional accrediting association. Students may validate credits earned at an institution which is not regionally accredited by obtaining the required score on the appropriate CLEP Subject Examination. Only if the appropriate CLEP Subject Examination does not exist may a Departmental Examination be administered. See Departmental Examination section of the catalog.
Specific guidelines may be found in the Credit by Examination section of the catalog.
Transfer: SC State Policies and Procedures Regulations
Section 10-C of the South Carolina School-to-Work Transition Act (1994) stipulates that the Council of College and University Presidents and the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education, operating through the Commission on Higher Education, will develop better articulation of associate and baccalaureate degree programs. To comply with this requirement, the Commission, upon the advice of the Council of Presidents, established a Transfer Articulation Policy Committee composed of four-year institutions' vice presidents for academic affairs and the associate director for instruction of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education. The principle outcomes derived from the work of that committee and accepted by the Commission on Higher Education on July 6, 1995, were:
An expanded list of 86 courses which will transfer to four-year public institutions of South Carolina from the two-year public institutions;
A statewide policy document on good practices in transfer to be followed by all public institutions of higher education in the state of South Carolina, which was accepted in principle by the Advisory Committee on Academic Programs and the Commission;
Six task forces on statewide transfer agreements, each based in a discipline or broad area of the baccalaureate curriculum.
In 1995 the General Assembly passed Act 137 which stipulated further that the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education "notwithstanding any other provision of law to the contrary, shall have the following additional duties and functions with regard to the various public institutions of higher education." These duties and responsibilities include the commission's responsibility "to establish procedures for the transferability of course at the undergraduate level between two-year and four-year institutions or schools." This same provision is repeated in the legislation developed from the Report of the Joint Legislative Study Committee, was formed by the General Assembly and signed by the governor as Act 359 of 1996.
Act 137 directs the commission to adopt procedures for the transfer of courses from all two-year public to all four-year public institutions of higher education in South Carolina. Proposed procedures are listed below. Unless otherwise stated, these procedures shall become effective immediately upon approval by the commission and were to be fully implemented, unless otherwise stated, by September 1, 1997.
State Articulation of 86 courses
1. The Statewide Articulation Agreement of 86 courses already approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for transfer from two- to four-year public institutions will be applicable to all public institutions, including two-year institutions and institutions within the same system. In instances where an institution does not have synonymous courses to ones on this list, it shall identify comparable course or course categories for acceptance of general education courses on the statewide list.
Admissions Criteria, Course Grades, GPAs Validations
2. All four-year public institutions shall issue annually in August a transfer guide covering at least the following items:
A. The definition of a transfer student and requirements for admission both to the institution and, if more selective, requirements for admission to particular programs
B. Limitations placed by the institution or its programs for acceptance of standardized examinations (e.g., SAT, ACT) taken more than a given time ago, for academic course work taken elsewhere, for course work repeated due to failure, for course work taken at another institution while the student is academically suspended at his/her home institution, and so forth.
C. Institutional and, if more selective, programmatic maximums of course credits allowable in transfer.
D. Institutional procedures used to calculate student applicants' GPAs for transfer admission. Such procedures will describe how nonstandard grades (withdrawal, withdrawal failing, repeated course, etc.) are evaluated; and they shall also describe whether all course work taken prior to transfer or just course work deemed appropriate to the student's intended four-year program of study is calculated for purposes of admission to the institution and/or programmatic major.
E. Lists of all courses accepted from each technical college (including the 86 courses in the Statewide Articulation Agreement) and the course equivalencies (including "free elective" category) found on the home institution for the course accepted.
F. Lists of all articulation agreements with any public South Carolina two-year or other institution of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access these agreements.
G. List of the institution's transfer officer(s) personnel together with telephone and FAX numbers, office address and email address.
H. Institutional policies related to "academic bankruptcy" (i.e., removing an entire transcript or parts thereof from a failed or underachieving record after a period of years has passed) so that re-entry into the four-year institution with course credit earned in the interim elsewhere is done without regard to the student's earlier record.
I. "Residency requirements" for the minimum number of hours required to be earned at the institution for the degree.
3. Course work (individual course, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures shall be transferable if the student has completed the course work with a "C" grade (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or above, but transfer of grades does not relieve the student of the obligation to meet any GPA requirements or other admissions requirements of the institution or program to which application has been made.
A. Any four-year institution which has institutional or programmatic admissions requirements for transfer students with cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) higher than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale shall apply such entrance requirements equally to transfer students from regionally accredited South Carolina public institutions regardless of whether students are transferring from a four-year or two-year institution.
B. Any multi-campus institution or system shall certify by letter to the commission that all course work at all of its campuses applicable to a particular degree program of study is fully acceptable in transfer to meet degree requirements in the same degree program at any other of its campuses.
4. Any course work (individual course, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures shall be transferable to any public institution without any additional fee and without any further encumbrance such as a "validation examination," "placement examination/instrument," "verification instrument," or any other stricture, notwithstanding any institutional or system policy, procedure, or regulation to the contrary.
Transfer Blocks, Statewide Agreements, Completion of the AA/AS Degree
5. The following Transfer Blocks/Statewide Agreements taken at any two-year public institution in South Carolina shall be accepted in their totality toward meeting baccalaureate degree requirements at all four-year public institutions in relevant four-year degree programs, as follows:
Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences: Established curriculum block of 46-48 semester hours;
Business Administration: Established curriculum block of 46-51 semester hours;
Engineering: Established curriculum block of 33 semester hours;
Science and Mathematics: Established curriculum block of 51-53 semester hours;
Teacher Education: Established curriculum block of 38-39 semester hours for Early Childhood; Elementary and Special Education students only. Secondary education majors and students seeking certi?cation who are not majoring in teacher education should consult the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences or the Math and Science transfer blocks, as relevant, to assure transferability of course work.
Nursing: By statewide agreement, at least 60 semester hours shall be accepted by any public four-year institution toward the baccalaureate completion program (BSN) from graduates of any South Carolina public associate degree program in nursing (ADN), provided that the program is accredited by the National League of Nursing and that the graduate has successfully passed the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and is a currently licensed registered nurse.
6. Any "unique" academic program not specifically or by extension covered by one
of the statewide transfer blocks/agreements listed in #4 above shall either create its own transfer block of 35 or more credit hours with the approval of CHE staff or shall adopt the Arts/Social Science/Humanities or the Science/ Mathematics block. The institution at which such program is located shall inform the staff of the CHE and every institutional president and vice president for academic affairs about this decision.
7. Any student who has completed either an Associate of Arts or Associate of Science degree program at any public two-year South Carolina institution which contains within it the total course work found in either the Arts/Social Sciences/Humanities Transfer Block or the Math/Science Transfer Block will automatically be entitled to junior-level status or its equivalent at whatever public senior institution to which the student might have been admitted. (Note: As agreed by the Committee on Academic Affairs, junior status applies only to campus activities such as priority order for registration for course, residence hall assignments, parking, athletic event tickets, etc., and not in calculating academic degree credits.)
Related Reports and Statewide Documents
8. All applicable recommendations found in the commission's report to the General Assembly on the School-to Work Act (approved by the commission and transmitted to the General Assembly on July 6, 1995) are hereby incorporated into the procedures for transfer of course work among two- and four-year institutions.
9. The policy paper entitled State Policy on Transfer and Articulation, as amended to reflect changes in the numbers of transfer blocks and other commission action since July 6, 1995, is hereby adopted as the statewide policy for institutional good practice in the sending and receiving of all course credits to be transferred.
Assurance of Quality
10. All claims from any public two- or four-year institution challenging the effective preparation of any other public institution's course work for transfer purposes will be evaluated and appropriate measures will be taken to reassure that the quality of the course work has been reviewed and approved on a timely basis by sending and receiving institutions alike. This process of formal review shall occur every four years through the staff of the Commission on Higher Education, beginning with the approval of these procedures.
State Publication and Distribution of Information on Transfer
11. The staff of the Commission on Higher Education will print and distribute copies of these procedures upon their acceptance by the commission. The staff shall also place this document and the appendices on the commission's home page on the Internet under the title "Transfer Policies."
12. By September 1 of each year, all public four-year institutions will place the following materials on their internet websites:
A. A copy of this entire document.
B. A copy of the institution's transfer guide.
13. By September 1 of each year, the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education will place the following materials on its internet website:
A. A copy of this entire document.
B. Provide to the commission staff in format suitable for placing on the commission's website a list of all articulation agreements that each of the 16 technical colleges has with public and other four-year institutions of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access those agreements.
14. Each two-year and four-year public institutional catalog shall contain a section
entitled "TRANSFER: STATE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES." Such section at a minimum will:
A. Publish these procedures in their entirety (except appendices).
B. Designate a chief transfer officer at the institution who will
provide information and other appropriate support for students considering transfer and recent transfers,
serve as a clearinghouse for information on issues of transfer in the state of South Carolina,
provide definitive institutional rulings on transfer questions for the institution's students under these procedures, and
work closely with feeder institutions to assure ease in transfer for their students.
C. Designate other programmatic transfer officer(s) as the size of the institution and the variety of its programs might warrant.
D. Refer interested parties to the institutional Transfer Guide.
E. Refer interested parties to the institution's and the Commission on Higher Education's home pages on the Internet for further information regarding transfer.
15. In recognition of its widespread acceptance and use throughout the United States, SPEEDE/EXPRESS should be adopted by all public institutions and systems as the standard for electronic transmission of all student transfer data.
16. In conjunction with the colleges and universities, develop and implement a statewide Transfer Equivalency Database at the earliest opportunity. (As an electronic counseling guide, this computerized, online instrument will allow students and advisors to access all degree requirements for every major at every public four-year institution in South Carolina. Also, the database will allow students to obtain a better understanding of institutional programs and program requirements and select their transfer course accordingly, especially when the student knows the institution and the major to which he/she is transferring.)
For additional information on transcript evaluation, call the Office of Admissions at 800-277-7000 or contact the following Admissions counselors:
