Transfer Credit FAQs

To transfer coursework to the KU, an official transcript must be sent directly from the previous institution. Electronic transcripts can be sent to emprocessing@ku.edu. Printed transcripts may be mailed to:

University of Kansas

Office of the University Registrar 

1502 Iowa St., 1502 Building

Lawrence, KS 66045

All courses evaluated by KU for transfer are searchable on the KU CredTran website. If a course cannot be found on CredTran, it has not been evaluated for transfer. Please reach out to transfercredit@ku.edu to request an evaluation. A complete syllabus may be needed.

Generally, college-level courses completed at a US regionally-accredited institution will transfer, provided the course is similar in level, scope and content to courses offered at KU and a grade of C- or higher is earned.

Regional accrediting bodies include the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), New England Commission of Higher Education; Northwest Commision on Colleges and Universities; Southern Association of Colleges and Schools; and Western Association of Schools and Colleges.

Transfer courses may not be awarded credit at KU for several reasons. These courses are typically pre-collegiate, remedial, vocational, internship, graduate, professional (e.g. law, medicine, dentistry, nursing), technical or religious in nature and do not fall within the level, scope, content and expected learning outcomes of courses offered at KU.

Credit can only be posted to the KU record from official transcripts sent directly from the institution at which the credit was completed or official score reports sent directly from the testing board, even if they are posted on a transcript from another institution.

The Office of the University Registrar provides transfer credit evaluations based on official transcripts from regionally accredited US institutions. Students may request a re-evaluation of their course work if they believe the initial evaluation and transfer credit equivalency does not accurately reflect the scope of the original course.

Fill out the Request for Re-Evaluation of Transfer Credit form and attach a course syllabus.

A complete syllabus includes a course description, text book information, grading scale, learning outcomes, and a weekly breakdown of the content covered in the course. 

KU does not restrict the number of transfer courses that are accepted. However, the number of credits that are applicable toward degree requirements is limited based on the source of the transfer credits. For students matriculating to KU in Fall 2024 (or after):

• A maximum of 75 credits from 2-year institutions can be applied to degree requirements at KU.
• There is no limit of credit that can be applied to degree requirements from a 4-year institution.

Students are required to complete at least 45 upper-division credits with 30 upper-division credits needing to be completed at KU to earn a degree.

The originating institution defines the level of credit. A lower-level course completed at your original institution may match an upper-level course at KU (numbers 300 and above), but it would still retain lower-level credit, and vice versa. All community college courses transfer as lower-level credit. Please see policy on Course Level Transfer for additional details.

Courses are matched as closely as possible by topic, but different schools may designate different levels of credit for the same course.

KU awards the standard .67 semester credits per quarter credit hour of study. A 3 credit course from a quarter school will be awarded 2 credits at KU.

Grades from transfer courses are considered in making decisions for admission to the university, entry into specific program, and for satisfying degree requirements. However, grades from transfer courses are not used in the calculation of the KU Overall GPA. Transfer courses KU accepted will not appear on the KU official transcript. Grades for all transfer courses will appear on the unofficial KU Advising Report.

KU will award credit for Pass or Credit grades. Pass (P) or Credit (CR) grades typically do not satisfy major or minor requirements.

No. The grade replacement policy only applies when a course is taken at KU and the same course is repeated at KU. The grade at the external institution will not replace the grade received at KU, which will still factor into the KU GPA.

See 2.3.9 Grade Replacement Policy in Repeated Courses for more information.

Our International Admissions office evaluates and posts all international coursework. Please contact world@ku.edu for questions regarding evaluation on International transcripts.

KU awards a minimum of four credits of Health, Sport, and Exercise credits for the completion of basic training for the United States Armed Forces.

If military affiliation is noted on the KU application, we automatically request a Joint Service Transcript. Students can also request one themselves and send it to us at transfercredit@ku.edu.

KU only awards transfer credit for courses that fall within the level, scope and content offered in our undergraduate curriculum. Many courses on military transcripts are technical or occupational in nature and are not accepted. KU does not award transfer credit based on ACE or Dantes recommendations.

Courses and credits earned on programs approved by Study Abroad & Global Engagement prior to departure, including KU-sponsored study abroad programs and student-initiated programs, will appear as KU credit on your transcript, not transfer credit. For more information see Study Abroad FAQs or contact studyabroad@ku.edu.

Award information for exam scores can be found at our Credit for Prior Learning page. For other questions related to AP, IB, CLEP, ACT or SAT reach out to transfercredit@ku.edu.