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.

College-level courses completed at an institution accredited by one of the below bodies 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.

• Accrediting Commissions for Community and Junior Colleges, Western Association of Schools and Colleges (ACCJC)
• Higher Learning Commission (HLC)
• Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE)
• New England Commission on Higher Education (NECHE)
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCC)
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC)
• WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)

Transfer courses may not be awarded credit at KU for courses that are pre-collegiate, remedial, vocational, internship-based, graduate-level, professional (e.g., law, medicine, nursing) technical*, or religious, as they fall outside KU's course standards.

Credit must be submitted on an official transcript sent directly from the original institution. Test scores must come directly from the testing agency. KU does not accept transfer coursework listed on another institution's transcript.

* Technical credit may be considered for transferability for students pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS), Bachelor of Health Science (BHS), or Bachelor of Professional Studies (BPS). See Technical Credit for more information. 

The Office of the University Registrar evaluates transfer credit based on official transcripts from qualifying institutions. If students believe the initial evaluation does not accurately reflect their coursework, they may request a re-evaluation.

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.

A grade of C- or higher is required for transfer coursework to count toward undergraduate degree requirements. Transfer grades are used to calculate an admission GPA and may be considered for admission to specific programs, but they are not included in the KU Overall GPA, which only reflects coursework completed at KU.

Accepted transfer courses appear on the KU Advising Report but are not listed on the official KU transcript.

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.

Accreditation for International transfer work is determined by the Office of International Admissions. For questions regarding international transcripts please start by contacting world@ku.edu. 

For courses taken abroad through KU, please contact Study Abroad & Global Engagement. 

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.

Courses taught either online or in person format are acceptable provided that they meet all other transferrable course requirements used to determine equivalencies. This applies to asynchronous and accelerated courses.