2023-2024 Undergraduate Catalog

Transfer Credit

Greenville University accepts transfer credit from regionally accredited institutions or institutions who are accredited by an accreditor recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). Credit will be accepted from accredited junior and community colleges, four year colleges and universities, and Bible colleges. Students seeking credit for work completed at other colleges or universities must provide official transcripts to Greenville University. They must also provide course descriptions and/or course syllabi for each course before transfer evaluations can be made.

The registrar, in consultation with appropriate faculty members, makes the final decision on what courses will be accepted for transfer credit. Students who have questions about the transfer evaluation process should contact the registrar at 618-664-7025 or via email at records@greenville.edu.

Current or prospective Greenville University students sometimes wish to take courses elsewhere and transfer them to GU. Students wishing to take courses from other institutions in future terms should confirm that the course credits are transferable before they enroll. The registrar is able to make those decisions if students provide a course description or syllabus.

Transfer work will not affect the student’s Greenville University grade point average. 

In evaluating courses for transfer credit, the registrar follows these policies for all undergraduates:

  • Credits earned for an Associate of Arts or Science degree are not automatically accepted by Greenville University. All individual courses must meet the policy for transfer credit.
  • Transfer credit may be accepted for college level courses that are academic in nature.
  • Transfer credit is not possible for remedial courses and special courses such as orientation or speed-reading even if the credits earned were used to award an associates degree.
  • A maximum of 30 credits of vocational training courses may be accepted.
  • In addition to the 30 credits of vocational training courses, some academically-oriented vocational courses, such as an anatomy course in a nursing program, may be accepted (up to 30 credit hours). Any vocational course approved by the registrar in consultation with the department chair to meet a general education requirement is not counted toward the 30-credit limit.
  • Quarter credits are converted to semester credits by taking the number of quarter credits earned times two-thirds. The conversion of quarter credits to semester credits requires truncating as opposed to rounding. This is done for each course.
  • A maximum of 30 semester credits can be accepted in any area of concentration (e.g. Bible and religion courses).
  • Credit for courses completed through the armed forces will be granted according to the recommendations of the Commission on Accreditation of Service Experiences.
  • Students with an international transcript will have coursework translated (if necessary) and evaluated by an external international educational evaluator such as World Education Service (WES) or .  Courses will be accepted on a case by case basis.
  • Students who have Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), or Dante’s (DSST) credits must have their scores sent directly to Greenville University to be applied to their degree.
  • Credit for life experience, courses completed at institutions without recognized accreditation, or free online course completion may be granted when the student demonstrates knowledge or competency at the appropriate level through examination or other means. That evaluation will be done by faculty in departments in which the credit is being requested and will incur additional charges.
  • Prior Learning Assessment credits earned at another regionally accredited institution will be accepted in transfer provided the credit is listed as a course equivalent.
  • A student may earn a maximum of 60 semester credits towards degree requirements through non-accredited institution classroom means, including credit by examination, armed services transcripts, proficiency credit, and prior learning assessment (PLA). (Students seeking an Illinois Teaching Certificate may not substitute PLA credits for course requirements.)
    • Thirty hours of credit by examination (eg. AP, CLEP) is the maximum allowed to count toward degree requirements.
    • A maximum of 30 semester credits of proficiency credit may be applied towards a bachelor’s degree at Greenville University.
  • Education (EDUC) courses accepted in transfer must have been taken within five years of being admitted to Greenville University.
  • Minimum grades accepted in transfer vary depending upon the program to which the student is enrolled.
    • Education majors (both on and off campus) must have a C or better in each course to be accepted in transfer.
    • All other students may transfer in grades of D as long as there is a course with equivalent credit that has a grade of A or B from the same institution such that courses transferred average a C (2.0 GPA) or better from each institution.
  • Pass/Fail courses may be accepted in transfer as long as a Pass grade is assigned to the course.
  • The maximum number of transfer credits accepted varies depending on the program to which the student is enrolled.
    • Students enrolled in our undergraduate teacher education partnership (UTEP) program are allowed to transfer in a maximum of 74 credits from any of the partnership schools.
    • Students enrolled in all other undergraduate programs may transfer in a maximum of 90 credits.
  • Transfer credit will not be accepted and duplicate hours will not be awarded for equivalent courses previously earned at Greenville University with a grade of D or better. However, the grade on the transfer institution’s transcript will be used to validate completion of the course to meet a curriculum requirement with the required grade. Students attempting to raise their cumulative GPAs must repeat the respective course(s) at Greenville.