Transfer Credit and World Campus

Many Penn State World Campus students have credit from prior learning. You do not have to be transferring directly from another degree program to be considered a transfer student. Whether you are coming from a current program or have credits earned within the last academic year, or several years have elapsed since you have participated in your studies, your admission will be processed as a transfer student. Please read the following information carefully to understand World Campus policies regarding transfer credit.

Prospective undergraduate students may transfer credit from college-level work done at a regionally accredited institution. There is no limit to the number of credits that you may transfer into Penn State; however, it is likely that not all of your transferred credit may count toward your intended degree program.

The academic department in which you enroll will have the final say on what credit can be accepted toward your degree. Penn State’s Transfer Credit Tool — a convenient, step-by-step tool — may help you to determine approximately how much of your previous credit may transfer, but cannot determine which credits will apply to the program you choose.

Additionally, you must earn a minimum number of credits from Penn State to earn your degree through World Campus:

  • To earn an associate degree, 18 of the last 30 credits that you take to earn your degree must be from Penn State.
  • To earn a bachelor’s degree, 36 of the last 60 credits that you take to earn your degree must be from Penn State.

For a course to qualify for credit:

  • the course grade you earned must be equivalent to a grade of A, B, or C (2.0) at Penn State
  • there must be an equivalent course at Penn State
  • the transferred course credits must be useful to your program of study

Credit will not be awarded for a course that lacks grade or quality points, even if the grade earned is equivalent to a C (2.0) grade or better

The actual letter grade received will not be transferred — only the credit — so your Penn State grade-point average (GPA) will not be affected. Transferred credit is not recorded on your transcript until after you have completed at least one 3-credit course at Penn State. Your GPA will be calculated starting from the completion of your first Penn State World Campus course.

Note that if you would like to transfer credits that you completed after beginning your enrollment at Penn State, a $25 processing fee will be charged for each transcript you provide. This applies to any credits you earned after being enrolled at Penn State, even if you were not enrolled for some length of time and are returning to Penn State. Find more information about transferring credits.

Transferring Credits to Penn State On-Demand Webinar

Length: 23 minutes
Program Level: Undergraduate

This webinar will help you understand what you can expect when transferring to Penn State World Campus. Get information needed to ensure that Penn State World Campus is a good fit and how to move forward with the admissions process.

Transferring Credits to Penn State Webinar23 Minutes

Transfer of graduate credit is on a case-by-case basis by the respective department to which you are applying. To be considered:

  • courses you wish to transfer must appear on a graduate-level transcript from a regionally accredited institution
  • credits must have been earned with a “B” or higher grade and not have been used to complete a graduate degree at any university
  • credits appearing as undergraduate level on your transcript cannot be transferred to a Penn State graduate degree program
  • you will need to submit official copies of your academic transcripts to the academic department hosting the degree program to which you are applying for admission
  • credits to be transferred to Penn State must have been earned within 5 years preceding entry into the degree program unless otherwise specified. Requests to transfer credits taken more than 5 years prior to admission into a graduate degree program must be accompanied by a letter justifying the validity of the course work.

A maximum number of credits may be accepted into a new graduate degree program at Penn State, depending on the source. A maximum of:

  • 10 credits from graduate course work completed at an external institution may be transferred into a degree program
  • 15 credits from nondegree graduate course work completed at Penn State may be applied toward a degree program

Approval to apply any credit toward a graduate degree program must be granted by the student’s academic adviser and the Penn State Graduate School.

Questions regarding graduate transfer credit should be directed to the contact listed on the specific program website. If you have not yet chosen a program, you may contact an admissions counselor for more information.