Transfer Credit and Your Degree

You may have been told that your college credits will transfer. But how many of those credits will actually count toward the degree you want?

Transfer Credit and Your Degree is a practical workbook for adults with previous college coursework. It helps you look beyond the number of credits a school accepts and determine how those credits affect your remaining degree requirements, time, and estimated cost.

Use this workbook to:

• Build an inventory of your previous college coursework
• Research an institution’s transfer-credit rules
• Understand the difference between awarded, applied, and unapplied credit
• Record your transfer-credit evaluation course by course
• Identify remaining degree, residency, prerequisite, and sequencing requirements
• Estimate your remaining terms, tuition, and required fees
• Prepare questions for the transfer-credit office, academic advisor, and financial aid office
• Decide whether to proceed, compare another option, or get more information

The workbook also includes a completed fictional example showing why the number of credits transferred may not equal the number of credits that reduce what remains for a degree.

Who this is for

This workbook may be useful if you:

• Have previous college credits and are considering returning to school
• Are transferring to another college or university
• Want to compare how different institutions may apply your credits
• Have received a transfer-credit evaluation and need help understanding it
• Are already enrolled and want to compare your evaluation with your current degree audit
• Changed programs and need to determine whether the way your credits apply has changed

What is included

• A 21-page printable PDF workbook
• Previous-credit inventory worksheets
• Institutional transfer-policy research worksheets
• Course-by-course evaluation records
• Remaining-requirements, time, and cost worksheets
• Questions to take to the appropriate college offices
• A completed fictional example
• A final readiness check
• A plain-language glossary

Important scope information

This workbook covers traditional college coursework.

Credit earned through prior learning assessment, CLEP, DSST, military training, Advanced Placement, or International Baccalaureate testing follows separate institutional processes and is not covered in this resource.

Format and delivery

• Digital PDF download
• Printable workbook
• Not digitally fillable
• Complete it by hand after printing, or use a separate PDF annotation application
• No physical product will be shipped

Product notice

This is an independent educational planning resource. It does not guarantee that any institution will accept or apply specific credits. Transfer-credit, academic, degree, and financial-aid decisions are made by the appropriate institution. Confirm all requirements directly with the school before making an enrollment or financial decision.