Transfer students admitted to degree or certificate programs may transfer credits to LaGuardia earned at other accredited colleges or universities, either in the U.S. or the equivalent earned outside the U.S., for courses that are comparable to those offered at LaGuardia. Transfer credits are evaluated by the Transfer Services Credit Evaluators prior to the first semester of attendance in a degree program at LaGuardia. The maximum number of credits to be granted toward the degree is 30 and up to 50% of the credits required for the certificate being sought. Transfer or freshman status is determined at the time of application and cannot be changed after a student registers at LaGuardia.

What this means:

If you earned college credits somewhere else, you will need to have those credits evaluated before you register for classes at LaGuardia.

If you are enrolling in a degree program, the maximum that you can transfer is 30 credits.

In general, for courses to be transferred, a grade of C or better must have been earned. Courses accepted for transfer credit are not included as part of any student’s grade-point average (GPA). By CUNY policy, courses passed for credit at any CUNY college are required to transfer for credit at any other CUNY college. Courses with a grade below C may transfer as elective credit depending on specific course or program requirements.

Courses that fill a Pathways general education category at any CUNY college (Required Common Core, Flexible Common Core, College Option, Gateway) will transfer and fill the same category at any other CUNY college.

Selective transfer credit policy: All eligible courses will be evaluated as transfer credit. Up to 30 transfer credits may apply to the student’s major. Students who have transferable credits in excess of 30 credits may exchange unused courses not currently being counted towards their degree for used credits, as they apply to their degree audit and graduation requirements. Students may not choose to deselect transferable courses that can be applied to their degree program without a transferable course to substitute. Effective as of May 30, 2018, this policy will apply to students applying for admission to the College for Spring 2019 and beyond.

What this means:

The College must use transfer credits that can be used towards your degree. If you have more than are allowed to be used in one degree, you may swap courses that meet the degree requirements, but students cannot simply choose to not use transferable, useable credits in order to repeat a course. Grades do not transfer, so transferred courses do not impact your LaGuardia GPA.

Transfer credits in sciences: Students who transfer science credit for sequential courses must transfer both parts to receive the science credit. This applies to the following science courses:

SCB201/SCB202 – General Biology I & II SCB203/SCB204 – Human Anatomy & Physiology I & II SCC201 General Chemistry I

SCC202 General Chemistry II SCP231 General Physics I SCP232 General Physics II

Students are cautioned that they must make satisfactory academic progress as a condition of financial aid. Repeated courses do not count in cumulative totals of credits completed to meet financial aid requirements. Students admitted into pre-clinical phase of Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant Program, Physical Therapist Assistant, Practical Nursing, Radiologic Technology or Veterinary Technology programs will be awarded credit for transferable courses with earned grades of C or better from any accredited college.

What this means:

The science courses noted will only transfer if you took both halves of each course sequence, and for Allied Health programs, will only transfer with a grade of C or better.

Transfer credits for “clinical” programs: Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapist Assistant, Veterinary Technology, Radiologic Technology, and LPN clinical phase courses will not be awarded. Beginning in Spring 2014, anatomy courses required for clinical programs (SCB 203, SCB 204,) will be accepted for only 7 (seven) years from their completion date. Microbiology and Chemistry courses (SCB260, SCC110) will be accepted for only 10 (ten) years from their completion date. Any student who enters the major Undeclared Health or the LPN will be subject to these science course requirements. These departments follow the general transfer policies in all other ways. Due to external accreditation requirements, program modification may occur and are reflected in the programmatic website and handbook.

What this means:

You cannot transfer in credits for courses in the clinical phase.

Note: While no grades transfer towards the LaGuardia GPA from prior institutions, it is important to note that Allied Health programs will evaluate grades awarded at prior institutions as part of the clinical admission process, as per their program handbooks.

Transfer credits in remediation: Transfer credit will not be granted for any remedial, developmental-level, or ESL courses previously taken at another college. Students who are transferring into LaGuardia who  have placed  out  of   the remedial level or who otherwise would have been allowed to begin non-remedial coursework at their previous CUNY institution, whether by placement at admission, by CUNY skills assessment results, or by successful completion of a college-level mathematics and/or a college-level English composition course, are exempt from the relevant skills assessment. Students who have not previously placed out of that level are required to take the skills assessment. See the Test Policy section to determine if you meet any of the requirements for Exemption.

What this means:

If you have already placed out of remedial coursework by completing it at another college, or have taken college-level mathematics and/or a college- level English composition course, then you will not have to take the CUNY Assessment Tests.

Transfer credits in English: Transfer credits may be awarded for college-level English courses taken at post-secondary  institutions in the U.S. and English- speaking countries. English credits are not awarded for a college-level  English course taken at post-secondary institutions in countries where English is not the primary language, unless the primary language of instruction is in English.

What this means:

English credits completed at colleges where English is the primary language of instruction can be transferred to LaGuardia if you pass or are exempted from the CUNY Assessment Test in Writing.

Transfer credits in foreign languages: Students who have taken a foreign language course at another institution without the second course in that sequence, must complete that second course before transfer credit will be awarded. Students who are transferring in who wish to use a single language course towards Pathways may receive credit but will not meet foreign language requirements for majors that require language courses.

What this means:

Most students will be able to transfer a single foreign language course, as most programs do not have a language requirement.

Transfer credits in mathematics: Transfer credit will be awarded for college level, credit-bearing mathematics courses as appropriate to the degree being sought. Students who have completed a college-level math course are not required to take the CUNY skills assessment test.

Note: Students who have a college-level math course will still be held for prerequisite verification and possible assessment if the transferred course is not equivalent to the necessary prerequisite. For example, a student with a transferred Statistics course, but no algebra course, will still need to take MAT 115, or test out of it on the assessment test, in order to advance to MAT 200.

Transfer and the First Year Seminar: Transfer credit will not be awarded for another school’s orientation or similar course.

If you have any questions about your transfer credit evaluation, please visit room C102 or call (718) 482-6103.