Issuing Office

Registrar's Office

Affected Parties

Students

Policy Language

Liberty University evaluates the educational background of students to provide them with the opportunity to earn credit for approved and allowable courses from: coursework at other institutions, examination, and experiential learning.

Policy Rationale

To establish governing policies for the consistent, accurate and timely transfer of coursework, and to provide a means to earn credit through experiential learning.

Definition of Glossary Terms

None specified

Procedures

UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

Coursework at Other Institutions

Normally courses and degrees from regionally accredited institutions or those nationally accredited by accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education (e.g., SACSCOC, TRACS, ABHE) will be evaluated for transfer of credit. However, on a limited basis, Liberty does accept transfer credit via professional certificates from unaccredited institutions under certain terms and conditions established by the Faculty Administrative and Curriculum Council. Credit earned through this process will not be counted toward the required minimum of 50% of the major and minimum of 25% of the credit hours that must be completed through Liberty University for an associate's or bachelor’s degree. Also, credit earned through professional certificate evaluation cannot exceed 30 credit hours. Applicants must request that official transcripts be sent directly from the Registrar(s) of the previous school(s) to the Registrar’s Office at Liberty University. These transcripts must be received before an admission decision will be made.

For certificate programs, a minimum of 25% of the hours must be completed through Liberty University.

Credit will be accepted for those courses that are undergraduate level in which applicants have made a grade of C or better. Transfer credit will be awarded grades of P and will not be used in computing the Liberty GPA. Transcripts are evaluated under the guidelines established by the Faculty Administrative and Curriculum Council.  Internships, capstone courses, special topics, remedial courses, workshops, seminars, independent studies, and varsity courses are not transferable.  Students may appeal their transfer evaluation with a course description and Transfer Inquiry Form.

At any point prior to degree conferral, students may petition to have courses that are listed as electives substitute for required courses by using the Course Substitution form.

Age of Credit

Liberty offers a lifetime acceptance of credit, with the exception of those courses wherein the University faculty has determined the course content changes significantly over time.

For exceptions, please see program requirements.

International Transfer Credit

The evaluation of international transfer credit requires students to submit a translated official transcript in conjunction with course descriptions prior to the approval process. International transfer credit is accepted only from an institution recognized by the government of the country in which the institution is located.

Foreign students are encouraged and sometimes required to use foreign credential evaluation services such as World Education Services (www.wes.org) to have their transcripts validated and evaluated before sending them to Liberty University. A credential evaluation service must be a member of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (www.naces.org) before it can be accepted at Liberty University.

Credit by Examination

Students may earn undergraduate credit by demonstrating proficiency through testing. Accepted tests include:

• Advanced Placement (AP)
• College-Level Examination Program (CLEP)
• Institutional Challenge Examinations (ICE)
• DANTES Subject Standardized Tests (DSSTs)
• Excelsior College Exam Credit
• University of Cambridge International Exams (CIE)
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)

For more information on receiving credit for examination, see the full Credit By Examination Policy.

Experiential Learning

Credit may be granted to students who demonstrate that they have already acquired, through life experiences such as job training, non-college courses, military experience, professional certifications, etc., course knowledge required for the degree program in which they are enrolled. For more information on receiving credit for experiential learning, see the full Experiential Learning Credit Policy.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Coursework at Other Institutions

Only courses and degrees from institutions accredited by agencies recognized by the Department of Education will be evaluated for transfer credit (e.g., SACSCOC, TRACS, ABHE, etc.). Applicants must request official transcripts to be sent directly from the Registrar(s) of the previous school(s) to the Offices of Graduate Admissions. These transcripts must be received before an admission decision will be made. Credits transferred from other institutions are awarded grades of P for Pass, and do not impact a student’s Liberty University GPA or academic standing.

Course work from a degree on the same academic level previously earned through Liberty University is considered transfer credit, and is subject to the same restrictions as course work completed through other institutions.

See additional information about the evaluation of graduate transfer in the Graduate Admissions Section of the Catalog.

For students seeking Advanced Graduate Certificates, a maximum of 50% of program hours may be transferred if approved and allowable, including credit from an earned degree from Liberty University on the same academic level.

For students seeking Executive Certificates, a maximum of 50% of a post-graduate and doctoral degree may be transferred if approved and allowable, including credit from an earned degree from Liberty University on the same academic level.

Students seeking all other types of certificates are not eligible for transfer credit.

Age of Credit

For masters and post-masters degrees, there is a limit of ten years for the acceptance of credit. For exceptions, please see program requirements.

For doctoral degrees, there is a limit of seven years for acceptance of credit.

For exceptions, please see program requirements.

Credit by Examination

Students in the School of Divinity may earn graduate credit by demonstrating proficiency through Institutional Challenge Exam (ICE) testing. For more information on receiving credit for examination, see the full Credit By Examination Policy.

Experiential Learning

Credit may be granted for graduate level courses. For more information on receiving credit for experiential learning, see the full Experiential Learning Credit Policy.

Sanctions

None specified

Exceptions

None

Date of Last Review

8/2417/20202021