Transfer Credit Policy

Undergraduate applicants

Up to 90 semester credits may be accepted toward  a bachelor’s degree at Prescott College.

Undergraduate credits awarded by institutions with accreditation from institutional and/or specialized accrediting agencies recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) for college-level courses (100 level or higher) that received a grade equivalent of “C-” (1.7) or higher may be accepted by the College as transfer credit.

Transfer classes taken for a pass/fail, credit/no credit, or satisfactory/unsatisfactory grade, and where “P”, “S”, or “CR” equals “C-” or better, may be accepted for credit. In some cases, college level credit from institutions that are not accredited may be transferable via the College's Prior Learning Assessment process, or by direct review of curriculum by appropriate faculty body and approval by the Dean. Applicants desiring to transfer such credits would apply for the Prior Learning Assessment once enrolled at Prescott College. Assessment options available through Prior Learning Assessment include Conversion Portfolio and Life Experience Portfolio. Through the Conversion Portfolio process, students may be able to document prior learning from sources such as trainings, workshops, and continuing education units.

Arizona General Education Curriculum (AGEC) and Other State-based Transfer Frameworks

Prescott College recognizes the Arizona General Education Curriculum (AGEC) and other state-based transfer frameworks such as California’s Intersegmental General Education Transfer Agreement. Completion of such state-based general education curricula will count as satisfying the lower-division (i.e., first year and sophomore) core curriculum and general education course requirements. All credits from courses with a grade of “C-” or higher comprising a completed state-based general education curriculum will be accepted as transfer credit.

External online credit-awarding programs

Credits completed by online providers that are accredited, awarded through a community college or university, or through an ACE-evaluated transcript (such as StraighterLine, Sophia Learning, etc.) may be accepted. The Registrar's Office reserves the right to review online providers' accreditation and academic standards prior to accepting credit outright. Students who desire to transfer unaccredited online coursework may apply for the Prior Learning Assessment once enrolled at Prescott College. 

Advanced Placement (AP) and International Baccalaureate (IB) Credits

Prescott College awards 4 undergraduate college credits for each AP test score of 3, 4 or 5, and for each IB “higher level” score of 4, 5 or 6, up to a maximum of 20 credits (5 tests). Credit is awarded on a course-by-course basis. AP scores must be sent directly from the College Board/Advanced Placement to the Office of the Registrar. IB scores must be sent directly from the International Baccalaureate North American office to the Office of the Registrar. AP and IB-awarded credits do not count toward the College’s residency requirements. AP and IB credit will not be awarded based on another institution’s prior evaluation.

If a student has enough AP/IB classes to be considered a sophomore or junior, the student will apply as a first-year and will be considered a first-year with transfer credit for the purpose of admissions and financial aid consideration. Once the student has been admitted and the credits have been evaluated the student will be classified to the appropriate grade level based on the earned credits and other applicability to their chosen degree program. All students are considered first-year applicants when they apply for admission directly from high school. 

CLEP

Prescott College accepts a full range of College-Level Examination Program (CLEP) tests, which measure mastery of college-level introductory course content in a wide range of disciplines. There is no limit to how many credits a student may earn through CLEP, however only 90 total credits may be applied toward an undergraduate degree at Prescott College. Upon admission to the college, the tests will be reviewed by Prescott College faculty and the Registrar's Office to determine how your transferable credits may apply to your selected program of study. Regardless of the number of credits being transferred to Prescott College, students are responsible for meeting overall degree requirements, including those around upper division credit, and number of credits taken "in-house," or with Prescott College. See Bachelor's Degree Graduation Requirements for more information.

In regards to Foreign Language Proficiency, a score over level 2 receives level 2 credit only (Levels 1 and 2 are not combined for credit). If a score is between min level 1 and min level 2, the student receives credit for level 1.

To receive credit for successful performance on a CLEP examination, an final official transcript must be sent by the CLEP Transcript Service. Prescott College uses the American Council on Education’s (ACE) credit recommendations to determine transfer credit for CLEP exams. The College will not accept a transcript or score report submitted by the applicant, nor will credit be awarded based on another institution’s prior evaluation. Students should contact the Registrar's Office for equivalencies of exams taken outside of the current catalog year.

Military Transfer Credits

See Veterans Admissions

Graduate Transfer Credit Policy

The Program Director of each graduate program is responsible for approving all requests for the acceptance of transfer credits. Up to a maximum of 15 credits may be approved for transfer into each master's-level program. To be considered, all such credits must be from an appropriately accredited or approved institution. Additionally, the grade earned must be equivalent to the minimum passing grade, or higher, acceptable to the program in which the applicant is requesting to transfer credits; see Table under section "Credit/No Credit Awards" for minimum passing grades per graduate program. 

Maximum Transfer Credits
Master's Degree up to 15 degree-applicable credits
Ed.S. Degree up to 15 degree-applicable credits
Ph.D. Degree up to 36 degree-applicable credits

For the Master in Counseling and Master of Education program, transfer credits must have been earned within the last 6 years prior to acceptance at Prescott College. For the PhD program, transfer credits must have been earned within the last 6 years prior to acceptance at Prescott College.

International Transfer Credits

International applicants are required to have non-U.S. school transcripts evaluated by a professional, foreign credential evaluation service. They produce an “official report” which is used for evaluation. Applicants seeking to transfer credit into one of our undergraduate programs can request a high school equivalency report, while those seeking to transfer credit into any of our graduate programs (master’s or PhD) will need to request a course-by-course equivalency evaluation. The applicant is responsible for all costs associated with this service.

The evaluation process can take several weeks to complete.