Transfer Policies & Resources

Corresponding transfer guides aligning to most of the following agreements are available at svsu.edu/transfer/transferguides or by clicking on the 'Transfer Guides' option in the 'Transfer Equivalency Tools' section located above.

Alpena Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)
• Financial Aid Consortium & Concurrent Enrollment Umbrella Agreements for A.D.N.-B.S.N. Concurrent (including grant-based)

Bay de Noc College

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.) (grant based)

Delta College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)
• Honors Program Articulation
• B.A. in Criminal Justice
• Financial Aid Consortium & Concurrent Enrollment Umbrella Agreements for A.D.N.-B.S.N. Concurrent (including grant-based)

Kellogg Community College

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

Kirtland Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)
• B.A. in Criminal Justice
• Financial Aid Consortium & Concurrent Enrollment Umbrella Agreements for A.D.N.-B.S.N. Concurrent (including grant-based)

Lansing Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

Macomb Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education  
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

Mid Michigan College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)
• B.A. in Criminal Justice

Montcalm Community College

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

Mott Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)
• B.A. in Criminal Justice

Oakland Community College

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

Southwestern Michigan College

• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

St. Clair County Community College

• B.A. in Elementary Education
• Bachelor of Science in Nursing (R.N. to B.S.N.)

For general information and questions contact the Admissions Office unless otherwise directed. 

Michigan Department of Education Career and Technical Education Centers (Press Release)

• TE 120/200 or TEMS 100. Transfer/Articulation Credit MDE/CTE TE120/200 or TEMS 100 Credit Application Form (138KB)  

SVSU’s College of Education/COE, in consultation with SVSU’s Provost’s Office, agrees that the Memorandum of Understanding/MOU with the Michigan Department of Education/MDE is a stand-alone, sufficient blanket agreement so that the individual ”Education General” program (CIP 13.0000) in Michigan are already covered under the blanket agreement as long as any recommending partner school and COE confirm with each other that the given partner school is vocationally certified and that program certification was in place when the student candidate applying for articulation credit took the program. Of course, individual student applicants will need to meet the grade and timeline criteria as noted in the MOU.

All of the necessary statuses for eligibility will be confirmed/reconfirmed between COE and the specific partner school on the credit application form submitted at the time that all parties sign-off regarding each individual student's submission for articulation credit.

Bay Arenac ISD

Health and Human Services Transfer Credit for Health/Therapeutic Services Program Tracks. (Press Release)

• KINE 100/120 Transfer/Articulation Credit BAISD KINE 100/120 Credit Application Form (144KB)   

Computer Programming Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 12 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)   

Information and Network Technologies Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 4 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)

Cybersecurity Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 8 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)   

Saginaw Career Complex

Computer Programming Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 8 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)   ‌

Computer Networking Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 4 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)

Cybersecurity Program Track

• Qualifying students are eligible for up to 12 CS/CIS credits at SVSU. CS/CIS Credit Application (178KB)

Central Michigan University

• Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (M.S.O.T.)—transfer-in agreement

Michigan State University

• College of Human Medicine—transfer-out agreement
• College of Agriculture & Natural Resources—cooperative statement of transfer-out with SVSU Colleges of CBM, EDU and SET

University of Michigan-Flint

• Doctor of Physical Therapy—transfer-out agreement

Wayne State University

• School of Medicine - Transfer-out agreement

San Mateo County Community College District General Education Agreement

SVSU and San Mateo County Community College District in California have signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a Michigan Transfer Agreement/MTA-style transfer arrangement; at the time of signing, SMCCCD includes the College of San Mateo, Cañada College, and Skyline College). Qualifying students from any one of the three original community colleges within SMCCCD will have satisfied 30 credits of SVSU’s 35-credit-minimum general education. The arrangement requires completion of the SMCCCD Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC).

Domestic students interested in transferring from SMCCCD should contact SVSU's domestic Office of Undergraduate Admissions at admissions@svsu.edu.International students interested in transferring from SMCCCD should contact SVSU's Office of Graduate and International Admissions at intadmit@svsu.edu.

• Central University of Finance and Economics, PRC
• Hangzhou Normal University, PRC
• Dalian University of Foreign Languages, PRC
• Ming Chuan University
  • Master of Art in Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language (TCFL)
  • Master of Arts in Communication and Media Administration (CMA)
• Suzhou University, PRC

SVSU transfers in a wide variety of credits from numerous institutions. Transfer equivalencies are on our Transfer Equivalency Tool. When evaluating transcripts we first look to see if the College/University is accredited. 

By being regionally accredited, the College/University falls into one of six regional accrediting agencies. This means that the College/University has met the minimum standards within the higher education industry.

We will review nationally acccredited institutions on an individual basis. 

Regional Accreditors

• Middle States Commission on Higher Education 
• New England Commission on Higher Education
• Higher Learning Commission
• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges/WASC Senior College and University Commission & Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges

• The maximum credits accepted for an incoming transfer student from multiple institutions are 93 credits (with the exception of the 150 credit hour accounting program where the maximum credits accepted are 119 credits). 
• The maximum credits accepted from all two-year institutions for an undergraduate degree program is 62 credits. 
• The minimum accepted grade for transfer to an undergraduate degree program is "C-" (2.0) or its equivalent.

Transferred credits are not included in the Saginaw Valley State University grade point average computation. Transfer credits will be listed as "TR" on transcripts and degree audits. 

For more information, visit the catalog and review the Transfer Credit Policy.

If you are transferring Nursing courses that have been completed at another institution, this can only be done with the permission of the SVSU Nursing Department Chair. The Nursing curriculum is carefully constructed, pursuant to disciplinary accreditation and State Licensing standards, to be followed in a sequence. Classes taken at other institutions may not comprise the identical information and skills needed to continue in the SVSU program and needed for graduation requirements. 

*For students who do not have a nursing degree (ADN) and are completing the RN-BSN curriculum. 

Unfortunately, we cannot transfer in test results from other institutions. If you wish to test out of basic skills, you will need to take an SVSU approved placement test. 

To schedule a placement test, please contact the Testing Center at (989) 964-2820 or visit the testing placement page. 

Once the incoming transcript has been evaluated you will receive a Transfer Equivalency Report in the mail. Refer to How to Read Transfer Equivalency Report (203KB)

With the appropriate permissions, students can transfer in a maximum of 9 graduate-level credits. the student must meet with the coordinator of their Graduate program, and they will review the credits. 

A course may have come over as an elective for one of two reasons: 1) SVSU does not offer a course similar to the one taken at another institution or 2) the course description did not meet the same standards as the SVSU course. 

If you feel that the course taken at the other institution should count towards an SVSU requirement, then you have the right to course petition the Department's Chairperson and Dean. 

Please visit the student guest application page for information. 

Please contact the Admission's Office to speak directly to a Transfer Student Admissions officer at (989) 964-4200 and check out the Undergraduate Transfer website.

Please refer to the Military Credit Policy.

Saginaw Valley State University participates in the Advanced Placement Program of the College Entrance Examination and grants either advanced credit, advanced placement or both, to freshmen who have completed college-level studies while still in high school and have earned satisfactory scores on the Advanced Placement examinations.

Scores of three, four or five on the following examinations assure the entering student of both advanced placement and credit: American History, Studio Art, Art History, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Computer Science, English Composition and Literature, English Language and Composition, European History, Music, Physics B and Physics C. Credit and placement are granted for scores of four or five on Biology and Psychology and three or four on French, German, Latin and Spanish examinations. 

MACRAO: SVSU will still honor those transcripts with the MACRAO stamp on them. 

MTA: Students with the MTA stamp will 1) have to take 2 CI (communication intensive) courses at SVSU and 2) will have the remaining general education categories (from 1-10) waived. This will satisfy SVSU's 35 credit minimum for general education. 

IMPORTANT: Waiving of a general education category does not waive necessary pre-requisites for future courses. 

The Reverse Transfer Agreement is an optional process by which transfer students currently enrolled in a four-year university can transfer university credits back to their former community college in an effort to qualify for an associate degree credential from that community college. Students who have attended multiple community colleges are not eligible for reverse transfer. In addition, students must have obtained residency status in their community college.  

Formal Reverse Transfer arrangements exist between SVSU and each of the following community college partners: 

• Alpena Community College 
• Delta College 
• Kalamazoo Valley Community College 
• Kirtland Community College 
• Lansing Community College
• Mid-Michigan College 
• Mott Community College 
• St. Clair County Community College 

SVSU students may indicate their interest in reverse transfer by completing the Reverse Transfer Agreement form (MFA Required), which will authorize the University to send their transcript to the applicable community college.  ‌

It is important to know that a degree is not guaranteed. The community college must evaluate your course work and determine if the degree requirements for an associate degree have been met. Any communications you have regarding an associate degree can be addressed with your community college.   

Disclaimer: The receiving institution will determine if and how credits will be accepted. Please direct transfer equivalency questions to the appropriate community college. 

Saginaw Valley State University participates in the Advanced Placement Program of the College Entrance Examination Board and grants either advanced credit, advanced placement or both, to freshmen who have completed college-level studies while still in high school and have earned satisfactory scores on the Advanced Placement examinations. 

Scores of three, four or five on the following examinations assure the entering student of both advanced placement and credit: American History, Studio Art, Art History, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Chemistry, Computer Science, English Composition and Literature, English Language and Composition, European History, Music, Physics B and Physics C, Biology, Psychology, French, German, Latin, and Spanish examinations. 

SVSU will grant transfer credit and/or waive requirements according to the following provisions: 

• Credits: Only HL (Higher Level) examinations, scores of "4" or higher. Students may pursue individual course credits by petition through respective departments.   
• Theory of Knowledge, a grade of "C" or better: 3 credits, General Education Category 5 or 8.  
• Extended Essay, a grade of "C" or better: 3 credits, General Education Category 10. 

Examinations:

The CLEP (College-Level Examination Program) Policy is a testing program that gives individuals the chance to earn college credit by examination in a variety of study areas. Two types of tests are offered - general examination and subject examinations.  

Please contact the Office of the Registrar at (989) 964-4085 or email registrar@svsu.edu for further information.  

If you took college courses while in high school and have subsequently been admitted to SVSU, please send the official transcript of the college course(s), that was taken while in enrolled in high school, to the SVSU Office of Admissions. If the course received a C- grade or better, SVSU can transfer the course into the your SVSU curriculum.  It is your responsibility to contact the college issuing the credit to have official transcripts sent to SVSU.

Military Credit Policy

Students wishing to have their military credit evaluated will need to have an official JST sent to Saginaw Valley State University. The Office of the Registrar is responsible for all transcript evaluations.

1. Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Coast Guard will need to order a Joint Service Transcript (JST). 
2. Community College of the Air Force does not use JST.  You will need to order an official transcript from the Community College of the Air Force (CCAF).
3. Request and Submit all other OFFICIAL transcripts from any institution you attended before, during, or after the military, whether it was in person, online, CONUS or OCONUS including the Air Force Community College to SVSU.
4. Transcripts from CCAF will be evaluated as a traditional transcript.
5. Your JST will be evaluated and credit awarded based on American Council on Education (ACE) recommendations and in consultation with SVSU policies.
   1. Direct credit will be awarded with department chair approval. 
   2. If no such direct equivalency has been previously awarded at the university, submit your transcript (with appropriate supporting materials) to the Military Credit Committee.  The Committee will assist students in working with SVSU faculty on course equivalencies.
   3. You may not use the same military credit for more than one course.
   4. JST and all other credits transferred into SVSU may be awarded for up to 62 transfer credits.  This number may vary depending on credit earned at other institutions.

For questions or concerns about military credit, please contact the Military Student Affairs at militarystudent@svsu.edu or 989-964-2462.