Catalog Policies

Transfer credit procedures are governed by UAA Catalog policies. See Transfer Credits in the UAA Catalog for more information.

Transfer Credit Evaluation Process

All transfer courses are reviewed individually, on a case-by-case basis, without attachment to a student or degree program.

• Course descriptions are taken from your transfer school's catalog during the time of your attendance and are best matched to the current UAA curriculum.
• Courses taught at different levels than their potential UAA equivalent cannot be equated. Upper-division credit cannot be given for a class taken at the lower division, and lower-division credit cannot be given for a class taught at the upper division.
• At UAA, lower division is indicated by 100 and 200-level courses, and upper division is 300 and 400-level courses. Numbering systems across the U.S. vary widely in how level is indicated.
• Transfer courses must have been taught at the undergraduate level in order to transfer.
• Special topic courses, internships, and independent study classes will usually be brought in as elective credit due to the lack of consistent content.
• If you have taken a class that fulfills a degree requirement as a topical class, ask your academic advisor if the petition process is an option.

Understanding Transfer Equivalency Report

The transfer equivalency report is available on UAOnline. Sometimes transfer credit ends up being processed a bit sooner than activity that establishes a UAOnline account. Often waiting for a few days will allow you access to your account. If you need help logging into your account, finding your student ID number or establishing a password, visit me.uaa.alaska.edu.

1. Grp (Group Code): In some cases, multiple courses need to be taken together to be granted credit as a group for a UAA equivalent. This is common when transferring "triplet" sequences from quarter schools (such as languages) or in the sciences where content may be divided differently across the quarters or semesters. In grouped equivalencies, a full year at one institution (Human Anatomy & Physiology 1 and 2 or 1, 2, and 3 at a quarter school) is matched with the full year here at UAA (BIOL A111/A112). All of the credit (and grades) for the grouped courses are attached to the first course listed.
   
2. Institution Equivalent Course (Subj, Crse, Course Title): This is the UAA course/credit granted in transfer.
   UAA grants three types of transfer credit:
   • Direct Equivalent: When a transferred course matches a specific UAA course in content, sequence, course level (upper or lower division) and description, you receive credit for that course.
   • General Education Requirement: UAA grants credit in most General Education Requirement (GER) areas for courses that fulfill the intent of a GER category but do not match a specific UAA course. Courses with an asterisk (*) proceeding the title will fulfill GERs. Students cannot fulfill the Integrative Capstone GER with transfer credit. 
   • Departmental Elective: This designation indicates the course is not a direct equivalent to a UAA course nor does it fulfill the intent of a GER category. It can, however, be used as general elective credit and applied toward the total number of credits needed to earn your degree or certificate. Contact your academic to discuss applying a departmental elective toward a degree requirement.
3. Credits (Transferred Credits): UAA automatically converts credits accepted from other institutions to semester hours. The quarter-to-semester standard conversion formula is: quarter credits x .668. For example, 5 quarter credits x .668 = 3.335 semester credits.
   
4. Grd (Transferred Grade): UAA transfers +/- grades as letter grades by simply dropping the +/-. Numerical grades are assigned their letter equivalent. The "T" indicates that it is a transferred grade.
   
5. Total Credits Accepted: The total number of credits earned at your previous institution that transferred to UAA.

If you have earned a baccalaureate degree from another institutionally accredited institution, UAA waives your General Education Requirements (GERs). This waiver will appear as a course on your evaluation report with the code *GERWV AAPD1R (*Prev Degree - GERs Waived). You are expected to complete all degree and major requirements.

Transferred Courses with Partial Credit

• Courses that differ from equivalent UAA courses by less than 1 credit (for example 2.668) are equated to UAA courses and meet UAA course requirements without requiring a petition.
• To complete credit requirements greater than 1 credit, you can either take another UAA class or pursue an academic petition.
• You are still required to complete the total number of credits required for your GERs and degree, as these totals are never rounded up and cannot be petitioned. 

Non-institutionally Accredited Institutions

If you have taken coursework that appears to otherwise be equivalent to a UAA course, contact your academic advisor to discuss the possibility of pursuing the academic petition process.

Transferring between University of Alaska Institutions

• Can I transfer in a D from UAF or UAS?

  Grades of D- or above are transferable within the UA system. However, they may not be acceptable to satisfy specific major requirements and graduate programs.

• What happens if I fail a course at UAA and repeat the course at UAF or UAS?

  The policy for keeping just the most recent grade applies only when both attempts are at the same school. For example, your earlier grade in MATH A251 at UAA will not be replaced if you complete MATH F251X (the equivalent) at UAF.

• My transcripts were originally sent to UAF or UAS. Do I need to order them again for UAA?

  Typically, you do not. UAA, UAF and UAS all share an electronic imaging system. If your transcripts were sent to either one, we can likely access them for evaluation. Once you apply to UAA, please let your academic advisor or our team know that they are in the system already, and we will be happy to evaluate them for you.

• How do I get my classes from UAF or UAS to transfer to UAA at the end of the semester?
  • UAA automatically transfers UAF/UAS coursework to your UAA record at the end of each semester assuming you are a UAA degree-seeking student and your courses are graded. Your UAF/UAS transfer work should be viewable in UAOnline and within your DegreeWorks audit two weeks after the semester ends.
    
    
  • If more than two weeks have passed, email uaa.transfer@alaska.edu and request your UAF/UAS credits be evaluated.
• Do I need to transfer in my courses from the other UAA campuses?

  No. Mat-Su College, Kodiak College, Kenai Peninsula College and Prince William Sound College (PWSC) are part of UAA. Coursework completed at those campuses is a part of your UAA record. Only those courses completed at PWSC prior to fall 2016 will need to be transferred. Email uaa.transfer@alaska.edu if your pre-fall 2016 PWSC coursework has not yet been transferred.