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Transfer Credit Policies

Transfer Courses

Transfer courses are courses accepted for credit at St. Thomas and taken at another postsecondary institution that is accredited by an organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. Exchange courses are not transfer courses.

Students, whether they are seeking admission to the Â鶹´«Ã½ or who have already matriculated, must have official transcripts of all college work completed before matriculating to St. Thomas sent to the Office of Admissions for evaluation by the University Registrar.

Students who have matriculated at St Thomas must forward transcripts from any other institution attended to the Office of Admissions for evaluation by the University Registrar.

All paper transcripts should be mailed directly from the institution of study to the following address:

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Admissions, Mail #5017
2115 Summit Ave
St. Paul, MN 55105-1078

All links and passwords to electronic PDF transcript downloads should be emailed directly from the institution of study to the following email address: admissions@stthomas.edu.

The Faculty Director of Transfer Courses oversees the process for transfer credit determinations, with relevant academic units being the decision-makers about transfer credit equivalencies. The University Registrar records the transfer course decisions. Students may be asked to provide additional materials for transfer course decisions. The university may require transcripts from foreign schools to be submitted to an evaluation service for processing before considering them. A fee may be charged for this service.

The information about transfer courses that is provided in the “Transfer Credit Tool” applies to transfer courses taken both prior to matriculation as well as after matriculation. If a student who has matriculated at St. Thomas and thereafter wishes to enroll in a course that is not on the Transfer Credit Tool the determination of whether a post-matriculation transfer course fulfills the criteria for a core requirement or for a major or minor field requirement must be determined by the appropriate academic unit; this should be determined prior to the student enrolling in the course. Though academic units are encouraged to use course descriptions for making transfer course determinations, an academic unit may require students to submit the syllabus for any potential transfer course they hope to apply to a major, minor, or core requirement.

In some cases, if a transfer student is bringing in a significant amount of transfer courses, and if the course-by-course evaluation leaves many potentially relevant courses applying only as electives, the student’s transcript may be holistically evaluated by the Faculty Director of Transfer Courses working with faculty and deans to determine whether a group of courses could work together to meet the spirit of a particular requirement (core, major, minor, certificate).

Post-Matriculation Transfer Credit Limit

Students who first become degree-seeking at St. Thomas beginning with the fall 2013 semester and for all subsequent semesters may count a maximum of 8 additional transfer credits taken after the date of matriculation at St. Thomas toward core requirements, with no more than 4 of those credits counting toward any one core requirement area (for instance, Language and Culture or Literature and Writing). This limit applies only to post-matriculation transfer credits and therefore does not apply to courses taken through a UST study abroad program or through the ACTC.

Minimum Transfer Grade Requirement

St. Thomas will accept only transfer courses in which the student has received a minimum grade of C- (1.7 value) or higher.

When a transfer student matriculates at St. Thomas, all transfer courses accepted for credit at St. Thomas will be posted to the student's academic history for the first term of enrollment at St. Thomas. When any St. Thomas student transfers credits to St. Thomas after the student's first term of enrollment, the transfer courses will be posted to academic history for the term in which it was taken at the transfer institution.

Quarter Credit to Semester Credit Conversions

St. Thomas will convert all transfer credits taken from quarter system academic institutions to semester credit using the following conversion scale (dividing the number of quarter credits by 1.5).

Quarter Credits Semester Credits
6 4
5 3.3
4 2.7
3 2
2 1.3
1 0.7

FYE Requirement for Transfer Students

The First-Year Experience (FYE) requirement described below applies specifically to transfer students, defined as students who have taken college credit after high school graduation in a traditional fall or spring term. The FYE requirement that applies to First-Time First Year students, defined as students who have not taken college credit after high school graduation in a traditional fall or spring term, is described in the Core Curriculum's First-Year Experience.

The FYE requirement for transfer students is the following:

  • Transfer students with 27 or fewer credits (the credit classification for a freshmen student) will complete the full FYE requirement including the learning community requirement and the 1-credit FYEX-100 course.
  • Transfer students with 28 or more credits will be exempt from the FYE requirement but will complete the 0-credit FYEX 001, which will be Canvas modules that introduce students to our mission, values, convictions, and important resources on campus. Registration holds will be used to ensure these students complete this in a timely manner.

Transfer Block Agreements

The Â鶹´«Ã½ has two transfer block agreements: one regarding the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and another addressing associate degrees earned at institutions in specific states. The transfer block agreements apply to students matriculating to St. Thomas in Fall 2021 and beyond.

The transfer block agreements address how the Minnesota Transfer Curriculum and associate degrees (specified below) relate to the core curriculum of the St. Thomas undergraduate baccalaureate degrees. In situations where additional evaluation is needed (e.g., the course is a major or allied requirement and is not on the Transfer Credit Tool), the relevant academic unit will make this determination.

Minnesota Transfer Curriculum

The Minnesota Transfer Curriculum is (MnTC) is a set of general education curricular requirements in all two- and four-year public colleges and universities in Minnesota, including schools within the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system (30 two-year colleges and seven state universities) as well as those within the University of Minnesota system.

All students who complete the MnTC before matriculating to St. Thomas as a baccalaureate-degree-seeking student will be deemed to have completed the St. Thomas undergraduate core curriculum requirements after satisfying these additional requirements:

  • Complete two additional courses, one designated by the Philosophy department and one designated by the Theology department.
  • Complete an FYEX course.
    • If the student is a first-time first-year (FTFY) student, they will take FYEX 100. FTFY students are those who have not taken college credit after high school graduation in a traditional fall or spring term.
    • If a student is a transfer student, they take a student-specific alternative (FYEX 001).
  • Complete the core curriculum's Signature Work requirement.

Associate Degrees

All students who complete an Associate of Arts (AA) degree from an accredited institution in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and North Dakota before matriculating to St. Thomas as a baccalaureate-degree-seeking student will be deemed to have completed the St. Thomas undergraduate core curriculum requirements after satisfying these additional requirements:

  • Complete two additional courses, one designated by the Philosophy department and one designated by the Theology department.
  • Complete the core curriculum's Signature Work requirement.
  • Complete an FYEX course.
    • If the student is a first-time first-year (FTFY) student, they will take FYEX 100. FTFY students are those who have not taken college credit after high school graduation in a traditional fall or spring term.
    • If a student is a transfer student, they take a student-specific alternative (FYEX 001).

All students who complete an Associate of Science (AS) degree from Minnesota and also complete the 40-credit Minnesota Transfer Curriculum before matriculating to St. Thomas as a baccalaureate-degree-seeking student will be deemed to have completed the St. Thomas undergraduate core curriculum requirements after satisfying these additional requirements:

  • Complete two additional courses, one designated by the Philosophy department and one designated by the Theology department.
  • Complete the core curriculum's Signature Work requirement.
  • Complete a transfer-student-specific alternative (FYEX 001) to the first-year experience requirement.
    • If the student is an FTFY student, they will take FYEX 100.
    • If a student is a transfer student, they take a student-specific alternative (FYEX 001).