System-Level Accountability Scorecard
Assessments: Progress toward Implementing the Strategic Plan

Fully Integrate the System Indicator 3: Fiscal & Physical Capital Utilization - The system is effectively and efficiently utilizing its fiscal and physical capital.

Measure 5B: Course Transfer

Measure 5B reports the percentage of college-level credits earned at a System institution that are accepted in transfer by a receiving System institution. The denominator (sending credits) is the cumulative college-level credits earned at the sending institution, including credits from courses with “D” grade. College-level credits exclude credits in developmental or remedial courses. The numerator (credits accepted) is the total credits accepted in transfer at receiving institution (click here for a printer friendly PDF copy of this page).

Significance: Measure 5B, is significant in that it provides an indication of the extent to which the system institutions are accepting credits in transfer, preparing students for transfer and consequently engaged in effective planning, collaboration, and integration across institutions and sectors.

Measure: Figure 5B-1 shows that, at the system level, 75.8% of credits were accepted in transfer in fiscal year 2002 and 75.4 percent in fiscal year 2003. Figure 5B-2 shows that the percent of credits accepted in transfer by the receiving sector during fiscal year 2003 ranged from 32.2 percent at technical colleges to 89.4 percent at the state universities.

Context: Figure 5B-3 shows that the percent of credits accepted in transfer at System universities is comparable to figures from four transfer studies in other states. Although the System measure excludes developmental credits from the denominator, the four studies in other states included these credits in the denominator. Consequently, the credit acceptance percentage for System universities also is reported including developmental credits in the denominator. The four state studies reported credit acceptance percentages ranging from 83 percent to 90 percent. The Pennsylvania study, which reported a 90 percent acceptance percentage, included only those students who earned either an Associate in Arts or an Associate in Science degree.

Implications: A variety of reasons why credits are not accepted in transfer were identified by institution staff and in the four studies of credit transfer. Credits from developmental or remedial courses are typically not accepted in transfer since they do not satisfy degree requirements. Credits from courses that do not apply to the program or major that the student is pursing at the receiving institution is a significant reason for non-acceptance. This includes occupational or vocational credits and upper division credits transferred from state universities. Credits from courses that the student repeated or in which the student earned a “D” grade often are not accepted in transfer. Finally, students sometimes submit transcripts for transfer evaluation before all course grades have been posted. Credits for courses without final grades also are not accepted in transfer.