Academic Policies and Requirements 

Transfer: State Policies and Procedures

The Commission on Higher Education for the State of South Carolina coordinates post-secondary education in publicly supported institutions, including policies and procedures for students and their course credits transferring among these institutions. The Commission has established transfer policies and procedures that all public institutions must follow. These procedures are published below.

Procedures

The chief transfer officers at Midlands Technical College are located in RO 101 on Airport Campus (803-822-3344; fax 803-822-3422) and in WM 408 on Beltline Campus (803-738-7748; fax 803-738-7857). These officers administer the transfer degree programs of Associate in Arts and Associate in Science, and coordinate the advising of transfer students. All students may consult the College Transfer Credit Guide in these offices.

A student enrolled in a program other than the Associate in Arts (AA) or Associate in Science (AS) should consult the department chair of his/her program of study or the chair's designee for questions concerning transfer of courses into that program's curriculum.

For further information regarding transfer, students may access on the Internet the Commission on Higher Education's home page at http://che400.state.sc.us or Midlands Technical College's home page at http://www.mid.tec.sc.us.

1. The Statewide Articulation Agreement of 74 courses already approved by the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education for transfer from two- to four-year public institutions shall be applicable to all public institutions, including two-year institutions and institutions within the same system. In instances where an institution does not have synonymous courses to ones on this list, it will identify comparable courses or course categories for acceptance of general education courses on the statewide list.

Admissions Criteria, Course Grades, GPAs, Validations

2. All four-year public institutions will issue annually in August a transfer guide covering at least the following items:

   1. The definition of a transfer student and requirements for admission both to the institution and, if more selective, requirements for admission to particular programs.

   2. Limitations established by the institution or its programs for acceptance of standardized examinations (e.g., SAT, ACT) taken more than a given time ago, for academic coursework taken elsewhere, for course work repeated due to failure, for course work taken at another institution while the student is academically suspended at his/her home institution, and so forth.

   3. Institutional and, if more selective, programmatic maximums of course credits allowable in transfer.

   4. Institutional procedures used to calculate student applicants' GPAs for transfer admission. Such procedures will describe how nonstandard grades (withdrawal, withdrawal failing, repeated course, etc.) are evaluated; and they will also describe whether all coursework taken prior to transfer or just coursework deemed appropriate to the student's intended four-year program of study is calculated for purposes of admission to the institution and/or programmatic major.

   5. Lists of all courses accepted from each technical college (including the 74 courses in the Statewide Articulation Agreement) and the course equivalences (including "free elective" category) at the home institution for the courses accepted.

   6. Lists of all articulation agreements with any public South Carolina two-year or other institution of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access these agreements.

   7. Lists of the institution's transfer officer(s) and personnel, together with telephone and fax numbers, office address, and e-mail address.

   8. Institutional policies related to "academic bankruptcy" (i.e., removing an entire transcript or parts thereof from a failed or underachieving record after a period of years has passed) so that re-entry into the four-year institution with course credit earned in the interim elsewhere is done without regard to the student's earlier record.

   9. "Residency requirements" for the minimum number of hours required to be earned at the institution for the degree.

3. Course work (individual courses, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures shall be transferable if the student has completed the coursework with a "C" grade (2.0 on a 4.0 scale) or above, but transfer of grades does not relieve the student of the obligation to meet any GPA requirements or other admission requirements of the institution or program to which application has been made.

   1. Any four-year institution which has institutional or programmatic admissions requirements for transfer students with cumulative grade point averages (GPAs) higher than 2.0 on a 4.0 scale will apply such entrance requirements equally to transfer students from regionally accredited South Carolina public institutions regardless of whether students are transferring from a four-year or two-year institution.

   2. Any multicampus institution or system shall certify by letter to the Commission that all course work at all of its campuses applicable to a particular degree program of study is fully acceptable in transfer to meet degree requirements in the same degree program at any other of its campuses.

4. Any course work (individual courses, transfer blocks, statewide agreements) covered within these procedures shall be transferable to any public institution without any additional fee and without any further encumbrance such as a "validation examination," "placement examination/instrument," "verification instrument," or any other stricture, notwithstanding any institutional or system policy, procedure or regulation to the contrary.

Transfer Blocks, Statewide Agreements, Completion of the AA/AS Degree

5. The following transfer blocks/statewide agreements taken at any two-year public institution in South Carolina shall be accepted in their totality toward meeting baccalaureate degree requirements at all four-year public institutions in relevant four-year degree programs, as follows:

   • Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences: Established curriculum block of 46-48 semester hours

   • Business Administration: Established curriculum block of 46-51 semester hours

   • Engineering: Established curriculum block of 33 semester hours

   • Science and Mathematics: Established curriculum block of 48-51 semester hours

   • Teacher Education: Established curriculum block of 51-53 semester hours for Early Childhood, Elementary and Special Education students only. Secondary Education majors and students seeking certification who are not majoring in teacher education should consult the Arts/Humanities/Social Sciences or the Math and Science transfer blocks, as relevant, to assure transferability of coursework.

   • Nursing: By statewide agreement, at least 60 semester hours will be accepted by any public four-year institution toward the baccalaureate completion program (BSN) from graduates of any South Carolina public associate degree program in nursing (ADN), provided that the program is accredited by the National League of Nursing and that the graduate has successfully passed the National Licensure Examination (NCLEX) and is a currently licensed registered nurse.

6. Any "unique" academic program not specifically or by extension covered by one of the statewide transfer blocks/agreements listed in #4 above must either create its own transfer block of 35 or more credit hours with the approval of CHE staff or will adopt either the Arts, Humanities and Soecial Sciences or the Science and Mathematics block. The institution at which such program is located will inform the staff of the CHE and every institutional president and vice president for academic affairs about this decision.

7. Any student who has completed an AA or AS degree program at any public two-year South Carolina institution that contains within it the total coursework found in either the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences transfer block or the Science and Mathematics transfer block will automatically be entitled to junior-level status or its equivalent at any public senior institution to which the student might have been admitted.

Related Reports and Statewide Documents

8. All applicable recommendations found in the Commission's report to the General Assembly on the School-to-Work Act (approved by the Commission and transmitted to the General Assembly on July 6, 1995) are hereby incorporated into the procedures for transfer of course work among two- and four-year institutions.

9. The policy paper entitled State Policy on Transfer and Articulation, as amended to reflect changes in the numbers of transfer blocks and other Commission action since July 6, 1995, is hereby adopted as the statewide policy for institutional good practice in the sending and receiving of all course credits to be transferred.

Assurance of Quality

10. All claims from any public two- or four-year institution challenging the effective preparation of any other public institution's coursework for transfer purposes shall be evaluated and appropriate measures shall be taken to re-ensure that the quality of the coursework has been reviewed and approved on a timely basis by sending and receiving institutions alike. This process of formal review shall occur every four years through the staff of the Commission on Higher Education, beginning with the approval of these procedures.

Statewide Publication and Distribution of Information on Transfer

11. The staff of the Commission of Higher Education shall print and distribute copies of these Procedures upon their acceptance by the Commission. The staff will also place this document and the Appendices on the Commission's Home Page on the Internet under the title "Transfer Policies."

12. By September 1 of each year, all public four-year institutions will place the following material on their Web site:

    1. a copy of this entire document.

    2. a copy of the institution's transfer guide.

13. By September 1 of each year, the staff of the State Board for Technical and Comprehensive Education will:

    1. A. Place a copy of this entiure document on its Web site.

    2. B. Provide to the Commission staff, in format suitable for placing on the Commission's Web site a list of all articulation agreements that each of the 16 technical college's has with public and other four-year institutions of higher education, together with information about how interested parties can access those agreements.

14. Each two-year and four-year public institutional catalogue shall contain a section entitled "Transfer: State Policies and Procedures." Such section at a minimum will:

    1. Publish these procedures in their entirety.

    2. Designate a chief transfer officer at the institution who will:

       • -- provide information and other appropriate support for students considering transfer and recent transfers

       • -- serve as a clearinghouse for information on issues of transfer in the State of South Carolina

       • -- provide definitive institutional rulings on transfer questions for the institution's students under these procedures

       • -- work closely with feeder institutions to ensure ease in transfer for their students

    3. Designate other programmatic transfer officer(s) as the size of the institution and the variety of its programs might warrant.

    4. Refer interested parties to the institutional Transfer Guide.

    5. Refer interested parties to the institutional and Commission on Higher Education's Web sites for further information regarding transfer.

15. In recognition of its widespread acceptance and use throughout the United States, SPEEDE/EXPRESS should be adopted by all public institutions and systems as the standard for electronic transmission of all student transfer data.

16. In collaboration with the colleges and universities, a statewide Transfer Equivalency Database will be developed and implemented at the earliest opportunity.

(As an electronic counseling guide, this computerized, on-line instrument will allow students and advisors to access all degree requirements for every major at every public four-year institution in South Carolina. The database will also allow students to obtain a better understanding of institutional programs and program requirements and select their transfer courses accordingly, especially when the student knows the institution and the major to which he/she is transferring.)

Development of Common Course System

17. Adopt a common statewide course numbering system for common freshman and sophomore courses of the technical colleges, two-year regional campuses of the University of South Carolina, and the senior institutions.

18. Adopt common course titles and descriptions for common freshman and sophomore courses of the technical colleges, two-year regional campuses of the University of South Carolina, and the senior institutions. The Commission will convene statewide disciplinary groups to engage in formal dialogue for these purposes.

(A common course numbering system and common course titles and descriptions for lower-division coursework at all public institutions in the state can help reduce confusion among students about the equivalency of their two-year coursework with lower-division coursework at the four-year level. A common system will leave no doubt about the comparability of content, credit and purpose among the lower-division courses at all public colleges and universities in South Carolina. It would also help eliminate institutional disagreement over the transferability of much lower-division coursework, thus clearing a path for easier movement between the technical colleges and senior institutions.)