Students who transfer from a two-year college are permitted 60 transfer credits (62 if an Associate's degree requiring 62 credits has been completed). Students who have completed 60 credits toward an LSA degree cannot earn degree credit for courses elected at a two-year college.

Up to 60 credits may be transferred from the Flint and Dearborn campuses of the University of Michigan. Courses completed at these campuses are defined as out-of-residence credit (effective September 1, 1976), even though they carry Michigan Honor Points.

Even if a course is transferable, credit is not allowed if the final grade earned is "C-" or lower. This includes all transferable credit earned outside the University of Michigan. (All credits and grades from the University of Michigan Dearborn and Flint campuses transfer.)

Students often elect a college course while in high school through a dual enrollment program. There are three situations where these courses will not transfer.  Credit is not given: 

  • when the course is taught with only high school students in the class; or 
  • where the course is used to meet the minimum academic requirement that the College expects of all new students (e.g., four years of English); or 
  • where the credits are needed to meet the high school graduation requirements.

Credit cannot be transferred from another school if that credit is also being counted toward another baccalaureate or graduate or professional degree. "Special Joint Degree Programs" are exceptions to this policy.

Students interested in electing out-of-residence credit should consult  the Office of Undergraduate Admissions' website ( www.admissions.umich.edu/transfer-credit ) about transfer equivalencies and an academic advisor about the appropriateness of the intended elections. Tables of transfer equivalencies are available on the College website: www.lsa.umich.edu/transfer/

Students who wish to take a course not listed on the equivalency tables may have that course evaluated by using a Transfer Credit Equivalency form (formerly the Out-of-Residence form).  This form can be completed online at www.admissions.umich.edu/current-student-transfer-credit-pre-evaluation.

If credit elected out-of-residence is to be included in a plan for the major, approval should be obtained in advance from a department advisor.

The language requirement cannot be fulfilled by out-of-residence credit that is elected after the student has begun degree enrollment in LSA unless the appropriate language department has approved that plan in advance.

Seniors planning to elect the final portion of the senior year out of residence should contact the LSA Academic Auditors prior to leaving campus for information about procedures to avoid a delay of graduation.

LSA students who elect courses which duplicate Advanced Placement or transfer credit will receive degree credit and honor points (for graded courses) for the LSA election while credit for the duplicated Advanced Placement or transfer courses will be deducted. The only exceptions to this policy are courses transferred from another school or college on the Ann Arbor campus of the University of Michigan or from UM-Flint or UM-Dearborn. In these cases, courses elected in LSA which duplicate the transfer courses are posted on the academic record as "repetitions" or "not for credit" elections. The original course elections continue to appear on the academic record for degree credit, and grades earned in these courses continue to be computed in the grade point average.

Students electing courses in LSA which are prior to those in a course sequence for credits already awarded via transfer credit will have the transferred credits deducted, and the credits and honor points earned by the LSA elections will stand. This could mean losing credit for several courses while retaining credit for only one (for example, transfer credit for one or more terms of foreign language can be deducted because of subsequently completing the first term of that language at the University of Michigan).

An official transcript of the completed transfer work should be sent to:

The Office of Undergraduate Admissions
University of Michigan
300 Student Activities Building
515 East Jefferson Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1316.


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