Transfer Credit

General education and elective courses may be transferred at the time of admission. Applicants may be asked to submit catalog descriptions, course outlines, texts, or other materials in order to be given the correct course equivalencies on the Credit Evaluation prepared by the Office of the Registrar. Official transcripts and other documentation are required.

Applicants who earned the Associate of Arts or Associate of Science from institutionally accredited and endorsed by CHEA colleges will receive credit for all courses completed in their degree programs. Other transfer students from institutionally accredited and CHEA-endorsed post-secondary institutions are granted transfer credit for college-level courses with final grades of C (with equivalent of 2.0 quality points on a 4-point scale) or higher. Courses with no Eastern University equivalent may be granted elective credit within the corresponding academic department. Technical, professional and pre-professional courses completed at accredited post-secondary institutions are considered individually and may qualify for up to 30 semester hours of transfer credit. Degrees and credits submitted for PDE certification purposes must be taken at a college or university program that has institutional accreditation recognized by the US Department of Education (and listed in the Higher Education Directory).

 Eastern accepts credit for non-collegiate sponsored instruction and training programs as recommended by the American Council on Education. Credit earned through distance learning, departmental exam or experiential portfolio may be accepted in transfer if it is recorded on the transcript of a regionally accredited college or university.

A student may petition for consideration of prior credit earned from a post-secondary institution not accredited by one of the organizations listed above. Course syllabi and other supporting documentation must be provided with the petition. If the student successfully completed at least 24 semester credits at a regionally accredited institution and the courses under consideration meet the University’s criteria for quality and college-level learning, partial credit may be awarded up to a maximum of 24 semester credits.

Elective courses to be taken at other regionally accredited institutions during the student’s enrollment at Eastern must be approved in advance. Permission forms are available on Eastern’s Web site at www.eastern.edu/registrar. Course grades and credits for transfer courses approved by the student’s program appear on the Eastern University transcript and the quality points are calculated into the student’s cumulative grade-point average.

Course Work Done Elsewhere by Eastern Students

Eastern students who desire to take course work at other colleges or universities, other than the special programs listed, should complete the form available on www.eastern.edu/registrar. Each course must have the signature approval of the Registrar. Courses in the student’s major above the 100 level must have the signature approval of the appropriate Eastern department chairperson before the student registers at the other school. No course may be assumed to be transferable. All 300 and 400 level courses required for a major are expected to be taken at Eastern. In exceptional circumstances, the department and dean may permit such a course to be taken elsewhere. Requests for exceptions must be submitted in writing. Most course work taken elsewhere occurs in the summer.

Course work approved to be taken at other institutions is treated exactly the same as course work taken at Eastern University. That is, the grades and credit hours earned appear on the Eastern University transcript and the quality points are calculated into the student’s cumulative grade-point average.

Students who have been approved to take course work elsewhere and who are recipients of student aid must submit the Financial Aid Consortium Agreement. This document, when submitted to the host institution and returned to Eastern, will inform Eastern’s Financial Aid Office of the student’s cost to attend the off-campus program. The student’s budget will be adjusted accordingly and will be taken into account when the student’s aid is calculated. Consortium Agreements are usually not processed for summer study.

Credit by Examination

Eastern University will accept a maximum of 60 credit hours from any combination of Advanced Placement (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), Excelsior College Examinations, DSST, and International Baccalaureate (IB).

AP (Advanced Placement)

Students who take college-level courses in high school and earn a score of 3, 4, or 5 on the Advanced Placement test, administered by the College Board, can receive college credit and placement determined by University faculty. Scores accepted and credit awarded is subject to departmental approval.

IB (International Baccalaureate)

Eastern University will award up to 30 credits for the International Baccalaureate. Diploma exams with scores of 5, 6 or 7 will be evaluated for transfer credit and applied as core, major or elective courses depending on the subject. Credit will not be duplicated for equivalent college courses or AP exams in the same subjects.

CLEP (College-Level Examination Program)

The College-Level Examination Program of the College Board offers a means by which colleges and universities can grant credit for college-level achievement acquired by traditional or non-traditional methods. Eastern grants credit for Subject Examinations, which measure knowledge in specific undergraduate subjects, and General Examinations. Some University departments may restrict the major courses for which CLEP credit may be granted. Consult the Office of the Registrar for additional information. Further information may be obtained by writing to

CLEP
CN 6600
Princeton, New Jersey 08541

or e-mail at clep@ets.org or go to www.collegeboard.com/CLEP.

The Financial Aid Office cannot consider CLEP credits applied in a semester as credits being taken in that semester for the purposes of financial aid, e.g., a student receiving an Eastern scholarship enrolls for 9 credits and receives 3 CLEP credits in the same semester. The student would not receive full-time aid and would not receive the Eastern scholarship in that semester because the student is not “enrolled” full-time.