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Transfer credits from accredited institutions are accepted by CU Boulder only after approval by the department chair/program director and under the special conditions outlined below. Transfer credit is defined as any credit earned at another accredited institution, credits earned on another campus of the CU system, or credits earned as a non-degree student within the CU system. Students seeking a degree from the University of Colorado Boulder must complete the majority of their course work while enrolled in a graduate program as a degree seeking student.

With the approval of the Graduate School and at the discretion of the unit, students may transfer up to and including 24 hours from a CU Boulder graduate certificate program, taken as a CU Boulder non-degree student, toward a graduate degree.

The following rules apply to transferring credit to CU Boulder graduate programs:

1. The maximum amount of work that may be transferred to CU Boulder depends upon the graduate degree sought. Individual departments may have more restrictive limits.
   • Master’s (except MFA): 9 semester hours
   • MFA: 18 semester hours
   • Doctoral: 21 semester hours
2. Work already applied toward a graduate degree received from CU Boulder or another institution cannot be accepted for transfer toward another graduate degree of the same level at CU Boulder. In addition, work completed for a doctoral degree may not be applied toward a subsequent master’s degree. Courses applied toward an undergraduate degree may not be transferred to the CU Boulder Graduate School.
3. All courses accepted for transfer must be graduate level courses. The course grade must be B or higher. Transfer course work which is to be applied to a graduate degree at CU Boulder and was completed more than 5 years prior to being accepted to the program shall be evaluated by the major department as to current relevance and applicability to the degree requirements. At the discretion of the department a student may be asked to validate transfer credits prior to approval.
4. Credit may not be transferred until the student has completed 6 credits of graduate level course work as a degree-seeking student on the CU Boulder campus with a 3.0 GPA. Transferred credits do not reduce the minimum registration requirement but may reduce the amount of work to be done in formal courses.
5. With the exception of students enrolled in a Bachelor’s-Accelerated Master’s degree program, seniors at CU Boulder may transfer a limited amount of graduate level work (up to 9 semester hours) provided such work:
   • Is completed with a grade of B or above at CU Boulder
   • Comes within the five year course time limit
   • Has not been applied toward another degree
   • Is recommended for transfer by the department concerned, and such transfer is approved by the Dean of the Graduate School

Last updated July 2023