Roughly 70 percent of our students enroll with credits earned at other colleges and universities.

You, too, may be eligible to transfer credits earned at other colleges. You may be able to earn credits from your work/life experience. These are great ways to reduce the amount of time it takes for you to earn your diploma!

Transferring Previous College Credits to Champlain

To earn transfer credits for previous college courses you must submit official (“raised seal”) copies of your transcripts. All previous college credit will be reviewed individually.

The Champlain College transfer credit policy reads as follows:

A course taken at another institution may substitute for a required Champlain College course if the two courses are substantially similar, even though the course titles may differ. A student who transfers from another college may receive up to 30 of the required credit hours for an associate’s degree or up to 75 credits toward a bachelor’s degree—provided that the credit is transferred from an accredited institution, similar or elective courses are offered at Champlain College and the student has received a grade of C or better in that course. 

Are you transferring from the Community College of Vermont?

Champlain College and CCV have a dual enrollment agreement to make completing your associate degree and moving on to your bachelor's degree a seamless process.

How does Champlain determine if a course is similar and eligible to transfer?

Decisions regarding credit awarded are based on criteria provided by the faculty in the related academic area of the College and comparing that criterion to the description of the course from the previous college.

Credit hours for transferred courses are given full value, but grades are not transferred to the student’s permanent record at Champlain College and do not become a part of the cumulative quality point average (CQPA) at Champlain College.

How many credits may I transfer to Champlain?

To be eligible for a degree from Champlain College you must complete the academic requirements of the degree, have at least a 2.0 GPA and:

To earn an Associate’s Degree: You must complete a total of 60 credits. You may transfer in up to 30 credits from a regionally accredited institution, at the discretion of Champlain College, but you must complete at least 30 credits at Champlain to be awarded an Associate’s degree. (Accounting students, if you intend to sit for the CPA please speak to one of our counselors regarding the credit requirements of your state. We have several options available to meet the different state requirements.)

To earn a Bachelor’s Degree: You must complete a total of 120 credits. You may transfer in up to 75 credits from a regionally accredited institution, at the discretion of Champlain College, but you must earn at least 45 credits at Champlain College, including the fourth-year course requirements for the major or concentration. (Accounting students, if you intend to sit for the CPA please speak to one of our counselors regarding the credit requirements of your state. We have several options available to meet the different state requirements.)

How does Champlain determine if a course is similar and eligible to transfer?

Decisions regarding credit awarded are based on criteria provided by the faculty in the related academic area of the College and comparing that criterion to the description of the course from the previous college.

Will a course transferred in help or hurt my GPA?

Credit hours for transferred courses are given full value, but grades are not transferred to the student’s permanent record at Champlain College and do not become a part of the cumulative quality point average (CQPA) at Champlain College.

I have several IT courses on my transcript, will they transfer?

That depends. Due to the quickly changing nature of IT, technical courses taken many years ago may have to be repeated because of substantial changes in the field or emerging technologies.

How can I find out what courses will transfer before I go through the application process?

An unofficial transfer credit evaluation may be conducted free of charge at any time. Official transfer credit evaluations will be done for students after they have applied for and been accepted for admission to Champlain College.

Transferring Champlain College credits to other institutions

Many institutions accept Champlain College credits. The decision to transfer a particular course credit is made by the receiving institution and NOT Champlain. Champlain College is a fully regionally accredited institution, which means most other colleges and universities will accept our credits. However, as is the case with the credits we accept, other colleges should also review our course content to determine if it is substantially similar. Be wary of colleges that will transfer all of your prior college credits without examining them first, and of colleges that do not have a limit on the amount of credits they will transfer in. 

Work/Life Experience

We respect that learning occurs through work and life experiences and that—sometimes—this learning can be applied toward degree programs. There are several options from which you can earn and transfer this credit to Champlain College. Contact one of our counselors for a free evaluation of your prior experiences. 

• Waivers or substitutions We welcome requests for waivers and substitutions in cases where students have equivalent professional experience or lifelong learning. All waivers and substitutions must be authorized by the appropriate program director or the dean. All waivers/substitutions result in the course requirement being met, but credit is not awareded and another course must be taken in its place.
• Challenge exams Champlain offers challenge examinations which can result in the waiver of a course requirement.
• External credentials Professional certifications may provide evidence of sufficient content knowledge in a specific area to be considered for a waiver.
• Portfolio assessments We will accept credit through prior learning assessment programs (typically portfolio assessments) from other accredited institutions.
• CLEP (and other nationally recognized exams) Another option to garner alternative credits is to take college-level examinations through the College Board. These course credits, called CLEP tests, are accepted nationally and internationally and are recommended by the American Council on Education. CLEP is probably the best test-based option to earn college credit.
• AARTS/SMARTS (for military personnel) We will evaluate military transcripts for applicable transferable credit.
• PONSI (The National Program on Non-Collegiate Sponsored Instruction) Through PONSI, you may be able to earn college credit for non-collegiate professional development or training.