Transfer and Articulation

All lower-division academic courses shall be fully transferable among public institutions in Texas. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board rules (Chapter 5, Subchapter S, Section 5.390) state:

Requirements and Limitations

• Each institution of higher education shall identify in its undergraduate catalog each lower-division course that is substantially equivalent to an academic course listed in the current edition of the Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual.
• All colleges and universities must identify at least 42 semester credit hours of academic courses that are substantially equivalent to courses listed in the Lower-Division Academic Course Guide Manual, including those that fulfill the lower-division portion of the institution’s core curriculum.
• All public colleges and universities must accept for credit successfully completed courses identified in the first two bullets above as applicable to an associate or baccalaureate degree in the same manner as credit awarded to non-transfer students in that major.
• Each institution shall be required to accept in transfer into a baccalaureate degree the number of lower-division credit hours in a major which are allowed for their non-transfer students in that major; however,
  • No institution shall be required to accept in transfer more credit hours in a major than the number set out in the applicable Coordinating Board approved Transfer Curriculum for that major, as prescribed by the current issue of the Coordinating Board’s Guide to Transfer Curricula and Transfer of Credit, Transfer of Credit Policies and Curricula;
  • In any major for which there is no Coordinating Board-approved Transfer Curriculum, no institution shall be required to accept in transfer more lower-division course credit in the major applicable to a baccalaureate degree than the institution allows its non-transfer students in that major; and
  • A university may deny the transfer of credit in courses with a grade of “D” as applicable to the student’s major.
• All senior institutions of higher education in Texas shall provide support services for transfer students equivalent to those provided to non-transfer students regularly enrolled at the institutions, including an orientation program for transfer students equivalent to that provided for entering freshmen.
• No university shall be required to accept in transfer or toward a degree more than 66 semester credit hours of academic credits earned by a student in a community college. Universities, however, may choose to accept additional credit hours.

Resolution of Transfer Disputes for Lower-Division Courses

The following procedures shall be followed by public institutions of higher education in the resolution of credit transfer disputes involving lower-division courses:

• If an institution of higher education does not accept course credit earned by a student at another institution of higher education, the receiving institution shall give written notice to the student and to the sending institution that transfer of the course is denied.
• A receiving institution shall also provide written notice of the reasons for denying credit for a particular course or set of courses at the request of the sending institution.
• A student who receives notice as specified above may dispute the denial of credit by contacting a designated official at either the sending or the receiving institution.
• The two institutions and the student shall attempt to resolve the transfer of the course credit in accordance with the Coordinating Board’s rules and guidelines.
• If the transfer dispute is not resolved to the satisfaction of the student or the sending institution within 45 days after the date the student received written denial, the institution that denies the course credit for transfer shall notify the commissioner of its denial and the reasons for the denial.

The Commissioner of Higher Education or the commissioner’s designee shall make the final determination about the dispute concerning the transfer of course credit and give written notice of the determination to the involved student and institutions.