CLEP Transferring Question

[kmsou]

Since it's the holidays, I won't be able to ask the college until after January 2nd, but I'm sure someone on here has dealt with this.

I intend to transfer to a 4-year school from my 2-year school, and plan on CLEPing about 53 credits that I know the 4-year will accept. I plan on taking about 20 credits or more at the 2-year school to get my GPA up and be able to go straight into my degree program. The 4-year school only accepts 60 credits from a 2-year school, and 92 from a 4-year. Do you think that the CLEPs will count along with the 60 transferable credits, or will it only count 20 2-year credits and add the 53 CLEP credits to my 4-year transcript?

Or should I just aim for 60 credits in total, then CLEP out more when I get to the 4-year? I only need about 42 credits at the 4-year for my program, so I want to earn extra elective credits through CLEP.

Thanks for any information. I'm contacting the school as soon a I can.

[clep3705]

In Texas, if you transfer courses into a state supported university, CLEP credit awarded directly by the university you are transferring to does not count against the limit on transferrable hours. Consider the following scenario:

1. 36 hours of community college credit
2. 30 hours of CLEP
3. transfer to a university, all of the 66 comes in as transferred hours (the CLEP hours are now considered transfer hours, not CLEP hours) and nothing else can transferred in
4. you discover that the university award CLEP credit for exactly half of your community college CLEP hours
5. send CLEP transcript to the university
6. the university directly issues you credit for 15 hours of CLEP, which means that what were 15 transferred hours are no longer transferred hours from another school - you are free to transfer in another 15 hours

[kmsou]

Thank you for your reply!

I'm still very new to understanding college procedures so I certainly will contact them as soon as possible regardless. I am transferring to a public 4-year school in South Carolina. I've gone in with the 4-year university's CLEP procedure in mind--it lists on the website exactly how many credits each CLEP awards, and their allowable CLEPs are very limited, but still I could easily get 53 credits over with that will transfer for exactly 53 credits. The community college has about the same credits awarded give or take one or two for a few.

I know when I go to take the CLEP, it says it will send the results to the university of my choosing, but obviously I haven't been accepted to the 4-year school yet. I would prefer to CLEP out of all I can up until I start the 2-year school this fall, then just finish up community college credits through the school and the maymester fast-forward classes until I could start the 4-year school in either the fall or spring.

However I need to work it, I'd prefer to just be able to only have to take the required 42 credit hours at the 4-year in my degree program, so I'd like to transfer/CLEP out of 73 - 78 credits however I may do that.

[Shawn A]

Since it's the holidays, I won't be able to ask the college until after January 2nd, but I'm sure someone on here has dealt with this.

I intend to transfer to a 4-year school from my 2-year school, and plan on CLEPing about 53 credits that I know the 4-year will accept. I plan on taking about 20 credits or more at the 2-year school to get my GPA up and be able to go straight into my degree program. The 4-year school only accepts 60 credits from a 2-year school, and 92 from a 4-year. Do you think that the CLEPs will count along with the 60 transferable credits, or will it only count 20 2-year credits and add the 53 CLEP credits to my 4-year transcript?

Or should I just aim for 60 credits in total, then CLEP out more when I get to the 4-year? I only need about 42 credits at the 4-year for my program, so I want to earn extra elective credits through CLEP.

Thanks for any information. I'm contacting the school as soon a I can.

CLEP should be counted as transfer credit, since you did not earn the "CLEP Credit" at the 2-year school. You earned the "CLEP Credit" on you own.

Good luck!

[sanantone]

It is common for colleges to have 3 different transfer limits: community college, nontraditional credits, and overall transfer credits. If there is not a limit for nontraditional credits such as CLEP, then they will fall into the category overall transfer credit limit. Either way, they will count toward the overall transfer credit limit. The CLEP credits are not community college credits. I'm sure your school has at least a 25% residency requirement meaning that you have to complete around 30 credits of their courses on the semester system or 45 credits on the quarter system. It sounds like your college has an overall transfer credit limit of 92 credits. A 92 transfer credit limit from a 4-year college and a 60 transfer credit limit from a 2-year college does not mean you can transfer up to 152 credits unless you're on the quarter system. The transfer credits from 2-year colleges will count toward the overall transfer credit limit of 92.

[kmsou]

It is common for colleges to have 3 different transfer limits: community college, nontraditional credits, and overall transfer credits. If there is not a limit for nontraditional credits such as CLEP, then they will fall into the category overall transfer credit limit. Either way, they will count toward the overall transfer credit limit. The CLEP credits are not community college credits. I'm sure your school has at least a 25% residency requirement meaning that you have to complete around 30 credits of their courses on the semester system or 45 credits on the quarter system. It sounds like your college has an overall transfer credit limit of 92 credits. A 92 transfer credit limit from a 4-year college and a 60 transfer credit limit from a 2-year college does not mean you can transfer up to 152 credits unless you're on the quarter system. The transfer credits from 2-year colleges will count toward the overall transfer credit limit of 92.

Thank you : ) I am only wanting to transfer around 76 - 78 credits in total, 52 being CLEP, about 24 being from the 2-year school (I had thought only 15-20 originally, but 24 is ideal.) Definitely not looking to transfer 152 credits or anything. The 4-year school requires 42 of the credits to be at the school per the specific degree program anyway so I know I'll be doing 42 credits when I get there, but I'd like to try for 78 credits before I get there to save money at the 4-year and only take classes specifically for the program.

I looked online and didn't see anything about non-traditional credit transfer limits so I had no idea that most schools had three different limits. It only said 2-year and 4-year transfer limits, so I wasn't sure where the CLEPS would stand.

[cookderosa]

Thank you : ) I am only wanting to transfer around 76 - 78 credits in total, 52 being CLEP, about 24 being from the 2-year school (I had thought only 15-20 originally, but 24 is ideal.) Definitely not looking to transfer 152 credits or anything. The 4-year school requires 42 of the credits to be at the school per the specific degree program anyway so I know I'll be doing 42 credits when I get there, but I'd like to try for 78 credits before I get there to save money at the 4-year and only take classes specifically for the program.

I looked online and didn't see anything about non-traditional credit transfer limits so I had no idea that most schools had three different limits. It only said 2-year and 4-year transfer limits, so I wasn't sure where the CLEPS would stand.

If you complete the AA or AS at the 2 year school, you'll be eligible to transfer your credit as a "block" of credit, and the 2 year school's CLEP policy is in in play. If you transfer your credits loose, meaning outside of a AA or AS degree, then the 4 year school will evaluate your CLEP credit. Know that the school that you complete a degree with has presiding authority over what's accepted, so be sure to look very carefully at the CLEP policy of the 4 year school if you do not intend on using the 2 year school for a degree. If the difference in CLEP policy is minor, then I'd get the full block transfer inside of a written articulation agreement- that gives you other options down the road if you change majors or schools (beyond the scope of your question). If you intend on only using the 2 year school as a place to earn credit, then there is no reason to send them your CLEP scores at all. Just wait and send scores + transcript when you're ready to apply. Good luck!