Transfer coursework

Augustana has transfer initiatives for current students seeking to take courses over the summer, as well as resources for new students seeking to transfer to Augustana.

Transfer credit policy highlights

To be transferable, courses taken at another institution need not be exactly comparable to courses offered at Augustana, but should be in an academic program and at a level that is normally applicable to an Augustana liberal arts degree. Augustana transcripts include only a summary of credits accepted from other institutions in which the student earned a grade of C or higher. Transfer grades are not included in this summary, nor do they influence a student’s Augustana GPA. Please also see these helpful resources about transfer credits:

• Transfer Student Policies - policies for students who begin their studies as transfer students 
• Advanced Standing - transfer credits processes and procedures
• Pre-Enrollment Credit policies - how credit is applied for credit earned before Augustana
• Testing Credits policies - AP, IB and A-Level credit exams
• Credit Hour Policy - policies and procedures for how credits are earned
• Admissions for Transfer Students

A stricter criterion of comparability may be applied for a course to fulfill a general graduation requirement or a requirement for a major. Augustana does not accept coursework that is considered remedial in nature. 

Students may not transfer coursework if they have previously taken the courses at Augustana. See Course Repeat and Replacement and Advanced Standing for the policies and how to request a repeat of an Augustana course. 

For complete policies on transfer work visit the College Catalog.

Begin this process weeks, if not months, before the term you want to take a transfer course.

1. Talk with your advisor, to be sure transfer courses are necessary. Your Augustana tuition covers 34 credits per year, which is more credits than you need to complete a degree in four years. Your advisor can also help determine whether you need elective credit or a transfer course that satisfies a particular requirement.

2. Identify possible transfer courses using one of these online databases of courses Augustana has already reviewed:

   • Use the Transfer Evaluation System (TES) if you have a specific transfer college in mind and want to see all of its courses that Augustana has reviewed.
   • Use Transferology if you’re looking for a specific course and want to see all colleges that have a course Augustana considers equivalent.
   • Acadeum consortial and transfer courses are explained in more detail below. Most Augustana-approved Acadeum courses are also listed in TES and Transferology.

   Check the transfer college’s website for course dates and enrollment procedures. Augustana policy prohibits concurrent enrollment, meaning that Augustana students are not allowed to take transfer courses at the same time they’re taking Augustana courses.

3. Before enrolling in a transfer course, and to request evaluation of a course that isn’t yet listed in TES or Transferology, students must submit a Petition to Transfer Credit. An approved Petition ensures that the course will transfer as the student intends and is required before transfer work is applied to the student’s Augustana record.
   PLAN AHEAD! The Petition to Transfer Credit requires approval by the student’s advisor (or major department chair, when the college is closed) and the Registrar’s Office, as well as review by the Augustana department associated with the course content, if the course is not pre-approved. This process takes time, and students should submit the Petition to Transfer Credit weeks before the transfer course begins.
4. After completing the approved transfer course, the student must arrange to have an official transcript sent directly to Augustana from the other institution. Transcripts must be sent by mail or by official e-delivery. Augustana does not accept hand-delivered transcripts, including those sealed in an envelope. Please see the transcripts page for more information.  Students must send a transcript for every transfer course in which they enroll. Students may not pick and choose which courses are applied to their Augustana record.

Augustana students have the option of enrolling in online summer courses from other colleges and universities through a course sharing platform called Acadeum. 

Courses taken through Acadeum are billed at the same rate as Augustana online courses, which is $600 per credit for summer 2024 through spring 2025. Augustana helps facilitate enrollment and billing; however, students enrolling through Acadeum become students at the partnering institution for the duration of the course and are subject to that institution's policies and procedures.

Two different types of courses are offered through Acadeum, Consortial and Transfer. They differ in important ways, and not every student is eligible for both types. 

1. Consortial Courses.  Augustana students in good academic standing can take a summer online consortial course through Acadeum. A consortial course appears on the student's Augustana transcript as an Augustana course (though with a special section number to indicate that it was not actually taken at Augustana), and the grade earned in a consortial course impacts the student's Augustana GPA. Consortial courses cannot be counted among the minimum of 60 credits in-residence at Augustana that are required for graduation, and they cannot be included among the last 12 credits applied to the degree.

2. Transfer Courses. Transfer courses are an option both for current students in good academic standing at Augustana and for former students who are not currently enrolled but intend to return to Augustana (e.g., students who are suspended for academic reasons, students taking a gap semester for personal reasons, etc.)  

• As with other transfer courses, students need to complete the petition to transfer credit form before enrolling, and ideally weeks before the start of the course, to allow sufficient processing time. 
• Students who wish to transfer coursework that falls in their final 12 credits toward the degree must also receive permission via a Petition to the Committee on Advanced Standing and Degrees. 
• Once a transfer course is completed, the student must arrange to have the official transcript sent directly to Augustana from the other institution according to the Office of the Registrar’s instructions for sending transcripts.

Interested in Acadeum? Take the following steps:

1. Contact Augustana's Acadeum Initiatives Coordinator to discuss eligibility and course options.
2. Explore pre-approved courses in the Acadeum Portal.
   • To find consortial courses, filter by "Financial Aid Eligible". Transfer courses are not "Financial Aid Eligible".
   • Do not request registration in the Acadeum Portal at this point, unless you are an eligible student requesting a summer consortial course. June 28 is Augustana's deadline to submit an enrollment request for a summer consortial course. After June 28, Augustana allows summer Acadeum enrollment only in transfer courses, and you must follow the additional steps below before the add deadline for the course.
3. Submit the Petition to Transfer Coursework and any required Petitions to the Committee on Academic Standing and Degrees (AS&D). 
4. Forward your approved Petition(s) to acadeum-and-collegesource-initiatives@augustana.edu
5. Return to the Acadeum Portal and request registration in the course(s) for which you have an approved Petition to Transfer Coursework.

Important!

• If you are receiving federal financial aid for the summer term, it is vital to check with financial aid before dropping a course. Federal regulations could cause you to owe the college if you withdraw from a course or fail to begin a course for which you have registered.
• Augustana does not allow concurrent enrollment. Acadeum courses may not overlap with Augustana's fall or spring semester or with enrollment in an Augustana summer course, except by approval of an AS&D petition.
• Summer graduates: Any Acadeum courses must end in time for your transcript to be received by Augustana and processed by August 16. 

As a receiving institution within the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), Augustana will consider the six Learning Perspective (LP) requirements, the Quantitative (Q) requirement, and the first year sequence requirement (FYI 101 or FYH-101) fulfilled when a student transfers to Augustana having successfully completed the IAI’s General Education Package prior to initial enrollment at Augustana. 

Graduation requirements not automatically fulfilled by the IAI General Education Package include:

• Diversity Suffixes (D, G);
• LSC-300;
• Reasoned Examination of Faith (REF);  
• Health and Physical Education (PEA) activity requirement; and
• Second Language

However, individual credits and courses for all transfer students are evaluated on a case by case basis, so qualifying transfer courses may also be applied to the college-wide graduation requirements listed above as well as major requirements as Augustana policy allows.

While qualifying IAI students will have the above list of requirements noted as complete within their degree audit, courses that have earned a grade of “D” will not be placed on the student record as credit. Therefore, students should verify their classification (i.e. year in school as defined by credits) as they first enroll and determine how many credits they will need to earn while at Augustana to complete their intended program and the degree. Students should also consult the college’s additional transfer credit policies.

Other transfer agreements 

Augustana has several partnership agreements with community colleges. This option is only available to students who begin their studies at Augustana as a transfer student. Please visit our Transfer Student and Policies webpage for more information. 

New transfer students who have questions should see Transferring to Augustana. Students seeking information about transfer coursework should work directly with Rachel Gustafson, associate director of admissions and transfer enrollment.