The Basic Rules for Transfer Credit

When you transfer to LSA the following general rules apply to your transfer credit:

• Up to 60 credits may be transferred from other colleges and universities to count toward the 120 credits required for an LSA degree. Students who, prior to enrolling in U-M, complete an associate’s degree may transfer 62 credits. 
• If you have taken courses at an institution based on a different unit of credit (e.g., quarter credits or international credits), the credits will be converted to U-M semester credits. Grades do not transfer except for courses transferred from UM-Flint and UM-Dearborn.
• For more information regarding transfer credit visit the Official LSA Policy website. 

Check Your Credits to See How They Transfer

The Transfer Credit Equivalency Search

The Transfer Credit Equivalency Search (TCE) contains every class that has been submitted for evaluation as transfer credit and indicates if the course is Transferable or Not Transferable. Transfer equivalencies for courses from institutions outside the U.S are listed in a separate database. Watch a Step-by-step video on how to use the Transfer Credit Equivalency Search. 

If the course is not listed on the Transfer Credit Equivalency Search, that means no student has ever submitted it to have it transferred. These courses will be evaluated upon your acceptance to LSA.

Courses that are approved to transfer will be listed in one of the following ways:

• Equivalent Credit: A transferable class determined to be directly equivalent to an LSA class will be listed with a U-M course subject, number, and title indicating that it will appear on your transcript as to that specific LSA course.
• Departmental Credit: A transferable class that does not directly match a specific LSA class will be listed with the department subject, 101X, 201X, or 301X as the course number, and “Departmental” instead of a course title. 
  • The course number is determined by the level at which the course was offered at your previous school.
  • For example, HISTORY 201X: Departmental indicates that a class transfers as a History class and was taught at the 200-level but has not been determined to be equivalent to a specific history class taught at U-M.
• Interdepartmental Credit: A transferable class that contains content from multiple LSA departments will be listed with INTERSS, INTERHUM, INTERNS, or INTERID as the subject, 101X, 201X, or 301X as the course number, and one of the following as the course title: “Interdepartmental Humanities,” “Interdepartmental Nat Sci,” “Interdepartmental Soc Sci,” “Interdepartmental Interdepart.”
  • For example, an interdisciplinary social science course will be listed as INTERSS 101X: Interdepartmental Soc Sci.
• Transfer General Credit: A transferable class that does not fit into any U-M subject will be listed as TRGENCR 101X: Departmental. Courses transferring as TRGENCR will not count toward any specific degree requirement but will be elective credit and the credit hours will count toward the 120 credit requirement.
  •    Note: Only students transferring credit in Spring 2024 term and after will receive TRGENCR credit.  Prior to that no classes transferred as Transfer General Credit.     

Use Transfer Guides

The Transfer Credit Equivalency Search does not include details on how transferable courses fulfill LSA degree requirements. The transfer guides show how transfer credit will count toward specific LSA degree requirements.