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Utah Valley University
Policies and Procedures

Title Undergraduate Credit and Transcripts Number 522
Section Student Affairs Approval Date Nov 12,1998
Subsection Academic Standards, Credits, and Grades Effective Date Nov 12,1998
I. Policy

  1. Credit Requirements

    1. Residence. At least 10 credit hours in residence at UVU or satellite sites are required for one-year certificates; 20 credit hours for associate degrees and diplomas; and 30 credit hours for baccalaureate degrees, 10 of which must have been completed within the last 45 hours earned.
    2. Credit. A candidate for a degree, diploma, or certificate must complete the following: a minimum of 60-63 credit hours for an associate degree, 50 credit hours for a diploma, and 30 credit hours for a one-year certificate. A candidate for a baccalaureate degree must complete a minimum of 120-126 credit hours--40 of which must be upper division credits (level 300 and above).
    3. Grade-Point Average. A cumulative grade point average of 2.0 "C" is required for graduation. In some programs, grades below 2.0 will not be accepted for graduation (see individual program requirements).
    4. Cooperative Education. The maximum number of co-op credits that may be applied toward a certificate is 8; a diploma, 14; an associate or bachelor's degree, 16 credit hours. Departments define how co-op credit is applied to specific programs. If additional co-op credit is desired for a specific educational objective, it may be taken (but not applied toward graduation) with approval of the student's cooperative education coordinator, director of cooperative education, and the appropriate chair and dean. Students must take co-op which is directly associated with their certificate, diploma or degree.
    5. Experiential/Challenge Credit. No more than 25 percent of the credits applied toward an associate degree, diploma, or certificate may be awarded through experiential and/or challenge credit. Regardless of the certificate, diploma, or degree (including baccalaureate degrees), 16 credit hours of experiential/challenge credit is the maximum that may be applied.
    6. Advanced Placement Credit. As long as residence, credit, and grade point average requirements have been met, there is no limit to the number of Advanced Placement credits which may be accepted.
    7. CLEP Credit. The number of credits given through CLEP subject examinations is determined by the appropriate departments.
    8. Multiple Degrees.
      1. Individuals may earn either an AS or an AA degree and may, in addition, earn AAS degree/s and bachelor degree/s. A student having an AS/AA degree from another college may not earn another AS/AA degree at UVU. However, a student having an AAS degree from another college may earn additional AAS degree/s and/or an AS/AA degree at UVU, as well as earning a bachelor's degree and multiple emphases.
      2. Additional AAS degrees may be awarded when all requirements for each degree are satisfied.
      3. A second bachelor's degree may be awarded when all requirements for both degrees are satisfied, along with the following:
        1. All UVU general education requirements must be satisfied.
        2. Thirty semester hours beyond the original degree must be completed.
        3. Twenty semester hours of the 30 hours in No. 2 above must be completed at UVU (resident hours).
    9. Multiple emphases.
      1. Additional emphases under a specific bachelor's degree may be earned by completion of the requirements for those emphases. Additional emphases will appear on transcripts, but no additional diplomas will be awarded.
    10. Transcripts
      1. After grades are processed at the end of each semester, they are entered on students' transcripts and grade reports are produced for each student from the Computer Center. Grade reports are mailed to students at the end of the term.
      2. The Coordinator of Grades and Records is responsible for all changes and additions to the transcript such as grade changes, challenge credit, repeats, etc.
II. Procedures
  1. Transfer Credit
    1. All official incoming transcripts are automatically posted and copies are forwarded to the Transfer Credit Office for evaluation of general education credits. Once the evaluation is completed, transcripts are forwarded to appropriate departments for evaluation of major credits. All transcripts must be received by the Admissions Office directly from the transferring college. Hand-carried transcripts are not considered official and will not be used for transfer credit evaluation.
    2. Transfer courses with grades below "C-" are not accepted. Individual departments reserve the right to impose a limit to the age of transfer credit accepted. As long as all residence, credit, and grade point average requirements are met, there is no limit to the number of transfer credits which may be accepted.
    3. Transfer credit is input to the computer by Transfer Credit Office personnel. Transfer courses are posted on the computer system with the grades earned. The transferring grades, however, are not calculated into UVU's grade point average.
    4. Transfer Credit Office personnel evaluate transcripts listing course work for which an equivalent course is not found on the computerized equivalency tables maintained by the Transfer Credit office. Copies of transcripts which contain departmental courses not already found on the tables are forwarded to the appropriate department for review and evaluation. The Transfer Credit Office will input the resulting decisions on the equivalency tables. General Studies course work not found on the tables is evaluated in the Transfer Credit Office with the approval, when necessary, of appropriate deans.
    5. Baccalaureate degree: If subject content is equivalent, 100- or 200-level courses transferred from other institutions may be substituted for UVU upper-division courses. However, these courses will not satisfy upper division credit-hour requirements.
  2. Repeats
    1. Repeats are automatically posted on transcripts each term. Repeats are not posted on any class from which the student has withdrawn. The last grade obtained for a repeated class is the one that computes into the student's GPA. The transcript shows that this class has been repeated. When adding repeats to the SACMIS screen (before Fall 1986) the cumulative hours and points must be changed on the SIS screens.
    2. Courses are not accepted from other institutions for the purpose of posting a repeat of a course already taken at UVU.
  3. Challenge Credit (Equivalency Examination and/or Documentation of Earned Competency)
    1. Credit for any course that appears in the current catalog may be awarded to individuals who can prove through appropriate assessment and/or documentation that they have already acquired the equivalent knowledge and/or expertise required for successful completion of that course.
    2. To receive experiential/challenge credit for a specific course, the student must
      1. be admitted to the institution and currently enrolled for at least 3 semester hours of credit;
      2. complete the semester in which the challenge credit is awarded with at least 3 earned semester hours of credit, excluding the challenge credit;
      3. obtain department chair approval prior to step 4;
      4. pay in advance a nonrefundable processing fee;
      5. complete a comprehensive examination (theoretical and/or applied) with at least a "C-" grade and/or provide documentation of practical experience to the satisfaction of the department chairperson and dean showing course objectives have been met; OR complete an advanced course with a grade of "C-" or higher (if deemed necessary by the department) as a validation procedure;
      6. pay a fee for each approved credit hour.
    3. A specific course may be challenged only once.
    4. As in III(B)(5) above, a course may be challenged through prior permission of the department chairperson by allowing enrollment in an advanced class that typically would require previous course work when there is valid evidence that the student may have already achieved the required competency. The competency may have been attained through work experience and/or private study. If the student is successful in the advanced class (grade "C-" or better), he/she may apply through the department chairperson for credit for classes taken in sequence up to the challenged class, at a fee for each credit hour.
    5. Duplicate credit will not be awarded.
  4. Language Challenge Procedures
    1. Students who have acquired proficiency in languages offered at the institution by means other than college courses (high school, foreign residency, etc.) may earn up to 18 credit hours. However, to qualify for those credits, a student must complete a course in that language at a higher level than the credits for which he/she applies, and the grade in that course must be a "C-" or better.
    2. To qualify for credit for language courses not offered at the institution, a student may take the appropriate language test at any accredited four-year institution and provide the institution with the satisfactory ("C-") test results.
    3. Proficiency tests to determine placement (not credit) in advanced courses are administered in the UVU Assessment Center prior to the beginning of each semester. Students unsure of their language skills should take the test or receive permission from the course instructor before registering for advanced classes.
    4. Students who qualify for credit under the above provisions (for example, they place in and successfully complete Spanish 201 with at least a "C-" grade, thus qualifying for the credits for the previous courses--101 and 102) must petition for those credits (application forms are available) and pay a fee for each credit hour; no additional tuition will be charged for those credits. The credits will be listed on transcripts as "CR" (credit) and are not calculated in the GPA.
  5. Advanced Placement Credit
    1. In recognition of the Advanced Placement Program sponsored by the College Entrance Examination Board, students who complete an Advanced Placement course in high school and receive a grade of 3, 4, or 5 on the corresponding Advanced Placement Examination will be granted up to 8 credits in that subject. Credit will be posted as a "CR" grade and will not be calculated in the GPA. If all residence, credit, and grade point average requirements are met, there is no limit to the number of Advanced Placement credits which may be accepted.
  6. College Level Examination Program Credit (CLEP)
    1. Students may receive college credit for CLEP examinations as specified on the approved list in the Academic Advisement Center. Additionally, students intending to transfer to another institution from UVU should articulate with their intended transfer institutions to gain advance information on how that institution accepts CLEP credit. CLEP credit will be posted as a "CR" grade and will not be calculated in the GPA. The amount of credit given through CLEP subject examinations is determined by the appropriate departments.
Cara O'Sullivan, Policy Officer | mailto:cara.osullivan@uvu.edu | (801) 836-7355
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