Transfer Credit

Credit for Prior Learning

Students may fulfil degree requirements by successfully completing courses offered at Hope In-ternational University. Students may also secure credit for prior learning.

Undergraduate students are limited to two course substitutions within the Major Course Sequence through transfer credits. Students may not fulfil Major requirements through credit by examination or other types of credit for prior learning. Otherwise SGPS accepts an unlimited number of credits for prior learning within the bounds of the School’s residency requirements (18 units for an A.A. degree, 30 units for a B.S. degree, and all but 9 units for a master’s degree or credential) and the policies outlined below.

Decisions regarding the awarding of credit for prior learning are made by the Assistant Registrar for SGPS in consultation with the Dean. The Assistant Registrar provides students with transcript evaluations and other documents specifying the type and amount of credit granted. Policies go-verning credit for prior learning appear below:

Credit by Transfer. The School of Graduate and Professional Studies accepts transfer credits from the following types of institutions: Applicants must submit official transcripts from those institutions.

Other Colleges and Universities: The School of Graduate and Professional Studies accepts academic credits transferred from other colleges or universities according to the following criteria:

• The college or university must be an institution of higher education accredited by a re-gional accrediting body (e.g. WASC, NCA, SACS), national accrediting body (e.g. ABHE, TRACS), or professional accrediting body (e.g. NASM, NCATE) recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA). These accrediting bodies mandate assessment and other quality control systems that give Hope a high level of confidence in their programs.
• Other educational experiences will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis according to the following criteria: course/degree content, faculty credentials, and student performance. Applicants may be asked to provide course syllabi or other evidence needed to make those judgments. If experience shows that HIU can have confidence in a given college, then the Registrar may place it on a list of “approved colleges,” which will facilitate the transfer process. SGPS reserves the right to withhold recognition of credits awarded by any college or university that does not, in the opinion of the administration, meet rea-sonable academic standards.
• Students must have completed the transferred courses, earning a minimum grade of “C” (or “P” if the courses were offered on a Pass/Fail basis).
• The transferred courses must apply to an SGPS degree program as the equivalents of required courses (i.e. providing a similar knowledge base and/or competencies) or as appropriate electives.
• Students who transfer credits from non-English-speaking countries must provide SGPS with a certified translation of transcripts and course descriptions, as well as a detailed and comprehensive evaluation of the transcripts performed by Global Credential Evaluators (www.gcevaluators.com) or some other service approved by SGPS. A copy of the tran-script in the native language must accompany the certified translation.
• SGPS does not grant credit for remedial coursework, college orientation, high school level courses (apart from the Advanced Placement program described below), or General Education Development (GED) tests.
• SGPS does not grant credit for duplicated courses (e.g. Beginning Composition com-pleted at one college and Freshman English completed at another).
• If a course has been repeated for credit, the last grade earned will be used in the evalua-tion of the acceptance of credit.

Vocational Schools, Technical Colleges, or Institutes: Credits earned at vocational or technical institutions, which are equivalent in content to required SGPS courses, may be transferred to SGPS according to the policies stated above. A maximum of 12 such credits may be applied to SGPS as General Electives. If students have completed vocational programs based on clock hours, rather than credit hours, then transfer credit will be computed on the basis of 50 clock hours equaling 1 credit hour.

Concurrent Enrollment. Students may take courses at other institutions concurrently with studies at SGPS. To verify that credits are transferable to SGPS, students should follow this procedure:

• Complete a Petition to Take Coursework at Another College (www.hiu.edu/forms/pet_course_anoth_col.pdf), which includes the name of the proposed course, the place and dates it is offered, an official course description, and the SGPS re-quirement the course will fulfil.
• Secure advance approval in the form of a signature from the Assistant Registrar for SGPS, as well as the SGPS Dean.
• The Assistant Registrar will then place the signed Petition in the student’s file as a binding agreement. If the student completes the proposed course, earning the appropriate grade, then the SGPS requirement will be fulfilled.

Credit by Examination. Students may earn credits through the following examinations. Scores should be reported by the appropriate testing service. SGPS does not grant duplicate credit for subject areas covered by multiple examinations (e.g. AP credit for English and CLEP credit for English). The combined units earned through Credit by Examination and an Independent Learning Review (described below) may not exceed 37 units.

Advanced Placement (AP) Credit: SGPS participates in the Advanced Placement Program administered by the College Entrance Examination Board. Under this program, high school seniors take an advanced course in high school, followed by an exam that may qualify them for college credit. The most common test areas are English, Biology, and Psychology. Students who enroll at SGPS receive 6 credits for an AP English Literature and Composition test completed with a score of 3 or higher. SGPS students receive 3 credits for other AP tests completed with a score of 3 or higher. Students interested in securing possible AP credit should consult with their high school guidance counselors.
International Baccalaureate (IB) Credit: The International Baccalaureate program is a com-prehensive, rigorous, two-year curriculum requiring written and oral examinations and formal essays in college-level subjects. Students who enroll at the School of Graduate and Professional Studies may receive academic credit in subject areas in which they earn a score of 5 or higher on IB examinations.

College-Level Examination Program (CLEP): Students may also earn college credits through the College-Level Examination Program (CLEP). The CLEP General Examinations measure college-level knowledge in six basic areas of the liberal arts, while the Subject Examinations measure knowledge in specific content areas. Students who enroll at SGPS typically receive 3-6 credits for each CLEP examination completed with a score of 50 or higher. SGPS awards a maximum of 6 units of foreign language credit based on CLEP.

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) Credit: The American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) offers a series of examinations that test proficiency in many languages. SGPS students may earn a maximum 6 units through such tests, regardless of the number of exams completed.
DANTES, PEP, and Other Types of Credit by Examination: Students who enroll at SGPS may also secure credit through other standardized examinations. Examples include the U.S. mili-tary’s Defense Activity for Non-Traditional Educational Support tests (DANTES), which cover more than 50 disciplines, and the Proficiency Examination Program (PEP). Requests are handled on a case-by-case basis.

Challenge Examinations. Students may also earn academic credit by passing “challenge ex-aminations,” which demonstrate that students possess the knowledge, skills, and competencies developed through a given course. The following regulations govern challenge examinations:

1. The student must be registered in the challenged course and pay all tuition costs.
2. The challenge must be approved by the course instructor, the Department Chair, and the Dean of the School of Graduate and Professional Studies.
3. The student must submit a Petition to Challenge a Course form (www.hiu.edu/forms/pet_chall_course.pdf), approved by all personnel listed above, prior to the end of the second week of the course.
4. The cost for processing a challenge examination is $60, payable prior to the end of the third week of classes.
5. The challenge examination must be taken before the end of the third week of classes while the student is still attending the class.
6. If the student does not pass the challenge examination, then the student will remain in the course for the remainder of the term.
7. If the student passes the challenge examination, tuition for the class will be reduced to one-half of the normal fee.
8. The professor in charge of the challenge examination will notify the Registrar of the examination results.
9. If the student passes the challenge examination, the course will be posted on the transcript as CR.
   Credit for Military Training. Military training courses are evaluated according to the guidelines set forth by the American Council on Education (ACE) as published in the Guide to the Evaluation of Educational Experiences in the Armed Services. Students must submit all pertinent documen-tation to the Assistant Registrar for SGPS for evaluation. Military transfer courses should be reported on an Army American Council on Education Registry Transcript (AART) or Sailor/Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript (SMART)—or, if not available, on form DD295 for personnel still in service and on form DD214 for those discharged. For information on AART and SMART, call toll-free (866) 297-4427. SGPS typically awards 4-6 Physical Education credits for basic training.

Credit for Business and Industry Training. Business courses are evaluated according to the ACE National Guide to Educational Credit for Training Programs and/or the National Program on Non-College Sponsored Institutions (PONSI). Students must submit all pertinent documentation to the Director of Academic and Student Services for evaluation.

Credit for Other Life Experiences: The Independent Learning Review (ILR). The SGPS faculty recognizes that many students come to the University with college-level competencies that have been developed experientially or attained outside the traditional college classroom. Students who enroll in SGPS degree programs may obtain college credit for such competencies by suc-cessfully completing an Independent Learning Review (ILR).

Students requesting an ILR must assemble appropriate evidence for each claimed competency and submit it to the Assistant Registrar for SGPS. Evidence of competency may be illustrated, for example, through seminars, workshops, volunteer experiences, apprenticeships, formal on-the-job training, certificates, demonstrations, examinations, interviews, licenses, job descriptions, memoirs, papers, products, publications, publicity, references, and other appropriate materials. Students must demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and philosophical grounding typically taught in college-level courses offered by Hope International University.

After receiving these materials, the Assistant Registrar, in consultation with the Dean, appoints an ILR Committee consisting of Hope faculty members with expertise in the area(s) under consid-eration. The Committee then evaluates the evidence and sends its written recommendations to the Dean. Based upon the recommendations, the Dean may award academic credit according to the level of mastery displayed by the student, waive a required course(s) in the student’s degree pro-gram or substitute a more advanced course in the same area, or deny the student’s petition for credit based on life experience.

To cover expenses associated with the ILR Committee, SGPS charges a $75.00 Independent Learning Review Fee for each unit of credit awarded to the student.

The combined units earned through Credit by Examination (described above) and an Independent Learning Review may not exceed 37 units for an undergraduate degree or 9 units for a graduate degree or credential.