Credit Available to Undergraduate Students

The University of Wyoming offers credit towards an undergraduate degree through:

I. University of Wyoming Credit

Instructed Classes

Courses are offered on campus and at distance settings around the state, including recognized academic courses under faculty general supervision such as internships, clerkships, clinical experience, co‑op programs, etc.

Distance courses

Unlike some institutions, UW delivers courses at a distance through its mainstream academic departments, not through a separate academic unit. Academic department heads have the authority to assign instructors to distance-delivered courses, including online courses. They also have a responsibility to ensure that those courses are comparable in rigor and effectiveness to courses delivered face to face.

For this reason, when a department offers a UW course both face to face and at a distance, any UW student may satisfy any relevant university-, college-, and department-level requirements or elective credit by taking the course in either format.

Exceptions may arise when it is necessary to reserve space in a distance-delivered course for off-campus students, who can’t take the face-to-face version. In these cases, departments may reserve spaces for off-campus students. But to the extent that spaces remain available after all interested off-campus students have enrolled, these spaces must be available to interested on-campus students.

Credit by Examination

An examination of an appropriate type and content for the credit sought may be conducted to determine if the applicant’s proficiency is equivalent to that which could be expected upon completion of a college-level course in the subject. An applicant found to have this level of proficiency will be awarded credit for that course and allowed to proceed either with more advanced courses or with courses in other areas.

The use of credit by examination, or credit for prior learning, in graduate programs is not allowed.

Information concerning credit by examination can be obtained by contacting the Office of the Registrar.

Departmental Exams

While there is no maximum placed on the amount of credit earned by examination, credit so earned does not count in fulfilling the residency requirement of 30 hours of upper division University of Wyoming credit.

A student may not be allowed credit by examination in a course in which the student is currently or was previously enrolled either for credit or as a visitor or auditor, except that credit by examination may be used as a means to obtain credit for courses previously taken at institutions from which credit is nontransferable. A student may not challenge equivalent courses.

A student may not earn credit by examination in a course if the student has completed a course in the subject matter area above the level of the course for which the examination is sought. However, at the discretion of the departments involved, during the add/drop period a student may challenge a lower-level course while enrolled in a higher-level course in the same subject matter area, if the course challenged is a prerequisite for the course in which the student is currently enrolled.

If an examination exists, eligible students who pay the testing fee of $80.00 may not be denied an examination in the introductory undergraduate course in any department. “Introductory course” is interpreted as that course which is prerequisite for successive courses in the department. Additional fees for examinations offered by testing agencies other than the University of Wyoming are determined by the agency concerned.

Grades of S or U (satisfactory/unsatisfactory) are given in all examinations. Credit by examination is not included in the student’s grade point average; it is, however, included in the hours earned toward graduation. The grade of S is the equivalent of a C or better. See below for specific subject requirements. Entry on the student’s academic record for credit by examination is made only if a grade of S is obtained and is noted as a grade obtained by examination.

To qualify for undergraduate credit, the student must be currently registered at the University of Wyoming as a degree candidate. The student must also be able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the chair of the department involved that background experience has prepared him or her to attempt a challenge examination if such an examination is sought. The department chair’s decision will be based upon existing departmental constraints such as accreditation, graduation requirements, and program requirements.

Other Options Include:

• Subject CLEP tests
• AP tests
• International Baccalaureate (IB)
• DSST

Students showing proficiency by passing examinations such as the College Board Advanced Placement Program (AP), for example, or examinations developed by University of Wyoming departments may earn college credit through the level of demonstrated proficiency. Credit may be allowed on the basis of any testing procedure acceptable to any department, which may include tests of the AP program and both the general and subject (specific) examinations of the College Level Examinations Program (CLEP).

Advanced Placement (AP) Information

*Partial V: Students receiving partial V credit may satisfy the Wyoming government portion of the requirement by taking an exam on Wyoming State politics.

College Level Examination Prep (CLEP)

DANTES Standardized Subject Tests (DSST)

International Baccalaureate (IB)

Portfolio Evaluations

In recognition of factors in our society that produce great individual differences in backgrounds and preparation of students entering the university, the university has developed various options to assess extrainstitutional college-level learning. To qualify for undergraduate credit, the student must be currently registered at the University of Wyoming as a degree candidate.

Credit based on faculty evaluation of the kinds and extent of collegelevel learning which an applicant has acquired in prior extra-institutional settings, evidenced in a portfolio of documentation, may count toward university undergraduate graduation requirements. In such event, the student’s degree program can be enriched by freeing time needed to take additional courses, or accelerated to earn the baccalaureate degree earlier and commence postgraduate studies sooner.

The number of credit hours able to be earned by means of a portfolio evaluation is normally limited to 12. Such credit, when awarded, shall be for specific University of Wyoming content-oriented courses (rather than given as X number of hours of credit in a general discipline area), following the college course model of assessment as defined by the Council for Adult and Experiential Learning. Portfolio assessment, when used, will be conducted by a committee of appropriate tenured faculty including at least one member with the academic rank of professor. All credit assigned for experiential learning based upon portfolio evaluations is excluded from the minimum credit hour requirements as set forth in the university requirements.

II. Transfer Credit

Transfer credit includes college courses accepted from other regionally-accredited colleges or universities. Such course work must be considered equivalent or comparable to course work required by the University of Wyoming. 

Students transferring to UW must have the registrar or records office of the previous school(s) send an official transcript to the University of Wyoming Admissions Office to complete their application for admission. Once all final transcripts have been received by the Admissions Office, the degree analysts in the Office of the Registrar will create an electronic record of all courses that transfer to UW. Students may however, submit unofficial transcripts for a Pre Transfer Credit Evaluation (PreTCE) to request an unofficial evaluation prior to application or admission.

Evaluations are not accomplished for students working toward a Second Bachelor’s Degree or those admitted as non-degree seeking. Second Bachelor’s students should consult with their adviser concerning the applicability of transfer work to their UW degree program.

Nontraditional credits awarded by another institution will not normally be accepted by the University of Wyoming. They may be validated by departmental exam within the faculty regulations allowing for such examinations.

a. Standard Administrative Policy and Procedure (Published 6-1-23)

1. Lower-Division transfer credit is evaluated for equivalency centrally within Enrollment Management.

a. UW’s Academic Colleges/Schools with external accreditation and/or licensure requirements work closely with Enrollment Management offices to ensure transfer equivalencies comply with these external review agencies’ requirements.

b. Representatives from UW participate in a state-wide CCNS committee to evaluate and determine equivalencies for all lower-division common courses offered at all public institutions in the state of Wyoming.

c. If a lower-division course at the sending institution is determined to be equivalent to an upper-division course at UW, it must carry the course attribute “ULWR” in Banner. This attribute ensures that these lower division transfer courses will not apply to the upper-division credit requirement.

d. If a lower-division course has no equivalent to a UW course, it will transfer as an elective (ELEC 1000 or ELEC 2000, depending on the course number at the sending institution).

2. Upper-Division transfer credit is evaluated for equivalency by faculty within the applicable academic unit. Equivalencies determined by faculty will be recorded in Banner.

a. Representatives from UW who participate in a state-wide CCNS committee must confer with faculty to determine equivalencies for any common courses offered at the upper division at all public institutions in the state of Wyoming.

b. If an upper-division course at the sending institution is determined to be equivalent to a lower-division course at UW by the faculty, it must carry the course attribute “UPDV” in Banner. This attribute ensures that these upper-division courses will apply to the upper-division credit requirement but may not satisfy upper-division course requirements for a specific degree program. Applied courses may not fulfill upper division credit requirements.

c. If an upper-division course has no equivalent to a UW course, it will transfer as ELEC 3000 or ELEC 4000 (depending on the course number at the sending institution). These equivalencies should be reviewed/updated on an annual basis.

d. UW baccalaureate degrees require a minimum number of upper division credits, and a specified amount credit that must be earned “in residence” at the University of Wyoming, as defined in University Regulation 2-103.

1) Students who transfer more than 12 upper-division credits must still complete at least 30 upper-division credits in residence at UW.

2) Academic programs have the authority to require stricter upper division residency requirements than the University minimum. The number of upper-division transfer credits allowed to apply to major requirements varies by program.

3) Credit is awarded credit hour for credit hour. Quarter hours are recognized as two-thirds (2/3) of a semester hour.

e. Determination of upper-division course equivalencies will be made by faculty within three (3) business days of submitted transcripts and applicable supporting materials being available for review. If no determination is made, or faculty are unavailable for review, the course will be routed to the applicable college/school/unit leadership for determination to be rendered within two (2) business days. If no decision is made within this timeframe, a decision will be made by the Provost or their designee(s) within two (2) business days.

3. Second Bachelor’s Degrees. The bulk of credit will be transferred as a block of credit. The faculty of the academic unit where the second degree will be earned will determine if any specific courses will be transferred. Only courses necessary for completion of degree requirements will be loaded individually. See below for University Studies Program (USP) requirements for second bachelor’s degree holders.

4. Applied Degrees. Courses taken as part of an applied degree program or offered as an applied course may not be eligible for transfer into a nonapplied degree program.

5. Prior Learning Assessment including Credit-by-Examination (Advanced Placement (AP), College-Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate (IB), Dantes), Military Course Credit, Internships, and Portfolio Analysis are evaluated in accordance with UW regulations.

a. AP, CLEP, IB, and Dantes equivalencies are published in the University Catalog, under “Credit Available to Undergraduate Students.”

b. Credit awarded via challenge exam at another institution may not transfer to UW.

6. International credit (including most study-abroad credit) for coursework completed at nationally accredited higher education institutions abroad is evaluated and awarded based on the standard evaluation process.

a. For programs holding program-level accreditation, faculty should be consulted for course equivalency.

b. International coursework transferring as equivalent to an upper-division UW course must be approved by faculty.

7. Graduate transfer credit is evaluated for equivalency by faculty within the applicable academic unit.Graduate transfer policy is published in the University Catalog under “Graduate Student Regulations and Policies.”

8. Vocational/Career training-related credit (e.g., Welding, Auto Repair/Mechanic, Fire Science, Farrier coursework, etc.) cannot be applied to an academic baccalaureate degree program. It may, however, transfer for a Bachelor of Applied Science. In Banner, these courses should be articulated to transfer as either “NA/0 - Not Applicable” or “ELEC 1100 - Bach Applied Science Electives.” Academic credits earned for an AAS degree may be transferable.

B. USP Policies

1. USP Certification: Transfer students matriculating with a qualifying degree earned from a regionally accredited postsecondary institution will be considered “USP Certified” and will satisfy the lower-division general education categories as outlined below (credit will only be awarded for academic courses completed successfully at the sending institution). Note that a waiver of a USP category does not satisfy course prerequisites or specific degree requirements (e.g., if a program requires Calculus, but a student has taken Trigonometry for the associate degree, they must still complete Calculus successfully).

a. Interstate Passport: UW participates in the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) Interstate Passport program. Students who submit a transcript that indicates that they have completed the Passport at a sending institution will have the majority of the lower-division USP requirements waived. Excluded from this waiver are:

1) US & Wyoming Constitutions (1 course/>3 credits)

2) Upper-division Writing (COM3) (1 course/>3 credits)

b. Qualifying Earned Associate Degree: Academic associate degrees (including, but not limited to: AA (Associate of Arts), AS (Associate of Science), AB (Associate of Business), ADN (Associate Degree in Nursing), AFA (Associate of Fine Arts), AGS (Associate of General Studies)) earned from regionally accredited postsecondary institutions satisfy the majority of the lower-division USP requirements. Students who believe that their degree should be included in this waiver may submit a Transfer Petition to request a review. Determinations will be made within three (3) business days. Excluded from this waiver are:

1) US & Wyoming Constitutions (1 course/>3 credits)

2) Upper-division Writing (COM3) (1 course/>3 credits)

2. Applied Degrees: Applied degrees (including, but not necessarily limited to an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) and Associate of Applied Arts (AAA) or Bachelor of Applied Sciences (BAS)) earned from regionally accredited postsecondary institutions may satisfy the following USP requirements including: First Year Seminar, Communication 1, and Quantitative Reasoning. Students who believe that their degree should be included in this waiver may submit a Transfer Petition to request a review. Excluded from this waiver are:

a. Communication 2 (1 course/>3 credits)

b. Upper-division Writing (COM3) (1 course/>3 credits) 5

c. Physical & Natural World (2 courses/>6 credits)

d. Human Cultures (2 courses/>6 credits)

e. US & Wyoming Constitutions (1 course/>3 credits)

3. USP Course Equivalencies: The guiding principles of the University Studies Program as outlined by the Board of Trustees are that the requirements should be simple, flexible, and transparent. They should also easily transfer between college-level institutions. UW will follow AACRAO best practices to determine satisfaction of USP.Due to the nature of transfer coursework, UW may not offer a course that is directly equivalent to the sending institution’s course. In the event that a course is not a direct equivalent, a USP attribute may still be established with a 70% match of learning outcomes to determine equivalency. This should not delay a student’s path to degree completion/attainment.

a. The Vice Provost for Undergraduate Education or their designee will act as the University Studies Program Coordinator and is responsible to the Provost for administering the USP.

b. Student expense and time to degree completion should be minimized.

c. If a transfer course satisfied a specific General Education requirement at the sending institution, it should satisfy the analogous USP category at UW.

d. If there is no direct course equivalent for the transfer course at UW, a student may submit a transfer course petition to satisfy the USP requirement.

4. USP for Second Bachelor’s Degrees: Students with a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited U.S. institution will be considered to have met the USP program requirements apart from the US & Wyoming Constitution requirement, unless that requirement was previously completed. International students who have met the language requirements for admission to the University of Wyoming will have demonstrated a proficiency of the English language equivalent to the completion of Communication 1 (COM1) and Communication 2 (COM2) courses.

C. Transfer Credit for Study Abroad

Study abroad coursework is evaluated based off the documentation provided by the student and what is available to the Office of the Registrar. It is the students’ responsibility to review the transfer work and to provide any course documentation (syllabi, descriptions, sample course work) to the Office of the Registrar. Once the transcripts received from the study abroad experience have been evaluated, students will have one year from that date to make any appeals or changes to what was initially awarded. Requests for changes to transfer credit awarded through study abroad following one year of the initial review will not be processed.

Transfer Credit from Regionally-Accredited U.S. Colleges and Universities

The Wyoming Transfer Catalog allows students to look up courses that the University of Wyoming has previously accepted from regionally-accredited U.S. institutions. When a direct match to a Wyoming course cannot be determined, general elective and/or University Studies credit is awarded. If a particular course is not found, that may simply mean that no one has previously attempted to transfer it in. All new classes will be evaluated on an individual basis. All new upper-division courses will initially be given upper-division general elective credit. The university faculty will then determine whether or not an upper-division course has a direct UW equivalency once the original course syllabus has been provided by the student.

Developmental coursework is not considered transferable as it is intended to prepare the student for college level coursework.

Credit is awarded credit hour for credit hour. Quarter hours are recognized as two-thirds (2/3) of a semester hour.

Should a course be transferred as an elective, it may be substituted for a major requirement with adviser approval. Elective courses may also be considered for University Studies requirements via the University Studies Petition process.

Students intending to transfer to UW are encouraged to meet with their advisors and review both the Wyoming Transfer Catalog and the UW Catalog when planning their program of study to ensure courses taken elsewhere will transfer to UW in their desired major. Final determination of transfer credit acceptance is made by members of Enrollment Management and UW faculty.

Students must submit official transcripts of all completed coursework before a final official determination can be made on credit transfer. These equivalencies are subject to change without notice.

III. Credit Evaluation Policy for VA Funded Students

 The degree analysts in the Office of the Registrar determine whether the course work is transferable to UW. Evaluations for the granting of credit for military-based training are based on recommendations in the American Council of Education (ACE) guidelines. Individual colleges will deter­mine whether such course work is applicable to their degree programs.