Transfer Students
Welcome to SUNY Schenectady
It’s easy to transfer to SUNY Schenectady! New students can go through our regular admissions process by filling out our no-fee admissions application and arranging to have your high school records or GED sent to the Admissions Office. If you would like to have your official college transcripts evaluated by our Registrar’s Office for transfer credit, please arrange to have these sent to the Admissions Office.
Getting the Transfer Credit You Deserve
Many students who come SUNY Schenectady County Community College already have completed college work in Advanced Placement (AP), College in the High School, the military, CLEP, or previous college experience. SUNY Schenectady will accept courses with a C (2.0) or higher transfer if they are from Regionally Accredited Colleges and Universities, as well as the programs above, when those courses can be applied to the student’s program of study. For military credit to be approved for transfer, it must appear on a Joint Services Transcript (JST) with an ACE (American Council on Education) recommendation for credit and be applicable to your degree or certificate program. There is a limit of approximately 30 transfer credits for an associate degree. Lower limits exist for certificates and vary based on the number of credits in the certificate program but all certificates have a 15 credit residency requirement. The following overview should answer your questions and guide you through the transfer process.
Please send your official college, AP, CLEP, IB or military transcript to the Admissions Office if you are new to the College. If you are already a SUNY Schenectady student, have your transcript(s) mailed directly to the Registrar’s Office. We cannot grant credit for AP or College in the High School courses from a high school transcript. Transcripts are reviewed in the order they are received. Please allow two to three weeks for an evaluation during peak periods. If you took College in the High School courses from SUNY Schenectady, we already have your records. You do not need to do anything other than tell your advisor about them when you register. The advisor will be able to view them.
Courses taken at institutions of higher learning lacking such regional accreditation (including degree-granting proprietary institutions) may also be accepted if those courses are of equivalent content and quality as determined by the appropriate division dean.
Credit from Previous Experience
Registered, matriculated students may earn credit based on previous experience for individual courses required in their program of study. A common example of this is a student in the aviation program who has his/her pilot’s license. If, after talking with your advisor you think you have applicable experience and you are interested in getting credit for it, make an appointment with your division dean.
Appealing the Evaluation
While most evaluations of college credit are straightforward, not all are. Course titles are not always clear, requirements are not clearly understood and mistakes are sometimes made. If you disagree with your credit evaluation, there is an appeal process. Please call the Registrar’s Office at 518-381-1348 or email the office at registrar@sunysccc.edu with questions or concerns. If it was a simple oversight, a correction will be made immediately and will be reflected in DegreeWorks. If we need additional information about the course, you will be requested to get a course description, outline, or syllabus for the course in question before any credit is re-evaluated. A new evaluation will be done within a reasonable period of time and you will be notified of the result. If you are still dissatisfied, you may appeal to the Vice President of Academic Affairs in writing. If after submitting an appeal, you do not agree with the College’s decision, students transferring from another SUNY institution may submit an appeal to the SUNY System Provost who will respond to your appeal within five business days from receipt of the completed appeal application. If the decision finds merit to change the course to meet a major requirement, the College will be notified to take appropriate action.