Registrar's Office

Transfer Credit and Credit by Examination

A student may obtain academic credit through the transfer of credits from other academic institutions, military learning, and successful completion of certain standardized exams. Delta State University does not award credit for experiential learning or for noncredit course work except for credit earned for military experience in accordance with guidelines published by the American Council on Education.


Transfer Credit from Other Institutions

All academic credit is evaluated by the Registrar’s Office, employing the current standards and policies of Delta State University.  Official transcripts from all previous colleges and universities must be forwarded to Delta State’s Admissions/Registrar’s office and evaluated for transfer credits. In order for Delta State to accept transfer credits, the credits must be earned at another accredited college or university. All transfer credits that are accepted by the University, including those earned while in high school, after high school, or after being admitted to Delta State, are counted as both attempted and earned credits and are included on the Delta State transcript. All credit hours added to the Delta State transcript will be evaluated to determine whether the courses will satisfy program of study requirements.  Delta State uses recognized sources that aid in the evaluation of credit.  These guides are published by the American Council on Education and the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

If the transfer institution uses a 4.0 or modified 4.0 grading scale, then academic credit is transferred, and grades are assigned accordingly.  Other grading systems are converted to the 4.0 scale.  Quarter hours are converted to semester hours by multiplying the hours by 0.67.  Community college coursework is accepted at the freshman and sophomore levels.  Although some community college courses may transfer as 300 level courses, those courses will not be used to satisfy junior or senior level requirements.  At least one year of residence or the equivalent is required for the completion of a degree program. A minimum of 25 percent of credit semester hours must be completed at DSU. The successful candidate for a bachelor’s degree must have earned in residence at least 24 of the last 30 hours. Students planning to take courses at other institutions during their senior year should secure in advance the approval of their Advisor, Department Chair, and Dean.  A Degree Modification must be submitted to allow up to 6 transfer hours during a senior’s last 30 hours.  This regulation does not apply to students in medical technology, premedical, and pre-dental curricula. Credit for technical courses is generally not awarded unless a student is pursuing a Bachelor of Applied Science Degree.  Credit is not awarded for non-academic courses.

Community College Transfer Students

The Articulation Agreement between the Mississippi Board of Trustees of State Institutions of Higher Learning and the Mississippi State Board for Community and Junior Colleges provides a guide for students planning to transfer from one of Mississippi’s community/junior colleges to one of Mississippi’s eight public universities.  The agreement contains programs of study with courses appropriate for transfer.

MS Community College Course Transfer Guide – Coming soon!


International Transfer Work

International transcripts must be certified and translated into English through World Education Services, Inc. (WES), (Website: www.wes.org; email: info@wes.org ) or Educational Credential Evaluators (ECE), (Website: https://www.ece.org/) or SpanTran, (Website: https://spantran.com/services/evaluations).  Contact International Admissions, international@deltastate.edu, 1-662-846-4574, for assistance in ordering your international or domestic transcript.


Credit by Examination

A maximum of 30 semester hours of undergraduate credit may be earned from the following sources: The Advanced Placement Program (AP), College Level Examination Program (CLEP), International Baccalaureate Program (IB), Cambridge International Exam (CIE), military learning (includes military transcripts and DSST – formerly DANTES Subject Standardized Tests), and correspondence courses.

AP Credit

Delta State will grant credit to students for a score of 3 or higher on the College Entrance Examination Board’s (CEEB) Advanced Placement Program offered through their high schools.  Credit is not recorded until the student has registered for classes at DSU.  Any acceptable AP score may be used as elective credit, but only specific exams can fulfill DSU program requirements.  Students must have an official AP report sent to the Registrar’s Office from College Board.  Please see the document below for courses for which credit may be awarded.  Credit for additional courses may be awarded with approval from the relevant department Chair and Dean.

College Level Examination Program (CLEP)

The College-Level Examination Program or CLEP provides students of any age with the opportunity to demonstrate college-level achievement through a program of exams in undergraduate college course content. Academic credit on the subject examinations is awarded to students who are enrolled at Delta State and who make the scores listed in the CLEP Examination Credit document below.  Any acceptable CLEP credit may be used as general education or elective credit.  The applicability of credit toward degree requirements is determined by the relevant advisor, chair and dean.  Students must send CLEP scores to the Registrar’s Office, Delta State University, 1003 W Sunflower Rd., Kent Wyatt Hall 152, Cleveland, MS 38733.

CLEP testing is available by appointment out of the Office of Continuing Education, con-ed@deltastate.edu, p: 662-846-4833.

International Baccalaureate Program (IB)

An International Baccalaureate (IB) official transcript of grades must be sent to the Delta State Registrar’s Office to evaluate, award appropriate college credit, and articulate the specific college course satisfied by the IB exam. Students may earn 3 to 14 credit hours, per subject, depending on the subject and score obtained on IB exams. Students presenting an IB diploma may receive a minimum of 24 course-specific semester credit hours in the appropriate subject area. Students will not receive college credit for any subject area with an examination score lower than 4.  The Registrar’s Office will award credit for the Standard Level (SL) and Higher Level (HL) exams as approved by the relevant department chair and dean.

Cambridge International Exam (CIE)

Students entering Delta State for the first time may be granted credit for examinations administered by Cambridge International. Courses taken as part of the AS level or A level curricula will be considered. Students will receive subject area credit with an examination score of E or higher (A*, A, B, C, D, E).  Grades of CR appear on the transcript for courses in which Cambridge credit is earned. These courses do not affect grade-point averages. Applicability of such credit to a specific degree is to be determined by the appropriate dean. Students who participate in the CIE program may be granted credit as approved by the relevant department chair and dean.

Military Learning

A student with military service may submit the appropriate military documents and receive credit for military service schools and activities. Students must submit an official Joint Services Transcript (JST) or DSST scores to the Registrar’s Office.  The Registrar’s Office will send the transcripts or scores to the relevant faculty advisor for review for general articulation of credit. Any application of courses toward degree requirements must be approved by the relevant chair and dean.  Recommendations of the American Council on Education are used in determining credit awarded.