5165 Transfer of Credit Procedure

Policy

Policy Name: Transfer of Credit 

Policy Number: 5165

Applicable Code/Law: Washington State Board for Community and Technical Colleges Reciprocity Agreement 

Definitions:  

Official transcript: A transcript validated by a college or university Registrar (or equivalent) and in a sealed (unopened) original envelope from the issuing institution or delivered electronically directly from the college or university to Shoreline.  

Regionally accredited US colleges or universities: Institutions with accreditation from a regional accrediting organization recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.  

Recognized international college or university: A school or institution that is recognized by the local Ministry of Education (or equivalent). 

Procedure:  

To receive credit from regionally accredited colleges or universities, students must submit official transcripts, with a transcript evaluation request, to Shoreline’s office of Enrollment Services.  

The applicability of these credits towards Shoreline credentials will be evaluated based on course outcomes or equivalencies.  

To ensure that transferred-in courses can be used toward degree completion, students may transfer credit for college-level courses when the cumulative GPA for those courses is 2.0 or higher (C average). Generally, courses can be removed from consideration for transfer in order to reach the cumulative 2.0 (C) average, and no credit will be awarded for any course with a grade lower than 1.0 (D), unless indicated differently in the program planning guide. 

Enrollment services evaluates courses from these transcripts to determine their applicability to Shoreline’s programs. Enrollment Services personnel use either state-wide course equivalencies, national databases, or determinations from Shoreline subject-matter expert faculty. Shoreline also honors state-wide reciprocity agreements, including the Washington State Community and Technical College Inter-College Reciprocity Policy. 

Students will receive email notification when enrollment services has completed their transcript evaluation, with directions for how to check on the results. If a student wishes to appeal the evaluation of their credits, they can consult with a Shoreline academic advisor. 

For international transcripts:  

To receive credit from a recognized college or university outside the US, the transcript must be either issued in English or the transcript must be translated into English, and a course-by-course evaluation must be completed by an international credential evaluation service approved by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES).  

Students submit an official copy of their transcript and the course-by-course evaluation, with a request for international transfer credit, to Enrollment Services. The courses included in the evaluation will then be applied toward the degree requirements using the process described above. To ensure timely and accurate transfer of credit, students are strongly encouraged to submit their request within during their first quarter at Shoreline. 

Approval

Reviewed and Approved by Executive Team: 06/23/2026