What is the number one factor you should consider when trying to identify affordable online colleges? Tuition costs? Financial aid opportunities? No, it’s transfer credit policies. These policies determine how many and what type of outside credits you can bring into your degree program. So, how do you find which online colleges are affordable due to their credit policies? All colleges, online included, are required to have credit transfer policies and have them made public. Let’s look at what type of credit transfer policies will give you the best advantage.

What are Outside Credits, and How Are They Transferred?

Outside credits are courses taken at another college or university, AP (Advanced Placement) credits earned in high school, or those received through credit-by-exam programs such as CLEP or DSST. The first step to applying those credits towards your degree is to research the college carefully. Knowing and understanding the credit transfer policies of the college ahead of time will help you make sure any of these credit hours you have gotten will actually count towards your degree.

During the course articulation process, the college being transferred to evaluates courses you want to transfer, comparing them to their own courses. You need a course articulation agreement to make sure your credits will be applied to your degree. Without one, you may find your credits are accepted, but not in the way you envisioned. Perhaps they are accepted as an elective, so they aren’t fulfilling a degree requirement. Some schools will accept credits, but only use them for placement and not counted towards your degree. Many colleges won’t accept credits obtained too long ago. And not all colleges allow the same number of credit hours to be transferred; some are more lenient than others.

When evaluating your credits, if the college determines that the course was of poor quality, the college you are transferring to doesn’t have a similar course, or the course doesn’t apply to the field of study for the degree, you will most likely not be allowed to transfer the credits.

Try to get core requirement credits transferred and articulated to avoid having to repeat entry-level courses. The more credits you can transfer in towards an online degree, the fewer you have to complete. Doing all you can to transfer credit is to your advantage. Getting credit for courses you have already taken or tested out of will save both time and money.

Achieve Test Prep Can Help You Find the Best Credit Transfer Policies

You don’t want to leave credits on the table, so Achieve does much of the research for you to make sure that doesn’t happen. We evaluate your past college credit and what your goals are to find the best fit for you. We gather the information you will need, even tracking down transcripts when necessary. Then we prepare a report for you showing you college options and help find the one that works best. After that, we then help you get your degree through credit-by-exam.

Achieve isn’t a college, we are a test preparation center that can help you earn your degree faster and cheaper than traditional methods. Instead of a semester of classes and work - and the accompanying tuition and book fees, you study for as little as four weeks at a fraction of the cost, take one exam, and get the same credit.

For more information, download our guide, Testing Out of College. If you want to get your degree faster with less cost, contact Achieve today.