Transfer Credit Policies
Currently enrolled Cal Lutheran students must submit Transfer Approval Form prior to taking courses to the Registrar’s office. Please contact your Academic Advisor for assistance in planning.
- Cal Lutheran accepts all transferable college-level coursework from accredited institutions¹. There is no maximum credit limit for transfer students.
- Courses, which are technical, vocational or personal enrichment in nature, are not transferable.
- Courses which are transferable but do not meet general education or major requirements will be credited as elective credits and will be counted toward the total number of units needed for graduation.
- Courses from colleges that are not regionally accredited are not transferable without a petition.
- Courses that a quarter credits will be converted to semester credits, to align with the universities academic calendar system. Ex: 4 quarter credits, will convert to 2.67 semester credits (divide the quarter credit by 1.5 to get the semester credit).
- All two-year andcommunity college courses transfer as lower-division credit regardless of upper-division equivalency.
- Students transferring to Cal Lutheran with 60 or more credits (excluding military credit) will have satisfied the main IDEAS requirements, as appropriate.
- All undergraduate students must complete at least 124 semester units to graduate from Cal Lutheran including their general education and major/minor requirements and at least 40 of these must be upper division (300 or 400 level courses).
- Students transferring to Cal Lutheran as a senior must complete all of our general education and major/minor requirements and satisfy the residency requirement.
- Pass/Fail or Credit/No Credit courses may not be used to meet general education or major requirements.
- Cal Lutheran is not able to evaluate prospective students' coursework in terms of transferability to Cal Lutheran. Course-by-course evaluations are only done for admitted students who have notified us that they plan to enroll.
- An official transcript from the accredited institution must be sent to the Registrar's Office for final evaluation, before courses are transferred to your academic record at Cal Lutheran.
IGETC Pathway
Students transferring from California community colleges who, prior to transferring to Cal Lutheran, have fully satisfied the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) will have satisfied the main IDEAS requirements, as appropriate. Students will still be held to the portions of IDEAS that integrated into the major.
CSU GE-Breadth Pathway
Students transferring from California community colleges who have fully satisfied the CSU GE-Breadth Certification will have satisfied the main IDEAS requirements, as appropriate. Students will still be held to the portions of IDEAS that integrated into the major.
Four-Year Institutions
Contact the Registrar's Office 805-493-3105 for specific questions about transferring courses from four-year institutions for currently enrolled students. Incoming transfer students contact Admissions 805-493-3135.
As coursework is constantly changing at Cal Lutheran and these community colleges, articulation guides are constantly being updated. New requirements by the State of California for teacher credential candidates have resulted in changes in the Liberal Studies articulation agreements. If you have specific questions about a course and its Cal Lutheran equivalent, please call us at 805-493-3105.
¹ California Lutheran University accepts transfer courses from colleges and universities with institutional accreditation from regional accrediting bodies as defined by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.