TRANSFER CREDIT

Transferring Credit to an Institution

The acceptance of transfer credits between institutions lies within the discretion of the receiving seminary or university. Credits earned at other institutions may or may not be accepted by Grace Communion Seminary. Likewise, credits earned at Grace Communion Seminary may or may not be accepted by another institution. Any student relying on Grace Communion Seminary credit for transfer to or enrollment in another institution is urged to check with the receiving institution prior to enrollment at Grace Communion Seminary.

Requesting Credit from an Institution for GCS

Graduate courses taken from appropriately accredited institutions will be considered for credit toward one of the master’s degrees. We reserve the right to refuse transfer credits for any reason. Note the following:

1. Credit can be given only for graduate-level courses in which the student has received B or higher, or a “pass” in pass/fail systems.
2. The courses must come from an institution that is accredited by an agency recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or the U.S. Department of Education, or an accepted foreign equivalent listed in the International Handbook of Universities.
3. We will consider courses that were taken in traditional schools, online schools, military schools, etc., as long as they have the appropriate accreditation.
4. Transcripts from institutions outside of the U.S. and Canada may need to be evaluated by World Educational Services and (if necessary) translated into English. Students must pay the WES fee. Contact us to see if this will be needed for your transcripts.
5. A maximum of 21 semester units may be transferred into a master’s degree program or 36 units for a Master of Divinity degree.
6. The courses must have been taken within eight years before enrollment at GCS.
7. Courses must be relevant to the GCS curriculum. If the course is not directly comparable to a course offered by GCS, the course may in some cases be accepted as counting for an elective in our program. For example, a graduate-level course in public speaking, coupled with experience in giving sermons, might be accepted as equivalent to Homiletics in our Christian ministry category.
8. Documentation must include 1) an official sealed transcript sent to us directly from the institution in which the course was completed, and 2) a description of the course from the institution’s catalog or from the course syllabus. The student will generally need to supply this description.
9. Fill out and send the form for transfer credit to Registrar, Grace Communion Seminary, 3120 Whitehall Park Dr., Charlotte, NC, 28273.
10. We will inform you by e-mail of whether transfer credit has been granted within 30 days. If credit is denied, we will inform you of the reasons. If you wish to appeal this decision, you should send a written explanation to the Dean of Faculty, explaining why you disagree with our reasons. The Dean will discuss the matter with the President, and no further appeal is possible.