Get Credit for Work You’ve Already Done—Transferring to WGU Can Be Easy
If you’ve taken courses or received a degree from a community college or another college or university, you're likely already well on your way to a WGU degree. You can almost always transfer credits when you send accredited bachelor's or associate degree transcripts to WGU for a college transfer evaluation. Learn more about our generous transfer credit policy by exploring this page.
Do You Have Transfer Credit?
Use the transfer estimator tool to give you an estimate of the WGU courses that your education experience will fulfill.
Ready to Start Your Transfer?
The first step to earning transfer credits is to submit your previous college transcripts to WGU.
We'll review them and let you know how many transferrable credits you have.
Transfer from your Community College to WGU
WGU’s curriculum structure is competency-based, allowing you to apply your existing knowledge and skills to your education. Students transferring from a U.S. community college can expect a comprehensive transfer policy.
Students with an Associate of Arts (A.A.) or Associate of Science (A.S.) degree usually qualify for an Upper-Division standing at WGU.
Depending on your degree program, you may qualify for additional requirement waivers. If you have completed some college coursework but have not earned a degree, WGU will conduct a transcript evaluation. Your experience may waive some of your requirements.
We Partner with Community Colleges
Across the nation, we've established transfer pathways to help incoming students understand how prior coursework and experience may transfer into a degree program at WGU. Get your transfer assessment started by speaking with Enrollment!
“The enrollment process was easy. An Enrollment Counselor that contacted me within two days, looked at my transcripts, got me into my program, said, 'Here is what you need to do, when do you want to start?' and within a week I had a start date.”
Raymond Baker
B.S. Accounting
How to Request College Transcripts from Previously Attended Institutions
A transcript is the permanent record of academic work undertaken at a college or university. At WGU we are committed to decreasing the barriers to starting school. That is why we are working with a large group of education institutions to request and gather transcripts for you, free of additional fees and time.
The process is simple—during the application you will:
1. Add in all the information about your previous education institutions.
2. The free transcript service will let you know if any of your institutions do not participate in their program. If an institution does not participate, you will need to request that transcript independently. Currently several thousand institutions do participate in the free transcript service, but there may be some that do not.
3. You will then be asked if you would like to use the free transcript service to gather transcripts from previous institutions.
4. You will check “yes” if you are interested in this service.
5. For participating institutions, your transcripts will be gathered and submitted to WGU with no additional work or cost on your end.
6. If you opt out or have a previous institution that does not participate in the free transcript service you will need to arrange and pay to have your official transcripts sent to WGU. This can be done electronically or by mail. Plan ahead, because it can take a few weeks to process your request. Transcripts should be submitted by the first day of the month before your intended start date.
Transcripts that are not gathered through our free transcript service, must be sent directly to WGU from your previous institution(s). Transcripts sent via fax will not be accepted. Transcripts sent via email from anyone other than your previous institution(s) will not be considered official.
Please submit ALL transcripts to the WGU Transcripts Department after you have applied. Your previous institutions should submit transcripts to WGU in one of the following ways:
- Through an electronic transcript exchange service. Official electronic transcripts will need to be sent using this information:
- Institution Name: Western Governors University
- FAFSA School Code: 033394
- Recipient Email: transcriptinfo@wgu.edu
- By mail. All mailed copies of your transcripts must be in the original, sealed envelope from your previous institution. If the envelope is not sealed, it will not be considered official. Please send physical transcripts to the following address:
Western Governors University
4001 South 700 East, Suite 300
Salt Lake City, UT 84107-2533
- By email. A college transcript can be sent from your institution’s records department via email to transcriptinfo@wgu.edu. The emailed transcript must be sent directly from your previous institution’s email address. A forwarded email will not be considered official.
NOTE: You should complete and submit your WGU application BEFORE requesting/submitting your transcripts if you are not using our free transcript service, Click here for additional information on requesting and submitting specific types of transcripts.
FAQs About Transcripts and Transferring
Yes. Official transcripts (including evaluated international transcripts) and certifications are used to develop your personalized degree plan. WGU requires that official transcripts of previous academic work completed at other accredited institutions or through approved certification companies be submitted for evaluation. You can use our free transcript service to submit your transcripts or gather and submit them independently. Please contact your Enrollment Counselor for more information.
Yes. Students applying to a graduate degree program must send their official bachelor's degree transcripts verifying they received a bachelor's degree from an institutionally accredited institution. This can be sent via our free transcript service. Official transcripts should be received by the 5th of the month prior to the start of your program. Some graduate programs allow the transfer of individual courses and others do not, please speak to an Enrollment Counselor for the specifics of your desired program.
Your official transcripts are reviewed by a member of the Transfer Evaluation Department. The time it takes to review your transcripts and report which subject areas are cleared with transfer credit will vary. You and your Enrollment Counselor will be notified via email when your transfer evaluation has been completed and we endeavor to ensure an evaluation within two weeks of your final transcript having arrived.
Official transcripts should be received no later than the 5th of the month prior to your intended start date. If you utilize our free transcript service, we will work to get your transcripts gathered and submitted swiftly. This allows plenty of time for an evaluation to be completed and the development of your personalized degree plan to take place. WGU will not award transfer credit after a student has begun their program, so it is important to ensure that everything is submitted in a timely manner.
Unofficial transcripts cannot be accepted to award transfer credit, and WGU does not perform unofficial transfer evaluations. You can utilize the free transcript service to ensure you submit official transcripts to WGU. Please speak with your Enrollment Counselor if there are any concerns about sending official transcripts.
Yes. If you are applying for a bachelor's degree program and have completed college-level coursework at another accredited institution, we can review your transcripts to determine if some or all of the requirements for lower-division courses can be met through transfer credits. In some programs, approved professional certifications may clear additional requirements. For additional information on submitting official transcript, including evaluated international transcripts, or certifications, please speak with your Enrollment Counselor.
Many students transfer into a WGU degree program already having accumulated many credit hours or having earned an Associate degree. Official transcripts are evaluated on a course-by-course basis according to the following general guidelines:
- Depending on their selected program, students who hold an Associate of Arts (AA) or Associate of Science (AS) degree from an institutionally accredited institution of higher education may be able to clear some or all of the lower-division requirements. Please speak with your Enrollment Counselor regarding the specifics for your selected program.
- Some programs allow an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) degree to clear portions of lower-division requirements. Please speak with your Enrollment Counselor regarding specifics for your selected program.
- If you have completed college courses but have not earned a degree, you may be able to have some degree requirements met through a course-by-course transfer evaluation.
- WGU accepts limited college transfer credits at the graduate (master’s) level in some degree programs. There are special requirements to receive graduate-level transfer credit that vary by program. Please speak with your enrollment counselor for more information.
Because course content can vary between schools, all transfer credit is reviewed on a course-by-course basis. Transfer credit can be awarded if the course comparability aligns with WGU course offerings.
Courses may not be accepted for transfer if the content is misaligned, there is not enough information to determine comparability, the course presented does not carry enough credit hours to be accepted, the grade presented falls below WGU’s acceptable threshold, or the course is deemed as non-transferable thus making it ineligible to receive transfer credit regardless of prior education.
Students should also be aware that not all courses accepted for transfer are guaranteed to transfer across programs offered through WGU.
Enrolling at WGU
- Overview
- College Transcripts
- Military Transcripts
- Credit by Exam
- International Institution Transcripts
- Certifications
- High School/GED Documents
- Deadlines
- Additional FAQs
An Official Transcript is the permanent record of academic work undertaken at an institution of higher education. Transcripts are generally maintained by the Office of the Registrar or Records Department of each school.
It is best practice to contact your previous college, university, high school, or document vendor to determine what options they have for transcript delivery along with any associated costs for sending the transcript to WGU.
The information below outlines the general instructions for many of the different types of documents that may provide transferable competency units to your program of interest.
If you are uncertain what documents are required for your program of interest, please contact your enrollment counselor.
Prepared for Success on the Job
*From a 2023 Harris Poll of 300 employers of WGU graduates.
100% of employers said that WGU graduates were prepared for their jobs.*
97% of employers said that they would hire another WGU grad.*
98% of employers said WGU graduates met or exceeded expectations.*
Transfer Made Easy
Learn more about transferring your existing credits by viewing on-demand videos.
Take the First Step: Apply Now!
No need to wait for spring or fall semester. It's back-to-school time all year at WGU. You could be on your way to a degree—sooner than you think!
