Transfer Credit Evaluation Process

Prospective transfer students should first contact the Admissions Office to learn more about the SUNY Cortland campus, majors, and to apply.   

To complete the transfer student application, official transcripts from all colleges previously attended and official Advanced Placement (AP) or other degree-bearing examination transcripts should be sent directly to the Admissions Office (P.O. Box 2000, Cortland, NY  13045).

Once a student is accepted to SUNY Cortland: 

1.  The student must pay the Admissions deposit to confirm his/her attendance at SUNY Cortland for the upcoming semester. For fall semester applicants, the $200 deposit is due May 1. Fall applicants accepted after April 1 will have 30 days from the date of the acceptance letter to submit the deposit. Spring semester applicants must submit deposits within 30 days of the date of the acceptance letter.

2.  Official transcripts will be evaluated and a formal credit evaluation will be completed for all accepted students who have paid their deposit. Please allow two weeks after your deposit is paid to receive your evaluation.

3.  Accepted transfer coursework will be displayed in CAPP (Curriculum, Advising and Program Planning). The CAPP report is a degree audit which lists completed coursework and coursework yet to be completed in order to graduate. Accepted/paid students may access their CAPP report via their myRedDragon account. To gain access to myRedDragon for the first time, you will first need to get your username.

* Evaluations are completed with official transcripts submitted to Admissions with a student's application.  Students typically still have courses in progress during the term they apply to transfer.  It is important for students to request a second (final) transcript from their institution to be sent to Cortland that reflects all grades in the final semester and a degree conferred, if applicable.  Credit evaluations will be updated to include transfer credit in the final semester prior to transfer.  

How Transfer Credits Are Evaluated

Acceptable transfer coursework is evaluated by the Transfer Credit Coordinator in conjunction with faculty department chairs to determine equivalent Cortland courses.  If Cortland does not offer an equivalent course, elective credit is granted for the course.    

Elective credit counts toward the overall credit total required for graduation, but does not fulfill a specific requirement.  It is generally indicated on your degree audit as a 1XX or 2XX.  For example, if you completed a three-credit Math course for which there is not a Cortland equivalent, your degree audit would show credit for MAT 1XX, 3 cr. 

Many courses have already been evaluated for transfer credit.  Transfer course equivalencies from SUNY 2-year and 4-year institutions, as well as a select number of NY private colleges, can be found on our Transfer Equivalency charts.

If you are an accepted student and have completed coursework that is not found on the transfer equivalency charts, the Transfer Credit Coordinator will obtain a course description for the completed coursework and work with the academic department chairs in determining appropriate equivalent coursework at Cortland.  For certain coursework, Cortland may request that you provide a syllabus in order to evaluate the course more accurately.