Transfer Students

NMSU evaluates eligible courses for NMSU transfer equivalency from postsecondary institutions that are regionally accredited or are candidates for regional accreditation. Credits from non-accredited institutions may be evaluated, by the student's academic college, after the student has shown acceptable performance at NMSU for two semesters of full-time enrollment. Academic colleges, within NMSU, may have additional requirements for course transfer. Please contact the College Dean's Office for more information.

Transfer students are subject to the same graduation requirements as all NMSU baccalaureate-degree (bachelor's) seeking students. Thirty (30) of the last 36 credit hours for every degree to be awarded from NMSU must be earned at NMSU.

Community/Junior College Transfers

Community/Junior college transfer students may be admitted and classified on the basis of acceptable credits earned at a two-year institution. However, transfer students are subject to the same graduation requirements as all NMSU-Las Cruces campus baccalaureate-seeking students. This includes the required minimum number of 48 upper division credits from courses numbered 300 or above and the requirement that the last 30 credits must be earned through this university.

NOTE: Students currently enrolled at an NMSU Community College (Alamogordo, Dona Ana or Grants) are not considered transfer students. If a student wants to change campuses they must submit a Change of Campus form.

Transfer Students- Admission Requirements

  1. Transfer students must provide official transcripts from each institution attended. For college transcripts to be considered official, they must be sent directly from the institution’s student records office to NMSU Undergraduate Admissions or delivered in person only if in a sealed envelope from the granting institution and with the current issue date. Official transcripts must be received before the date of registration. Applications for admission that include the transfer of credits earned at a non-U.S. university must include a professional foreign credit evaluation report from a member institution of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) for every transcript
  2. Students who have not earned credit for the first semester of college English or Math may submit official ACT or SAT scores directly to NMSU Undergraduate Admissions. If ACT or SAT scores are not available, students can take the English Placement Questionnaire and Math Placement Exam provided by NMSU.
  3. Students with 24* or more completed college credit hours must have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 2.0.
  4. Students with fewer than 24 completed college credit hours must fulfill the transfer and first-year admission requirements.
  5. Students must be eligible to return to their last college or university.
  6. Any student who conceals the fact that they attended another college or university and has not submitted a transcript for each institution, whether or not credit was earned, will be subject to immediate suspension.
  7. NMSU will uphold academic and judicial suspensions from other colleges and universities.

  8. * The types of credits listed below are not counted toward the 24 completed credit hour requirement:

  9. Courses taken for college credit while in high school
  10. Credits by examination (i.e. CLEP, IB, AP, etc.)
  11. Credits from a non-regionally accredited institution
  12. Credits from institutions that do not provide grades
  13. Credits from experience such as a Joint Services Transcript

Transfer of International Credit

Applications for admission that include the transfer of credits earned at a non-U.S. university must include a professional foreign credit evaluation report from a member institution of the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services (NACES) for every transcript from a foreign secondary school and/or university attended.

General Requirements for Transfer Credits

Credit will be awarded for transfer courses as follows:

  1. Grades earned in courses taken at other institutions are not included in the calculation of the NMSU GPA, except for grades earned by approved National Student Exchange students.
  2. A grade of D or better is required to grant NMSU credit for courses identified as having an NMSU equivalent.
  3. Colleges or departments may require a grade of C- or higher for courses required in their programs.
  4. Each college determines which transferred courses are applicable toward a degree or a minor.
  5. Transcripts may need to be reevaluated when students transfer from one NMSU campus or College to another.
  6. Currently enrolled students must obtain prior approval from their academic department head and dean before courses taken at another institution will be applied toward meeting NMSU graduation requirements.

Student Responsibility

Planning for effective transfer with maximum efficiency is ultimately the student's responsibility. Responsible transfer planning includes early and regular consultation with the intended degree-granting institution to assure that all pre-transfer coursework will meet the requirements of the desired degree.

NMSU maintains a database (https://miniapps.nmsu.edu/transfer/) of commonly transferred courses from numerous institutions. Courses included in the database at the time the student is admitted to NMSU will automatically transfer to NMSU, provided the student follows all guidelines (see Currently Enrolled NMSU Students below). If a transferred course does not exist in the database, it is the student's responsibility to provide the departmental faculty with sufficient materials (e.g. catalog description, syllabi, etc.) to determine if any of the department's courses may be equivalent to the credits being transferred.

Currently Enrolled NMSU Students

Currently, enrolled students must obtain prior approval from their academic department head and dean before courses taken at another institution will be applied toward meeting NMSU graduation requirements.

Religious Center Courses in Religion

Courses in religion, offered by the various religious centers through higher educational institutions with which they are affiliated, are open to all students and these or similar courses from other colleges/universities may be transferred for elective credit ("E") to NMSU. Registration for these courses is separate from the NMSU System’s registration and is conducted by the religious center offering the course.

No more than 6 credits in such courses may be transferred to NMSU. To transfer earned credits to NMSU, the student must do the following:

  1. Obtain written approval from the student's department head and academic dean prior to registration for the course
  2. Count the credit in the course as part of the total semester load
  3. Upon completion of the course, request that the institution granting the credit send a transcript of the credit to the Undergraduate Admissions Office at the NMSU-Las Cruces.

Graduate Transfer Credits

For more information about transferring graduate credits please visit the Graduate School section of this catalog.

Evaluation of Transfer Credits

NMSU has 3 levels of course credit transfer. Once a student has been admitted to NMSU, they are awarded credit for equivalent courses accordingly. Following award of credit as described in Levels 1 and 2 (below), application of any additional credit transfer via specific Program Articulation agreements will be approved by the student's academic department and dean, including additional courses in the major that may count toward a degree or a minor but, are not included in a Program Articulation.

Level 1

Automatic course-to-course equivalency credit transfer from colleges/universities in the state of New Mexico, per the New Mexico Higher Education Department (NM HED) articulation modules. Eligible credits for Level 1 transfers will be automatically applied to the student's transcript, provided minimal grade requirements are met. Level 1 equivalency includes

  1. New Mexico State Common Core general education courses
  2. New Mexico State articulated academic programs (e.g. Business, Early Childhood Education, and NM Nursing Education Curriculum).

Level 2

Faculty established NMSU course-to-course equivalency transfer

  1. Equivalency is determined by the designated departmental faculty in the department/program in which the equivalent course is offered, and may include a review of course description, syllabus and/or interaction with the other institution. If a course equivalency does not exist in the database, it is the student's responsibility to provide departmental faculty with sufficient materials to determine if any of the department's courses may be equivalent to the credits being transferred.
  2. Credit for courses transcripted with NMSU equivalency may/will count toward the degree/major.
  3. Credit for courses with no NMSU equivalence will be transcripted as 100E (lower level) or 300E (upper level) and may or may not count as credit toward a specific degree. Departmental faculty may accept the "E" course as elective credit toward the degree, or as a substitute for a course not applied universally.

Level 3

Specific Program Articulation between an NMSU program/department and a program/department at another institution.

  1. Program Articulation with other institutions is monitored at the department/program level in accordance with articulation agreements and may include credit transfers that are applicable only to the specific degree articulated (i.e. credit for courses may change depending on degree student declares).
  2. Because Level 3 transfer credit is degree specific, transcripts must be re-evaluated when a student changes their major or college- Level 3 transfer credits are not applied universally.

National Student Exchange (NSE)

Courses transferred back to the NMSU System by students participating in the National Student Exchange (NSE) Program will be evaluated as NMSU (system) courses and recorded on the student’s academic record. All computable grades earned will be included in calculating the student’s cumulative grade point average.

Transfer Credit Appeal Process

All New Mexico public post-secondary institutions are required to establish policies and practices for receiving and resolving complaints from students or from other complainants regarding the transfer of coursework from other public institutions in the state. A copy of NMSU’s transfer credit policy may be obtained from the University Student Records Office or from the Deputy Secretary for Academic Affairs, Higher Education Department, 2048 Galisteo St., Santa Fe, New Mexico 87505-2100.