Transfer Credit Policies

Contact Information

Deanna Stumbo
Department of English
stumbo@iastate.edu
515-294-3516

How Do Transfer Students Fulfill the ISUComm Foundation Courses Requirement?

Students transferring to Iowa State University with credit deficiencies in the ISUComm Foundation Courses should be advised to complete the requirements for their ISUComm Foundation Courses as soon as possible. Eleventh-hour requests for credit waivers may delay a student’s graduation.

  • Transfer credit must be earned from an accredited English-speaking college or university in the United States.
  • Transfer students without credit for English 150 or 250. Students who enter Iowa State University without credit in the ISUComm Foundation Courses will have an opportunity to earn credit for English 150 if their ACT-E, SAT-ERW, or Advanced Placement (AP) credit meets the placement criteria as described on the English Placement Policy website.
  • Transfer students with only English 150 credit. These students will need to take English 250, or they may choose to take the English 250 Test-Out if they meet the eligibility requirements.
  • Transfer students with only English 250 credit. These students do not need to take English 150. Instead, they will need to take an advanced communication course (English 275, 302, 309, 312, 313, or 314). Before this is done, they must receive permission from their advisor and approval from the ISUComm Foundation Courses office. For approval from the ISUComm Foundation Courses office, the student’s advisor must submit an online Degree Audit Adjustment Form (DAAF), filling out the ISUComm Foundation Requirement Changes section by listing the advanced communication course (English 275, 302, 309, 312, 313, or 314) the student plans to take at Iowa State University in place of English 150.
  • Students who transfer English 250U (RHET: 1030) from the University of Iowa with a C or better meet the ISUComm Foundation Courses requirement. These students will receive 3 credits of English 250U (the designating transfer credit from the University of Iowa). These students, however, will not receive credit for English 150. A Degree Audit Adjustment Form (DAAF) to the ISUComm Foundation Courses office is not required, but the student’s advisor must document the deficiency by indicating on the degree audit that the student can graduate with 3 credits in the Communication Proficiency Certification Requirements section, listing completion of English 150 and 250.
  • Students who transfer 2 credits of English 150 and 2 credits of English 250 from the PAIDEIA course (also includes 2 credits of HIST 2T**–PAIDEIA I and 2 credits of HIST 2T**– PAIDEIA II) from Luther College with a C or better meet the ISUComm Foundation Courses requirement. A Degree Audit Adjustment Form (DAAF) to the ISUComm Foundation Courses office is not required, but the student’s advisor must document the deficiency by indicating on the degree audit that the student can graduate with 4 credits in the Communication Proficiency Certification Requirements section, listing completion of English 150 and 250.
  • Transfer students with a total of 5 credits in English 150 and 250. Transfer students with 5 credits in English composition will have the remaining 1 credit automatically waived. A Degree Audit Adjustment Form (DAAF) to the ISUComm Foundation Courses office is not required, but the student’s advisor must document the deficiency by indicating on the degree audit that the student can graduate with the 5 credits in the Communication Proficiency Certification Requirements section, listing completion of English 150 and 250.
  • Transfer students with quarter credit. Students enrolled in schools with 9 or 10 quarter-credit English composition programs are advised to complete the full sequence at those schools before transferring to Iowa State University. Six quarter-credits transferred in ISUComm Foundation Courses will not meet the Iowa State requirement.
  • Transfer credit for courses that do not transfer into Iowa State University as English 150 or 250. Students and their advisors should read the course descriptions for 150 and 250 and the curriculum and objectives before sending materials for evaluation. Literature and university orientation courses are not equivalent. Courses lacking a significant amount of multimodal work are also not equivalent.

Students who believe their transfer credit may be equivalent to our English 150 or 250 must provide the ISUComm Foundation Courses office (Deanna Stumbo–stumbo@iastate.edu) with the following:

• a Request for Department Review of Transfer Course or Military Credit form filled out with their advisor’s assistance and signature. This form can be found on the Office of the Registrar website.

• a catalog course description of the class that the student took

• a syllabus and course schedule from the class

• all major assignments composed in class

The Director of ISUComm Foundation Courses will review the information provided to determine whether the course can be used in place of the required English 150 or 250 courses at Iowa State University.

NOTE:

• Transfer course evaluations will only be reviewed once the student has started attending Iowa State University and after the course has been successfully completed.

• Please allow at least two weeks for a response to a transfer course review.

  • Students who plan to study abroad may not transfer credit for English 150 or 250 from an institution in a country where English is not the first and main language spoken.
  • What are the requirements for students with undergraduate degrees? Students who are seeking a second undergraduate degree do not have to fulfill the ISUComm Foundation Courses requirement unless their undergraduate degree was earned from an institution outside the United States or from a non-English institution in the United States. Student’s advisor must submit an online Degree Audit Adjustment Form (DAAF), filling out the ISUComm Foundation Requirement Changes section stating the student has an undergraduate degree.