Admission of Transfer Students

This is content from the Catalog 2019–2020 back issue. Please visit the current catalog for current information.

Transfer students are those who were previously enrolled at a college or university other than the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo.

Students who are transferring to UH Hilo from outside the UH system must arrange for all official college transcripts to be sent to the Admissions Office directly from institutions previously attended. Those who have completed fewer than 24 acceptable semester hours of college-level work or who have enrolled in an unaccredited institution must also submit their high school transcript and SAT or ACT results. Transfer students who have completed at least 24 semester hours in a curriculum comparable to UH Hilo from an accredited U.S. college or university with a minimum GPA of 2.0 will be evaluated for transfer on the basis of their college transcripts.

Transcripts Required

Students who have enrolled at other colleges and universities may not disregard their records at such institutions. Students are required to file complete official transcripts of any and all academic work taken at other institutions. The final grades for courses-in-progress of admitted students are required to be on file at the Admissions Office no later than the deadline stated in the official letter of acceptance from the Admissions Office. Students who do not submit final, official college transcripts will not be permitted to register for classes.

Failure to report previous college attendance and/or to file all required transcripts is sufficient cause for the cancellation of the student’s admissions acceptance, denial of registration, and/or dismissal from the University.

Transfer Credit

Coursework eligible for transfer credit must be of baccalaureate-level and must be from regionally accredited institutions if from the U.S. or from nationally recognized institutions if from a foreign country. Grades in these courses must be “C-” or above to transfer, except for courses completed at other campuses in the University of Hawaiʻi system (for which any passing grade will be accepted). Students transferring with any work done more than ten years prior to their admittance to UH Hilo may find such work non transferable by the individual academic department.

To complete an evaluation, the Admissions Office must be in possession of the previous school’s catalog, bulletin, handbook, or other institutional document which describes the courses completed. Students may be asked to submit course descriptions from previous colleges attended.

When applicable, transfer credits may be counted towards the specific requirements of a program; otherwise, they will be counted as general electives. However, neither grade points nor grade point averages earned at other institutions are used in the computation of the UH Hilo cumulative grade point average.

Students transferring into UH Hilo with a transferable A.A. degree from an institution accredited by a U.S. regional accreditation agency will be exempted from the General Education requirements, unless specific course requirements are needed for a given major or specialty. The A.A. degree must have been completed prior to initial matriculation to UH Hilo.

Students from within the UH system, who have six credits or fewer to complete their University of Hawaiʻi community college A.A. degree, may transfer to UH Hilo and be exempt from the UH Hilo General Education requirements providing the community college A.A. degree is completed in the first semester at UH Hilo.

Students transferring into UH Hilo from a UH system community college in Fall 2011 or later and who have completed the basic/foundation requirements at their previous campus will be exempt from the UH Hilo General Education basic requirements; similarly, such students who have completed the area/diversification requirement at their previous campus will be exempt from the UH Hilo General Education area requirements. See the UH system Memorandum of Agreement for Transfer of General Education Core Requirements (May 2010) among UH system campuses.

However, all students must complete the UH Hilo Integrative requirements in Writing Intensive, Hawaii Pan-Pacific, and Global and Community Citizenship, as well as all major and other UH Hilo requirements.

All other transfer students must fulfill the General Education requirements appropriate to their major and degree as stated in this catalog.