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Transfer credit

Get advanced credit towards your degree

At Athabasca University, your previous education and experience count! We don’t want to teach you what you already know, so we offer the option of getting credit for your prior learning. That could mean taking fewer courses to get your degree, saving you valuable time and money.

You must be enrolled in an AU program before your transfer or advanced credit can be evaluated. However, you can start the process by requesting an evaluation right when you apply. Find out which kind of knowledge recognition applies to you below:

  • Credit for previous education
  • Credit for work & life experiences
  • Challenge for credit
  • Get credit at your school from studying at AU

Get credit for previous education

We have lots of options to help you get credit for your previous post-secondary experience, including individual course assessment, block transfer, post-diploma, or second degrees. First, you should check if your previous education is within the right time limits to be considered for transfer credits. After that, our transfer credit assessment tool can give you an idea of how your previous courses might transfer even if you did not complete a diploma or degree.

Assess my transfer credits

Your courses aren't listed? Don't worry. You may still be eligible for transfer credit on an individual basis.

An evaluation of your prior post-secondary courses or programs will take place after you have applied to a program, submitted all the required documents and paid the one time, non-refundable evaluation fee.

If you are already an active AU unclassified or visiting student and wish to become a program student and have an evaluation completed, you can do this by logging in to myAU and selecting "Change of Program." Then select your program and complete the process, indicating that you would like to have your transfer credit evaluated. After you requested the evaluation, you will need to pay a one-time, non-refundable evaluation fee and arrange to have official transcripts from each institution you formerly attended sent directly to:

Athabasca University
Enrolment Services
Office of the Registrar
1 University Drive
Athabasca, AB T9S 3A3

Current credit evaluation processing time: 4 weeks after all documents are received. However, depending on individual circumstances and capacity it can take up to 12 weeks to complete your evaluation.

You can receive credit for your post-secondary coursework even if you didn’t finish a diploma or degree. To get an idea of how your previously gained knowledge could be credited to your AU program, you can use our Transfer Credit Assessment Tool below. And, don’t worry if you can’t find your courses on the list: we will make sure to assess your credits on an individual basis in that case.

Assess my transfer credits

If you already hold a post-secondary diploma or credentials related to your area of study, the ability to transfer credits towards your AU program can be a significant advantage for you. This could give you up to 3 years of credit towards your AU degree and save you lots of time and money.

Depending on your program, you may even be eligible for block transfer credit which would award you credits for a full block of courses from your previous institution rather than on a course-by-course evaluation basis.

Assess my transfer credits

If you have an existing undergraduate degree, your previous courses can be considered for credit toward up to 50% of your AU degree requirements. All you need to do is follow the transfer credit evaluation process to be considered.

However, you can’t get a second undergraduate degree in the same field as your previous degree (or in a related field). If you already hold a BA, you may be able to get a second BA if you major in a different area. Find out more about AU’s Second Undergraduate Degree Policy.

If you have credentials from an institution outside of Canada or the United States and you would like AU to consider them for transfer credit, your assessment process differs from the standard evaluation process. The assessment for foreign credentials must be done by an international assessment agency – for example, the International Qualifications Assessment Service (IQAS).

AU requires a description of coursework evaluation from IQAS. We only accept detailed course-by-course assessments accompanied by copies of all foreign transcripts used in the assessment to AU.

Learn more about foreign transcript evaluations

Get credit for work & life experience

Lessons learned outside the classroom are relevant and valued at Athabasca University. Why spend time and money to study something you already know when Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR) can let you focus on new learning?

A successful PLAR assessment will award you credit toward your AU undergraduate degree or certificate. This means:

  • fewer courses to take
  • cost savings in course fees

To get the most benefit out of your past experience an assigned mentor will provide essential guidance throughout the development of your PLAR portfolio.

You want to know if PLAR is an option for you? Please make sure to carefully read through all assessment details:

How does PLAR work?

Challenge a course for credit

Everyone comes to Athabasca University with different life and educational experiences. This is why many of our courses have a challenge for credit option. Challenging a course for credit allows you to skip a course by proving that you already understand the course content.

Please note: Graduate courses cannot be challenged for credit.

What courses can I challenge for credit?

Most undergraduate courses above the 100 (preparatory) level have a challenge for credit option. There are, however, some specific circumstances where you can’t challenge an undergraduate course for credit, even if that option is normally available. To find out if a particular course offers challenge for credit, please see the information box at the top of the course page.

View challenge for credit exceptions

Good to know:

  • There is a non-refundable challenge for credit fee.
  • You must get approval to challenge a course from the faculty member (or designate) who is responsible for the course.
  • Courses successfully challenged for credit will not count toward your residency requirement (the total number of AU credits that must be taken within your program).
  • You have only one opportunity to challenge a course. If you don’t complete or fail a challenge, you must register in the course and pass to get credit.

Got more questions about how to challenge a course? Find more information in our Undergraduate Calendar

Submit your challenge for credit form today

Transfer AU credit to another institution

Many Canadian post-secondaries have transfer agreements with Athabasca University that grant credit for most of our courses. However, we can’t guarantee acceptance of your AU credit. The decision to accept transfer courses is made by the institution you’re applying to, and you should contact them with any questions or concerns.

Learn more about transferring AU courses

Visiting students

If you’re enrolled in a program at another university and want to take an AU course for one of your program requirements, you'll need to enrol as a non-program student. Once you have become a student, you can begin registering for courses right away.

We encourage you to get a letter of permission from your school to ensure your AU credits will transfer to your program. This is for your peace of mind only – you don’t need to send us this letter.

Once you've completed your AU course, you will also need to send an AU transcript to your school. You can do this online through myAU or by submitting a Transcript Request Form by fax or mail.

Apply as a visiting student

Get information about AU

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Updated October 22, 2021 by Digital & Web Operations (web_services@athabascau.ca)

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