Maryland Transfer Law

The College and Career Readiness and College Completion Act of 2013 (SB740)

In 2013, the Maryland Legislature passed a law, which has broad implications for K-12 and higher education. Review the complete law for details.

For transfer, the most important aspects of the law include:

• The Maryland Higher Education Commission (MHEC), in collaboration with the public institutions of higher education, shall develop and implement a statewide transfer agreement whereby at least 60 credits of general education, elective, and major courses that a student earns at any community college in the state toward an Associate of Art or Associate of Science degree shall be transferrable to any public senior higher education institution in the state for credit toward a bachelor’s degree by July 1, 2016.
• MHEC, in collaboration with the public institutions of higher education, shall develop and implement a statewide reverse transfer agreement whereby at least 30 credits that a student earns at any public senior higher education institution in the state toward a bachelor’s degree are transferrable to any community college in the state for credit toward an associate degree by July 1, 2016.
  
  Maryland community college students who have completed the associate degree or students who have completed 56 semester hours of credit with a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 2.0 or higher on a scale of 4.0 shall not be denied direct transfer to a Maryland public four-year institution, unless the number of students seeking admission exceeds the number that can be accommodated.
  
  Student Guide to Transfer Among Maryland Colleges & Universities

In the future, students who complete an associate degree at a Maryland community college should be able to have all 60 credits transfer to any of the public higher education institutions in Maryland.

In practice, we have yet to see how this will all be accomplished. We will continue to work on this and other transfer issues for our students.