Reverse transfer is for students who have already transferred to a SUNY four-year institution without having earned an associate degree at a SUNY community college. Reverse transfer allows students to transfer the credits they have earned at the SUNY four-year institution back to the SUNY community college. Credits earned at the community college and credits earned at the four-year institution are combined to meet the requirements for an associate degree.
SUNY students are able to apply for Reverse Transfer directly, using the SUNY Reverse Transfer online application. The online application performs a review of the number of credits completed by the student using the record information on file to determine if they meet basic eligibility requirements. After the student completes the form, it will be sent to the community college they previously attended, where staff will review the student records and transcripts to determine if they are eligible to reverse-transfer credits.
The following steps and information are provided to assist you when advising students who are pursuing SUNY Reverse Transfer. Students who apply (a) must be currently enrolled at a SUNY four-year institution. (b) must have attended a community college previously as a matriculated student within the last 10 years, and (c) must have left or transferred before completing the associate's degree.
Students will apply for SUNY Reverse transfer by accessing the SUNY Reverse Transfer online application. When applying, the application will perform a basic eligibility check to determine if the student is eligible for SUNY Reverse Transfer. To student must have completed at least one semester at a SUNY 4-year institution to be considered eligible. Students should be advised to complete the application only after at least one term is complete, and final grades have been assessed.
Once a student applies for SUNY Reverse Transfer, the student's current SUNY institution registrar is notified, and asked to upload the student transcript for review by the community college. If a student also took courses at additional SUNY institutions those institutions are also notified. Non-SUNY transcripts must be ordered and sent by the student.
Once an application is submitted and records are received, the community college will review the credits earned at both institutions to determine if the student meets credit-in-residence requirements and program completion requirements.
The student is then notified of the decision by the community college. If the student is eligible based on current and/or in-progress coursework, they will be provided with instructions and requirements for completing the process. If the student is ineligible they are notified of the determination and provided with a reason for the denial.
Students may be denied or deferred for a number of reasons. The most common outcome when a student is not granted a degree is a deferral or application hold. This means the student has the ability to complete the degree, but some requirement areas are not fulfilled. In these instances, a conversation between the student's current academic advisor, and the advisor at the community college is often helpful. Advisors and the student can create a course plan that will serve the associate and bachelor's degree completion simultaneously. In most instances the application remains open pending the completion of courses or credits, and the degree is conferred at a later point.
In other common cases, the student may not have accrued enough credits-in-residence at the community college to be eligible, or some of the course work may have been completed too far in the past to be applicable to the current program. In these instances, the student should speak to the community college advisor to determine if they have a path to complete the associate degree.
Review the student-focused Reverse Transfer FAQ for answers to some common questions related to the process.
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects student records and requires institutions to obtain a release in order to share education records. This includes sharing records between SUNY institutions.
To maintain compliance, students are asked to complete a FERPA release as part of the SUNY Reverse Transfer process. Students grant the SUNY institutions they list permission to share and discuss their records as required for the SUNY Reverse Transfer process. If you or the community college is required to speak with colleagues at non-SUNY schools, they will require their FERPA release from the student.
General Reverse Transfer FAQ
View the SUNY Reverse Transfer FAQ to see answers to the most common questions students have asked advisors and the Transfer and Articulation Office.
Faculty/Staff Reverse Transfer FAQ
Please review the resources provided here for the most common technical support questions and answers related to the SUNY online applications for SUNY Reverse Transfer.
Contact Form
If you have additional SUNY Reverse Transfer questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to us for support.