Transfer Credit

Eligibility

If you have completed previous education, you may be able to apply for transfer credit for a SAIT program.

To be eligible for transfer credit:

• you must be currently enrolled or recently accepted in a SAIT program
• your previous education was completed within the last five years at a government-accredited post-secondary institution
• you have achieved a minimum grade of 63% (C) in your previous education. Grades of attended, pass, or audited will not be accepted for credit, including previously awarded transfer credit or prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR).

Transfer credit may be used up to a maximum of 50% of the courses required for a SAIT program. (For example, ten courses out of 20 for diploma programs.)

Non-credit courses cannot be used as transfer credit toward a credit course.

Prior learning assessment and recognition (PLAR)

If transfer credit is not awarded, you may have an opportunity to receive credit for your experience through Prior Learning Assessment and Recognition (PLAR). This assessment evaluates informal and non-formal education and experience through a portfolio, credit bank or challenge exam.

If you are eligible for this assessment, you will be contacted by a transfer credit advisor.

Transfer agreements

There is a chance that the course(s) or program you have previously completed at another institution has already been evaluated at SAIT.

This means that a transfer agreement has been made, which will significantly reduce the processing time and will provide you with an answer if your courses or credential will count for credit.

There are two different ways you can verify if your course(s) has been approved before at SAIT.

Key dates and deadlines

Transfer credit evaluations open approximately two months before the semester starts, except for spring and summer.

To receive a tuition refund, the transfer credit request must be completed before the course add/drop date. You may still submit a request after the deadline up to the midpoint of the semester; however, you will not receive a tuition refund.

The transfer credit evaluation process for your previous education can take between 4-6 weeks, so we recommend you start the process as soon as transfer credit evaluation opens.

_{*If your program begins outside the above semester start dates, your add/drop deadline will differ. Please contact your academic advisor to confirm your deadline.}

If you are registered in a course that is being evaluated, you should continue to attend the courses until a decision has been made on your transfer credit request.  

Costs

If your previous education was completed at a Canadian institution, there is no charge to have your courses evaluated.  

To have your international education assessed a non-refundable fee of $155 per course will be charged regardless of the outcome of the evaluation.  

If a transfer credit advisor has identified PLAR as an option for you to receive credit, a non-refundable fee of $155 per course will be charged regardless of the outcome of the evaluation. To write a challenge exam, you will be charged a non-refundable fee of $500 per course.  

Submit your transfer credit application

To begin your application, you will need to provide the following information.

• Student information – including your SAIT student ID
• Course information from your previous education – including course code, grade, and requested SAIT equivalency

Complete the online form

Get started by completing the transfer credit request form. All required fields must be completed.

Transfer credit request

After you complete the form 

Once you have submitted the form, your request will be reviewed by a transfer credit advisor.

If there is an existing transfer agreement for the course or if the course has been successfully evaluated before, your request will be approved with no further action required.

If there are no existing agreements or the course has never been evaluated before, you will be contacted and required to complete additional steps, including providing a detailed course outline or syllabus for each course submitted for evaluation. Outlines must be from the year and semester the course was taken; website or calendar course descriptions will not be accepted.

Once a final transfer credit decision is made, a transfer credit advisor will contact you to inform you of the results of your transfer credit request form.

If your transfer credit is approved:

• A "CR" will show on your SAIT transcript when course credit is granted. The credited course is not calculated in your grade point average (GPA).
• If you’re currently registered in the SAIT course, a transfer credit advisor will drop you from the course. If you receive credit for a course for a future semester, you are responsible for dropping yourself from the course.

More information