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In June 2008, the Board accepted the Final Report of the Commonwealth Transfer Advisory Group (CTAG) and adopted the MassTransfer Policy. MassTransfer integrates and replaces the Commonwealth Transfer Compact, Joint Admissions, and the Tuition Advantage Program. Community college students who chose to continue in the Commonwealth Transfer Compact and/or Joint Admissions Program were required to complete their associate degrees by August 2013 and matriculate at a Massachusetts state university or University of Massachusetts campus by fall 2014.
MassTransfer policy benefits will apply to students in the Massachusetts public higher education system who complete either an approved associate degree or the MassTransfer General Education Block beginning fall 2010, regardless of initial date of enrollment.
It has two main purposes:
A student seeking readmission as a matriculated student to an institution previously attended—whether on a full-time or part-time basis—is held to the receiving institution’s readmission policies. However, if eligible for readmission, the receiving institution is strongly encouraged to honor the MassTransfer policy.
In furtherance of the CTAG recommendations to expand alignment of statewide program-to-program and course-to-course transfer, the Department of Higher Education (DHE) and the 29 Massachusetts public institutions began working on MassTransfer Pathways in Spring 2014. 60-credit maps were created in six high-transfer disciplines: Biology, Chemistry, Economics, History, Political Science, and Psychology. In Fall 2015, the DHE began working on ten new disciplines: Business, Communication and Media Studies, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Education, English, Liberal Arts, Mathematics, Sociology, and STEM Foundation (with an emphasis on the Natural and Physical Sciences).
The Commonwealth Commitment was announced in Spring 2016, adding additional benefits for students who complete the MassTransfer Pathways within two and a half years with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher. Students accepted into the Commonwealth Commitment program will be eligible to receive a 10% discount off of their tuition and fees, payable at the end of every completed semester, in the form of a cash rebate or voucher issued by their campus
The community colleges, state universities, and University of Massachusetts campuses, in order to ease and clarify the process of transferring earned credit from one college to another, whether among themselves or from other public or private institutions; to provide standards for the evaluation of alternative sources of credit; to reduce the time and cost of completing a college education; and to increase the opportunities for graduation of their students, establish these Transfer Principles. These Principles respect the academic standards, quality and integrity of each of the community colleges, state universities, and University of Massachusetts campuses.
These Transfer Principles address issues of academic credit earned through coursework completed at one institution and transferred to another. It also addresses the related issue of credit earned through alternative sources of credit, such as examinations, professional courses, military training and other prior learning experiences.
Undergraduate applicants who are interested in transferring to a state university or UMass campus must meet one of the following criteria:
The college GPA must be calculated based on grades received in credit-bearing courses; grades received in developmental or remedial courses cannot be included in the calculation of the GPA. Transferable college credits are those that will be accepted by the institution to which the student is applying; they do not need to be transferrable to a specific degree program at the institution.
If a student has earned less than 12 credits after high school graduation, they are a freshman applicant. Review the Comprehensive Admissions Standards Guide for more details.
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