PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision Transfer Credit Requests

For incoming students with a master's degree, we invite you to apply for transfer credit by submitting your applicable course syllabi. Transfer credit must be approved before a course starts. The transfer credit information and form will be available in early June.

Policies and Criteria Fall 2025

- Graduate Level: Only graduate-level courses are acceptable for transfer credit. A graduate-level course is any course for which a student received graduate credit at their previous institution(s).
- Acceptable Grades: A grade of “B” or better is required in the graduate-level course to be eligible for transfer credit.
- Accreditation: Previous graduate work must have been completed at a CACREP-accredited Counselor Education and Supervision program.
- Deadline for Requesting Transfer Credit: Requests for review of transfer credit must be submitted by Aug 1 of the year the student plans to enroll in the CES program.
- Maximum Credit Awarded: A maximum of 13.5 quarter units or nine semester units may be transferred into the CES program.
- Transfer Unit Equivalencies: A student will be awarded the number of units the transferred course is equal to at Palo Alto University, which uses a quarter system. A 3-semester unit course will be awarded as a 4.5 quarter unit credit. A transferred course must equal or exceed the number of units of the corresponding CES course.
- Time Limit for Transfer Credit: In order to be eligible for transfer credit, the course must have been completed within five years of the student’s matriculation at Palo Alto University.
- Transferable Courses: Students applying for review of transfer coursework should indicate which course(s) they are applying to waive. It is not guaranteed that a course will be eligible for transfer credit.
- Please note that because the CES program is billed on a flat-rate, quarterly tuition schedule, transfer or waiver of units will not result in a reduced tuition rate. Additionally, because of our cohort model with required courses in each quarter, your time to completion of the program will not be reduced; however, students who are allowed to waive required coursework may have the luxury of more time available for supplemental internship, research assistantships, paid employment, etc.

The Transfer Request form will be available in June.

Step 2: Notification and Appeals

Your completed form and syllabi will be forwarded to the appropriate faculty for review. We thank you in advance for your patience - it can take a few weeks for all of the reviews to be completed. Once the reviews are complete, we will send you a summary of the approved credits. This summary will also be sent to the Office of the Registrar, who will adjust your student record accordingly. You will be individually notified of the curriculum committee's decisions based on your application and self-evaluation 4-6 weeks after submission of the form.

Until then, feel free to direct questions to admissions@paloaltou.edu.

- Appeals and Exceptions: A student may appeal transfer credit decisions in writing to the Department Curriculum Committee. Appeals must be submitted within one week after the incoming student is notified of the outcome of their transfer credit application.

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