ARTSYS is a web-based platform designed to streamline the transfer process for students moving from Maryland community colleges to University System of Maryland institutions and other participating Maryland colleges and universities. Its core principles focus on minimizing credit loss, avoiding course duplication, and ensuring fairness for both native and transfer students, and completing courses leading to both the associate and bachelor’s degree.

The system helps students and advisors determine how community college courses transfer by showing course equivalencies and other requirements met. It also provides recommendations for courses based on each institution’s major requirements (Program Transfer Guides). Additionally, ARTSYS includes an academic history feature that aids students in understanding how their courses compare to a Program Transfer Guide.

Maintained by the University System of Maryland, but serving the entire State of Maryland, ARTSYS is an essential tool for supporting student success and facilitating seamless transitions between institutions.

ARTSYS provides the following information:

Equivalencies – displays the transferability of a course from a community college to a four-year institution.

Program Transfer Guides – students can look up the first four semesters of prescribed coursework for a particular major.

Academic History Evaluation– a student can have the transcript evaluated on a course-to-course basis or have it compared to a recommended transfer program.

ARTSYS has the participation of all Maryland community colleges, all member institutions of the University System of Maryland, Morgan State University, St. Mary’s College of Maryland, and several of Maryland’s independent institutions including Goucher College, Stevenson University, Hood College, McDaniel College, Washington College, Capitol Technical University, and Notre Dame of Maryland University.

See also our Participating Institutions page.

ARTSYS connects to institutions electronically so that course changes and equivalency updates are completed on a regular schedule; however, Program Transfer Guides are reviewed when programs change or at least once per year, and course equivalencies within them must be updated more often.

Currently, ARTSYS only provides information for courses transferring from two-year to four-year institutions; however, plans for ongoing development include two-year to two-year, four-year to four-year, and reverse transfer.

Feel free to contact Francisco Ruiz-Pérez, Associate Director of Articulation and Enrollment Services, at fruiz@usmd.edu if you have questions or concerns about any of the information provided by ARTSYS.

If you have questions about a specific course evaluation by a participating institution you also have the option of contacting that institution’s Transfer Coordinator. Contact information for coordinators at each participating institution can be viewed here: 

• Maryland Four-Year Public Institutions Transfer Contacts
• Maryland Four-Year Private Institutions Transfer Contacts
• Maryland Community College Transfer Contacts

Maryland community colleges award five associate-level degrees: the Associate of Arts (AA), the Associate of Fine Arts (AFA), the Associate of Science (AS), the Associate of Applied Science (AAS), and the Associate of Art in Teaching (AAT).

Transfer or pre-baccalaureate associate degree programs (AA, AS) are aimed at meeting the needs of students who intend to earn a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or university. These programs are specifically designed so that all course work will transfer to a four-year institution. In fact, optional course offerings are available to students taking transfer programs that can be tailored to the specific major fields students plan to pursue in their junior and senior years (and can also be tailored to the requirements of specific four-year colleges and universities). Students should consult ARTSYS as well as academic advisors or transfer counselors at both the sending and receiving institutions for more information about transferring.

The Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) has as a primary goal transfer to a Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) degree program. Its courses are similar to the first half of a B.F.A. degree program; and require at least 60 percent of the course credit to be in studio work and related areas.

Career degree programs (AAS) are designed for students intending to seek employment upon graduation from a community college. These programs have fewer general education credits than transfer-oriented associate degrees. Some AAS courses and credits may transfer; students should consult ARTSYS as well as academic advisors at both the sending and receiving institutions for information. Other career programs include specific occupational courses not normally offered by four-year institutions. These courses generally are not accepted as transfer credit by four-year institutions. However, all general education courses designated as such on the transcript will be accepted by receiving public four-year colleges and universities.

The Associate of Art in Teaching (AAT) degree is awarded to students who have completed a community college curriculum in Teacher Education, passed the Praxis I exam, and maintained a 2.75 cumulative GPA. If conferred and the student is admitted to the parallel teacher education program at the four-year institution, the transfer of all AAT degree credits is guaranteed at any four-year institution in the state. This is a block transfer.

To search for an academic major at Maryland institutions, please search the Maryland Higher Education Commision  Academic Program Inventory. 

Whenever a student successfully completes either the lab or lecture component of a course or pair of courses, but not both, please consult the ARTSYS course note of the receiving institution. Depending on the course, and potentially the major, the receiving institution may accept some credit. Keep in mind that a particular grade may be needed to satisfy a prerequisite or a major requirement, but a lower grade could be accepted for General Education credit.

Whenever a student successfully completes a four-credit course and transfers it to an institution where its equivalent carries less credit, the remaining credits are typically counted as general elective credits. Check the course note in ARTSYS with a transfer coordinator, or, if you already transferred, your student portal where your credit history is posted. 

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) protects the privacy of student educational records. ARTSYS is FERPA-compliant and committed to respecting your privacy.  To customize your review of ARTSYS and gain access to certain information systems that hold your academic history, you must provide some personal information and log in through your home institution. ARTSYS does not store any personal information. This information will be removed from our system within 24 hours or at the time you log out, whichever comes first. ARTSYS does not sell, rent, loan, trade, or lease any personal information collected on this site. 

Every public four-year institution has to publish its prior learning policies and any related scores on its website.

For prior leaning examinations taken after July 1, 2022, the following minimum scores are needed to receive credit from Maryland public institutions:  AP = 3; CLEP = 50. Occasionally, a higher score may be needed to meet an institutional requirement; check the four-year websites for details.

For examinations taken before July 1, 2022, please contact the public institution that will evaluate the test score when presented during transfer. Private institutions should also be contacted directly for detailed information about their scoring requirements for possible credit.

Typically, if you are enrolled in a full-time course load, it will take two years to receive an associate degree and four years to graduate with a bachelor’s degree. In some cases, depending on your ability to successfully progress through your academic coursework, and into the academic program you pursue during your matriculation, completion time for a bachelor’s degree may take longer.

Students should contact their academic advisor. Transfer coordinators can address questions, too. Institutions’ transfer admission web pages also hold important information.

To apply for financial aid, begin by submitting a FAFSA. The document is available online at http://www.fafsa.gov. 

The Maryland Higher Education Commission State Financial Programs may also help you. See:
https://mhec.maryland.gov/preparing/Pages/FinancialAid/descriptions.aspx. 

When you apply for admission, you should also be able to find information on how to apply for financial aid; contact the institution if you have questions.

Institutions and the Maryland Higher Education Commission encourage students to complete a FAFSA as soon as possible.

Consult the Records/Registrar’s Office on your campus. There may be a fee required. Be sure to ask about having your transcript sent electronically.

Community colleges may accept up to 45 credits toward an associate degree. Credits from a community college to a four-year degree normally are limited to half the baccalaureate degree program requirement and may not exceed 70 credits unless there is a special agreement. Four-year institutions often accept a maximum of 90 credits in transfer if credits from another four-year institution are included. Consult the individual colleges for more information. Maryland regulations also require half the credits in a major to be upper-division, and institutions must also require a certain number of upper-division credits in the degree.

There are a few reasons why your credits may not have been transferred:

• You have reached the maximum number of credits allowed for transfer. If you are transferring from a two-year institution, the maximum number of credits you are allowed to transfer over is 70 credits. Advanced Placement (AP), International Baccalaureate (IB), and College Level Examination Program (CLEP) credits are non-course academic credits and are included in the 70-credit total. Four-year institutions go to the original source of these college-level exam credits to evaluate them.

• Two of your courses may have the same equivalent. On occasion, a student may have taken two different courses at their previous schools that have the same equivalent at their new institution. The same course content cannot be applied more than once to a degree. 

• You did not take the full course sequence. Some credits require taking more than one course to transfer over its equivalent. For example, you may need to take both ENG 101 and ENG 102 at your previous institution to receive credit for ENGL 101 at your new institution. It is always best practice to review your transfer credits with a transfer counselor or academic advisor.

• Sometimes you will find that a course transferred as a general elective, but you expected it to apply to your major. This can happen if the course you took does not align with the major requirements at the new institution or maybe it is not similar enough to a similarly named course to be considered equivalent. In that case, its credits may not transfer.

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Community colleges and some four-year institutions do not require a standardized test score to apply. Other four-year institutions may require SAT and ACT scores to apply for admission as a first-year student. If you have more than 30 completed credits, most colleges will not require SAT scores.

Degree-granting institutions (in agreement with the sending institutions) have outlined prescribed courses for their academic majors through Program Transfer Guides (PTGs). Program pages provide additional information beyond the PTG.