Transfer Dispute

Texas Education Code (TEC), Chapter 61, Section 61.826, requires that an institution of higher education that proposes to deny application of credit toward the institution’s core curriculum or field of study curriculum give notice, as required by law, and submit unresolved transfer disputes to the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board for a final decision made by the Commissioner of Higher Education. Rules related to the resolution of transfer disputes can be found in Texas Administrative Code (TAC), Title 19, Part 1, Chapter 4, Section 4.27. 

Key Lower-Division Transfer of Credit Rules (note: not intended to be an exhaustive list of transfer of credit rules) 

• Core Curriculum – TAC 4.28(c), TEC 61.822(c) 
  “(c) If a student successfully completes the 42-semester credit hour core curriculum at a Texas public institution of higher education, that block of courses must be substituted in transfer to any other Texas public institution of higher education for the receiving institution’s core curriculum. A student shall receive academic credit for each of the courses transferred and may not be required to take additional core curriculum courses at the receiving institution.” 
• Field of Study- TAC 4.32 (e) and 4.32(f) 
  “(e) A receiving general academic teaching institution shall determine whether a transfer student is Field of Study Curriculum complete upon the transfer student’s enrollment. If a student successfully completes an approved Field of Study Curriculum, a general academic teaching institution must substitute that block of courses for the receiving institution’s lower-division requirements for the degree program for the corresponding Field of Study Curriculum into which the student transfers. Upon enrollment, the general academic teaching institution must grant the student full academic credit toward the degree program for the block of courses transferred.” 
  “(f) If a student transfers from one institution of higher education to another without completing the Field of Study Curriculum, the receiving institution must grant academic credit in the Field of Study Curriculum for each of the courses that the student has successfully completed in the Field of Study Curriculum of the sending institution. After granting the student credit for these courses, the institution may require the student to satisfy remaining course requirements in the current Field of Study Curriculum of the receiving general academic teaching institution, or to complete additional requirements in the receiving institution’s program, as long as those requirements do not duplicate course content the student previously completed through the Field of Study Curriculum.” 

Transfer Disputes Resolved by the Commissioner 

Date Received	Sending Institution	Receiving Institution	Issue Summary	Resolution Summary
2-13-25	Houston Community College (HCC)	University of Houston – Downtown (UHD)	UHD denied credit for courses taken through a third-party vendor that HCC applied to the student’s core curriculum requirements.	THECB upheld UHD’s decision to deny the transfer credit. The credits at issue in this matter were not earned at a Texas public institution higher education; therefore, UHD is permitted, but not required by law, to count those credits.