Transfer Student FAQs

Messiah University guarantees housing for transfer students (under the age of 23) during the academic year. We have a dedicated floor for transfer students to help you connect with others who have also recently made the move to Messiah.

All single, full-time students under the age of 23 are required to live on campus. Exceptions to the residency requirement are granted to students who live locally with family.

To be considered a transfer student, you must have completed at least 12 college credits AFTER graduating high school. If you’ve done dual-enrollment or taken fewer than 12 college credits you will apply as a NEW student.

Messiah University will generally accept courses for transfer credit which meet the following criteria:

• Course must be taken at a regionally accredited institution.
• Course must be collegiate-level (developmental and remedial courses are not transferable).
• Student must have earned grade of C or higher in the course.

After you are offered admission, the Registrar’s Office will complete your transfer credit evaluation. Credits are evaluated on a course by course basis. You can consult the transfer equivalency database to see if your courses at your school have been accepted in the past.

There is no limit to the number of credits you can transfer in, but the last 30 credits toward your degree must be earned at Messiah University.

Yes! Transfer students can qualify for both need-based and merit-based aid. Provost's Scholarships are offered to transfer students with a cumulative college GPA of 3.0 or higher. Additional scholarships and financial aid options are available on our website.

We encourage transfer students to apply at least two to three months prior to the start of the desired entry semester to allow adequate time for credits to transfer and financial aid to process. But we accept applications right up to the time classes begin. Transfer students are welcome to start either in the fall or the spring semester.

Simply start a new application for the term you are interested in enrolling and parts of the application will be prefilled with the information we have for you. You can update any information that has changed (phone number, address, etc.). 

We recommend your cumulative GPA be 2.5 or higher to gain acceptance to most of our majors. The GPA requirements for select majors are higher.

We want to award credit for as many of your course as we possibly can. Have official transcripts sent from each school you have attended since graduating high school.