Credits to
Graduation
April 2020
by Anna Tikina, Research Ocer, BCCAT
BC COUNCIL ON ADMISSIONS & TRANSFER
Web/Email: bccat.ca | bctransferguide.ca | [email protected]
Twitter: @bccat_org | @bctransferguide
© BCCAT April 2020
by Anna Tikina, Research Ocer, BCCAT
Credits to
Graduation
Table of Contents
Credits to Graduation: Executive Summary 1
Introduction 4
Methodology and Data Denitions 6
Data Cleaning and Linking 7
Cohort Description 8
Program of Baccalaureate Study 10
Stated Number of Credits Required for Graduation 12
The Year Level of Admission for Transfer Students 14
The Maximum and Average Number of Transfer Credits 16
Attempted and Earned Credits at University 16
The Overall Total of Credits Completed to Graduate with a Baccalaureate 18
Program Match between the Sender and the Receiver 21
Conclusion 22
References 23
Appendix 1: DataSpecications:InformationSharedbetweenaReceivingInstitutionandBCCAT 24
Appendix 2: Student Transitions Project Data Elements Requested 25
Appendix 3: The number of credits obtained by Receiving University, Program Area
and basis of admission 26
Appendix 4: The distribution of students by the number of completed credits by the basis
of admission and the Receiving University 30
Appendix 5: Average number of credits obtained by transfer graduates, categorized by
Study Sender and Receiving University 34
Acknowledgements 35
LIST OF TABLES:
Table 1: The list of BC public post-secondary institutions participating in the study 6
Table 2: ThenumberofstudentsidentiedandpercentmatchbetweeninstitutionalandSTPdata 8
Table 3: The number of transfer and direct entry students in the study cohort by Receiving University 9
Table 4: The number of transfer students by Study Sender and Receiving University 9
Table 5: Credential received at CDW institutions by credential type and university program area 10
Table 6: Baccalaureate graduates by program and basis of admission 11
Table 7: Transfer students by program and Receiving University 12
Table 8: Number of students in cohort by program area and number of required credits
for graduation (Combined direct entry and transfer students) 13
Table 9: The average number of credits by Receiving University and Year Level of Admission
for transfer students 15
Table 10: Averagedierencebetweenattemptedandearnedcreditsatuniversitybyprogramarea,
Receiving University*, and basis of admission 17
Table 11: The overall average number of credits completed by basis of admission and program area 18
Table 12: The total average of credits completed by Receiving University 19
Table 13: Average number of credits completed by transfer students in each program area, by each
Study Sender by program area 20
Table 14: The average number of credits for transfer students with matching CIP pre- and
post-transfer, and all transfer students 21
LIST OF FIGURES:
Figure 1: The percent of baccalaureate graduates by program and basis of admission 11
BCCAT 1
Credits to Graduation
The number of credits completed to earn a baccalaureate degree continues to be an important criterion for mea-
suringtheeectivenessandeciencyoftransferbetweenpost-secondaryinstitutions.Manyundergraduates–both
transferanddirectentrystudents–completemorethan120creditsneededfora“traditional”degree.Thecurrent
study aims to compare the total number of credits completed for a baccalaureate degree by direct entry and transfer
students at several large public universities in BC. Evolving from earlier research, this study utilizes a new data source
so that credits completed at the sending institution can be more fully documented, rather than relying only on the
number of credits recognized at the receiving institution. This goal was achieved by combining the institutional data
from the receiving universities, as well as data from the sending institutions accessed through the province-wide Stu-
dent Transitions Project (STP) dataset.
The Cohort:
• 2015/16 graduates with a BA (Arts), BSc (Science), BCOM (Commerce or Business Administration) or BASC
(Engineering)
• Receiving Universities: SFU, TRU, UBC, UFV, UNBC, and UVIC
• Several“highvolume”StudySenderinstitutions:Douglas,Langara,OC,TRU,Selkirk,CNC,Camosun,and
CMNT
• Pathways (in Table below): Transfer students transferring credits from one Study Sender only.
Highlights
ThestudentsfromtheStudySendersinstitutionsconstitutedasignicantportionofall2015/16graduatesfromSFU,
UBC,UNBCandUVic.ThenumberoftransferstudentsinthetablebelowisshownasidentiedintheSTPdata.
2015/16 Graduates by Receiving University and basis of admission (within the study scope)
SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Total Total %
Direct Entry 1,571 200 653 3,381 497 226 890 7,418 88%
Transfer 310 9 120 265 17 72 255 1,048 12%
Total 1,881 209 773 3,646 514 298 1,145 8,466 100%
% in
Pathways
16% 4% 16% 7% 3% 24% 22% 12%
Credits to Graduation:
Executive Summary
NOTE: The transfer student numbers in this table are lower than the total number of transfer students at each receiving university,
because the table only shows the transfer students in the cohort for this study.
2 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
• 59% of transfer students graduated from Arts programs. The proportion of direct entry students was smaller:
41% of direct entry students graduated with a BA degree. By comparison, only 24% of the transfer student
cohort graduated from Science programs, while 33% of direct entry students graduated in Science.
• About 12% of the direct entry cohort and 8% the transfer student cohort were international students.
• About 40% of transfer students (393 students) received a credential from an institution contributing to the
BC Central Data Warehouse (CDW) in addition to a baccalaureate from their receiving university. Transfer
students graduating with an Arts degree were slightly more likely to have received a credential from a CDW
institution (59% of all transfer students, 63% of CDW credentials). Almost half of all CDW credentials were
associate degrees (44% of all credentials) followed by diplomas (32%).
• This study attempted to assess both the number of credits attempted (i.e., credits from all courses, even if a
student failed or withdrew from a course) and earned credits (credits obtained when a course is completed).
Foralldirectentryandtransferstudents,theaveragedierencebetweenattemptedandearnedcreditsata
receiving university ranged from 4.1 (in Business programs) to 7.9 credits (in Engineering). The program and
overallaveragedierence(ofattemptedandearnedcredits)betweentransferanddirectentrystudentswas
marginal, which implies that transfer students perform as well as direct entry students in university courses.
• When including credits from all known sources, transfer students on average completed nine more credits
ontheirwaytoabaccalaureatethandiddirectentrystudents.Thedierencewasgreaterforstudentsin
Engineering, Business and Science programs (representing a full 1 to 2+ semesters of credit). For Arts pro-
grams,thedierencerangedfromonetotwo3-creditcourses.
41%
59%
16%
10%
11%
7%
33%
24%
Direct Entry
Transfer
Arts Business Engineering Sciences
BCCAT 3
Credits to Graduation
Transfer in BC does not appear to add signicant barriers on the pathway to a bach-
elor's degree: transfer students from the Study Senders performed well. While they
graduated with a somewhat higher number of credits than the direct entry students,
the overall small dierence reects a high alignment of articulated courses.
The overall average number of credits by basis of admission and program area
Note: Numbers may not add up due to rounding.
*TherewassignicantvariabilityintheaveragesofthenumberofcreditsamongEngineeringpathways.
The overall program area average should be interpreted with caution.
• Whilestudentswhotransferredbetweenthesameprogramweremuchmoreecientintheiruseofcredits
in some program areas (e.g., in Business), about three-fourths (73%) of transfer students studied in such
pre-transferprogramsas“GeneralArts”,“GeneralStudies”,or“UniversityTransfer”.Suchbroadpre-transfer
programcategoriescouldnotbeassociatedwithaspecicpost-transferdisciplineatauniversity.Only17%
oftransferstudents(178studentsof1,048total)hadthesameCIP(ClassicationofInstructionalPrograms)
codeattheirCDWinstitutionandattheirreceivinguniversity,thusmakingitdiculttoempiricallytestthe
assumptionthattransferbetweenrelatedprogramswasmoreecientforstudents.
TransferinBCdoesnotappeartoaddsignicantbarriersonthepathwaytoabachelor’sdegree:transferstudents
from the Study Senders performed well. While they graduated with a somewhat higher number of credits than the
directentrystudents,theoverallsmalldierencereectsahighalignmentofarticulatedcourses.Thendingthatboth
transferanddirectentrystudentscompletedsomewhatmorecreditsthanrequiredfortheircredentialpossiblyreects
theexploratorynatureofundergraduatestudiesratherthansystemicineciencies.Thendingsthatdirectentry
studentsearnadditionalcreditsatStudySenderinstitutions,andtransferstudentsearncredentialsbesidesbachelor’s
degreesconrmthatstudents’pathwaysthroughpost-secondaryeducationarerarelylinear.
Direct Entry Transfer Dierence % Dierence
Arts 128.8 136.1 7.2 5.4
Business 129.7 143.1 13.4 9.4
Engineering* 168.4 201.2 32.8 16.3
Sciences 137.7 151.8 14.0 9.3
Overall 136.1 144.9 8.8 6.0
4 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Introduction
Transferasaneducationalpathwayhasbeenwidelyidentiedasprovidingaccesstostudentsfrommultipleback-
grounds. In British Columbia (BC), the transfer of students between post-secondary institutions is facilitated by the BC
TransferSystem–agroupofpost-secondaryinstitutionsthatcollaborateonprovidingasmoothtransferpathwayand
experience for students who decide to change institutions on their way to a post-secondary credential. The student-
facing online BC Transfer Guide lists course equivalencies that members of the BC Transfer System have established.
However, students often accumulate more credits than are required for their degree. There are many reasons for
this,includingapplyingcreditequivalenciesintheBCTransferGuidetospecicgraduationrequirements,tostudents
switchingtoadierentprogram/major,totheavailabilityofcoursesnecessarytograduate.Thequestionofexcess
credits, and especially credits lost while transferring, has been raised by multiple authors in many jurisdictions. Re-
search on the number of credits transfer students obtain to graduate with a degree has been conducted in California
(Bell & Valliani, 2014), Florida (LaSota, 2014), and Ontario (Sidhu et al., 2016) among others. Various U.S. studies argued
that students took a vast number of excess credits to obtain a credential (e.g., Complete College America, 2011;
Simone, 2014; Attewell & Monaghan, 2014). Alternatively, Pendleton (2010) discovered that the total number of credits
obtainedbyBCtransferstudentsontheirwaytoabaccalaureatedegreedieredonlyslightlyfromthenumberof
credits obtained by direct entry students who started their university studies immediately after high school.
Theresearchidentiesavarietyofpotentialreasonsto
explain why the total number of credits accumulated
by a student could be larger than what is required
for a credential. One reason is the lack of articulated
courses or established program pathways between a
sending and a receiving institution. This lack of estab-
lishedequivalenciesleadstothestudent“losing”credits
obtained at the sending institution, if the student has
to re-take courses at the receiving institution. On the
other hand, there are a variety of reasons why students
change programs. When the student chooses a pro-
gram at a receiving institution that is not closely related
to the programs they studied in originally, some credits
obtained for the original program will inevitably be in-
applicableandcouldbeconsidered“lost”.However,the
program“swirl”(Johnson&Muse,2012)ischaracteristic
of both transfer and direct entry students, and does not
implyineectivenessoftransferpathways.
Students often accumulate more
credits than are required for their
degree. There are many reasons
for this, including applying credit
equivalencies in the BC Transfer
Guide to specic graduation re-
quirements, to students switching
to a dierent program/ major, to
the availability of courses neces-
sary to graduate.
BCCAT 5
Credits to Graduation
Moreover,students’intenttoreceiveabaccalaure-
ate (or the lack of such intent) is rarely taken into
accountinstudiesthatemphasizethecredit“loss”.A
studentmay“test”post-secondarystudiesbyentering
a diploma or an associate degree program, and then,
encouraged by success in these studies, continue into
abachelor’sprogram.Whilethestudentmayhave
obtained more credits in total than their baccalaureate
degree required, the experience of collecting credits in
their original program translates into successful bac-
calaureate completion, which may not occur otherwise.
Having completed two credentials (e.g., a diploma and
a degree) vs. one credential (degree only) can provide
additionalbenetsinthelabourmarket.
Nonetheless, the number of credits to receive a bacca-
laureate degree continues to be an important criterion
formeasuringtheeectivenessandeciencyoftransfer
between post-secondary institutions in BC. Pendleton
(2010), using data provided by receiving (post-transfer)
universities, concluded that transfer students were able
to graduate with approximately the same number of
credits as direct entry students. The main limitation of
the study was that only the data from the receiving
institutions were examined. The credits completed at a
sender which were not accepted by the receiving uni-
versity were not included in the analysis. This one-sided
approach has been used by a few previous studies in
dierentjurisdictions.
The objective of the current study is to compare the
total number of credits obtained for a baccalaureate
degree by direct entry and transfer students at sev-
eral large public universities in BC. The current study
aims to augment previous research through analyzing
case studies of high-volume senders to each receiving
institution that participated in the study. This research
attempts to account for the total number of credits
utilizingthedatafromboth“sides”oftransfer,i.e.,from
both receiving and from sending institutions.
While the student may have
obtained more credits in total than
their baccalaureate degree re-
quired, the experience of collecting
credits in their original program
translates into successful baccalau-
reate completion, which may not
occur otherwise.
The objective of the current study
is to compare the total number of
credits obtained for a baccalau-
reate degree by direct entry and
transfer students at several large
public universities in BC. This re-
search attempts to account for the
total number of credits.
6 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Receiving institutions only provided data for transfer students who were admitted with transfer credits from a single
StudySender,unlessthesecondpreviousinstitutionwasthereceiver,e.g.,studentsinboth"Sender–Receiver",and
"Receiver–Sender–Receiver”pathwayswereincluded.Limitingthecomplexityofstudentpathwaysinthiswaywas
necessary to increase the likelihood that all credits completed by students were captured.
Unlike the Pendleton (2010) study, the data request did not include demographic data (except international student
status) or GPA. The data request focused on the number of total credits for each student, the number of credits
they transferred in, and the number and type of programs these credits were associated with. The number of cred-
itsattemptedwasalsoincluded,soastoestimatewhethertherewasadierencebetweentransferanddirectentry
studentsintermsofthenumberofcreditsattempted.Thefulllistofeldsfortheinstitutionaldatarequestisshownin
Appendix 1.
*Due to the limited number of students in the sample of this study, NVIT was ultimately not included as a Study Sender
in the analysis.
Study Receivers Study Senders
SFU Douglas College, Langara College
UBC Douglas College, Langara College, Okanagan College (OC), Thompson Rivers University,
Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT)*, Selkirk College
UFV Douglas College, Langara College
TRU OC, Selkirk College, College of North Caledonia (CNC)
UVic Camosun College
UNBC Coast Mountain College (CMNT), College of North Caledonia (CNC)
Table 1. The list of BC public post-secondary institutions participating in the study
Methodology and Data Denitions
Institutional data were requested from six BC receiving universities: Simon Fraser University (SFU), Thompson Rivers
University (TRU), University of British Columbia (UBC), University of the Fraser Valley (UFV), University of Northern Brit-
ish Columbia (UNBC), and University of Victoria (UVic). SFU, UBC, UNBC and UVic were the only receiving universities
included in the 2010 study. This study aimed at expanding the scope and capturing the increased range of degree
completion options in the BC post-secondary system. Thus, a couple of universities that have become large receivers
during the last decade, such as TRU and UFV, were also included.
The study scope included 2015/16 baccalaureate graduates who completed a BA (Arts), BSc (Science), BCOM (Com-
merce or Business Administration), or BASC (Engineering) degree. Given the complexity of contemporary transfer
pathways,onlydatafromseveral“highvolume”senderinstitutions(StudySenders)wereincludedinthestudyfor
eachreceivinguniversity.Thesesenderswereselectedbasedonthevolumeofstudentmobilityfromaspecicsender
toaspecicreceiverintheStudentTransitionsProject(STP).
BCCAT 7
Credits to Graduation
All Study Sender post-secondary institutions are BC institutions that submit their student data to the Ministry of Ad-
vanced Education, Skills and Training (AEST) Central Data Warehouse (CDW). The STP data used in this study included
the following data from the CDW: the number of transfer credits by semester, the programs with which these credits
were associated at the sending post-secondary institution, and the name of the sending institution where those credits
werecompleted.ThefulllistofrequestedSTPdataeldscanbefoundinAppendix 2.
Thesendinginstitutiondataincludedinformationonthestudent’senrolmentatanyBCpublicsendinginstitution.This
methodologyaimedtominimizethenumberofpossible“uncounted”credits.However,studentsmayhaveobtained
credits from private or out-of-province institutions that were not counted in the CDW or assessed by the receiving
universities.
Data Cleaning and Linking
The institutional data were reviewed for consistency. Besides transfer students not from the Study Senders,
the following students were excluded from the cohort:
• One transfer student from NVIT (the number was too small for a meaningful analysis);
• Five direct entry students graduating with two degrees each (three UFV students, and two SFU students).
ThedataforoneSFUtransferstudentgraduatingwithtwodegreeswasaccountedfortherstdegreethe
student was enrolled in.
• Eight hundred and nine (809) students (571 direct entry and 238 transfer students) were excluded because
they were awarded a credential based on fewer than 105 total recorded credits. A minimum of 105 cred-
its was adopted based on evidence that some institutions awarded credits applicable to the credential in
recognition of tests completed, and the available data (while not comprehensive) suggested this commonly
amounted to about 15 credits. The majority of excluded students who graduated with fewer than 105 credits
wereatUBC.Theconcentrationofgraduateswithfewerthan105creditsattheuniversitylikelyreectsitsin-
stitutional business practices. All UNBC engineering students were similarly excluded (all of them direct entry
students), including UNBC engineering one student who had over 105 credits.
• Anumberofstudentsidentiedas“directentry”ininstitutionaldataappearnonethelesstohavebeen
granted advanced standing or transfer credit for previous post-secondary course work. 69 direct entry
students admitted to UBC at any level except Year 1 were excluded (16 UBC-O students and 53 UBC-V stu-
dents). These excluded UBC direct entry students were admitted with advanced standing to study level Year
2 or higher, presumably through block transfer agreements. Almost half of the excluded students entered
UBC-V’sEngineeringprogramfromCamosunCollege,whichhasablocktransfer-typeEngineeringbridge
programwithUBC.Deningsuchstudentsasdirectentryreectstheinstitutionalpracticesofhowthese
students are recorded in the institutional data.
• Similarly,sevenUNBC“directentry”studentswhowereawardedover15transfercreditswerealsoexcluded,
as were 43 UNBC transfer students who started their Nursing degree program earlier than entering UNBC
(i.e.,withanegativedierenceofYearDegreeStarttoYearStart).Thesestudentswerelikelyenrolledinthe
CNC-UNBC Nursing partnership program. Perhaps such UNBC transfer students (and UBC Engineering stu-
dents described above) can later be discussed in an additional analysis as block transfer students.
8 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
UBC and TRU provided data on all transfer students, not only on students from their corresponding Study Senders.
The full data set suggested that, for these universities, transfer students transferring credits from Study Senders repre-
sentedvepercentofall2015/16transfergraduatesatTRU,14%atUBC-V,and40%atUBCO.
The study combined institutional data from the six receiving universities with data accessed through a provincial
database-theSTP.TheinstitutionaldataandtheSTPdatawerelinkedbyauniquestudentidentierprovidedbythe
receivinguniversities.Theuniquestudentidentier,whichisdierentfromtheprovincialPersonalEducationNumber
(PEN),wascreatedbytheuniversityandsharedwiththeSTP.SlightlyfewerstudentswereidentiedintheCDWdata
than in the institutional data (Table 2).ThedierencecouldbeattributedtounmatchedPENsorcouldresultfromthe
denitionoftransferusedinthisstudy.
Table 2. The number of students identied and percent match between institutional and STP data
Transfer Students SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Total
In University data 314 12 124 280 18 75 258 1,081
In CDW data (Matched) 310 9 120 265 17 72 255 1,048
Percentage matched
in both sources
99% 75% 97% 95% 94% 96% 99% 97%
The matched data were used for the cohort description and further analysis.
Cohort Description
Tables 3 and 4 provide details on the distribution of direct entry and transfer students in the resulting cohort. Overall,
transfer students constituted 12% of the students in the study cohort. The percent of transfer students ranged from
three percent at UFV to almost a quarter at UNBC and UVic (Table 3).
ThestudentsfromStudySendersconstituteasignicantportionofall2015/16graduatesintheSFU,UBC,UNBCand
UVic cohorts. It was surprising to see the relatively small number of transfer students in the cohorts from TRU and
UFV. We do not have the full data set to determine how the transfer students graduating from the study sender insti-
tutions compared with the full population of transfer student graduates at these institutions, but, for example, some
transfer student graduates may have been excluded from the cohort because they transferred credits from several
institutions.
BCCAT 9
Credits to Graduation
Table 3. The number of transfer and direct entry students in the study cohort by Receiving University
(Note: The transfer student numbers shown in this table are lower than the total number of transfer students at each receiving
university, because the table only shows the transfer students in the cohort for this study. Please see the Methodology and Data
Denitionssectionforthedescriptionhowthecohortwasdened.)
SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Total Total
%
Direct entry
1,571 200 653 3,381 497 226 890 7,418 88%
Transfer
310 9 120 265 17 72 255 1,048 12%
Total in cohort
1,881 209 773 3,646 514 298 1,145 8,466 100%
Transfer students as %
of institutional cohort
16% 4% 16% 7% 3% 24% 22% 12%
Table 4. The number of transfer students by Study Sender and Receiving University
Study Sender
SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Total
Camosun College
255 255
Coast Mountain College
6 6
College of New Caledonia
1 66 67
Douglas College
181 1 35 14 231
Langara College
129 9 205 3 346
Okanagan College
4 99 6 109
Selkirk College
4 3 3 10
Thompson Rivers University
8 16 24
Total
310 9 120 265 17 72 255 1,048
About 12% of direct entry students and eight percent of transfer students were international students. Fourteen
percent of transfer students (12 students), who originally were enrolled as international students, later changed their
status to domestic during their way to a baccalaureate.
High school graduation dates for students in the transfer cohort ranged from 1992 to 2012. About 73% of the transfer
studentsgraduatedfromhighschoolin2006orlater.Aboutafth(18%,184students)ofthetransfercohortdidnot
haveahighschoolgraduationdate–theseincluded64internationalstudents,and120studentswhomightbeeither
domestic high school non-graduates, or international students who had changed their visa status prior to entering a
CDW institution. About 65% of transfer students with a known high school graduation date registered in post-second-
ary programs at a CDW institution within one year of high school graduation. An additional 29% transitioned to CDW
post-secondaryinstitutionswithinveyearsofhighschoolgraduation.Itwasnotpossibletoidentifywhethertransfer
students were enrolled in a non-CDW institution during the period between their high school graduation and their
enrolment at a CDW PSI.
10 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Table 5. Credential received at CDW institutions by credential type and university program area
*Note: University Program Areas (for the degrees the students graduated with) are shown as recorded by a receiving university.
Program of Baccalaureate Study
Most students in the cohort graduated with Arts degrees (43% of all graduates), followed by Sciences degrees (32%)
(Tables 6 and 7, and Figure 1). The rank of the programs by percent of graduates remained the same as in the 2010
study: Arts, Sciences, Business, and Engineering. One possible explanation for the predominance of Arts transfer
graduates may be a larger number of Associate of Arts degrees than Associate of Science degrees, which provided a
larger number of pathways to transfer. However, a larger percent of students graduated in 2015/2016 with a science
degree (32% vs. 27% in 2010) and fewer with an Arts degree (43% vs. 50% in 2010). On the other hand, the cohort in
the 2010 study was not exactly the same as in this study. In the current study, focusing on Study Senders, the size of
the cohort was roughly 75% of the size of the 2010 cohort. Thus, caution should be taken when interpreting this result.
By linking the CDW data with the data from the Receiving Universities, it was possible to establish that about six
percent of transfer students were enrolled in a program at a receiving university before starting studies at a CDW
institution. For the rest, eight percent registered at a receiving university within one year of starting studies at a CDW
PSI, while more than half of the students in the cohort transferred within two (28% transfer students) or three (27% of
students) years of starting a program at a CDW institution.
About one-third of transfer students (38%, 393 students) had credentials other than the baccalaureate degree com-
pleted in 2015/16 academic year (Table 5). Some students had more than one credentials: 393 students had 450
credentials in total. The majority of these additional credentials (63% of credentials) were held by students in Arts
programs (as recorded by a receiving university). By credential type, almost half of these credentials were associate
degrees (44%), followed by diplomas (32% of all credentials).
University Program Area*
CDW Credential Category Arts Business
Engineer-
ing
Sciences Total % Total
ADVANCED DIPLOMA 17 17 4%
ASSOCIATE DEGREE 152 5 2 41 200 44%
CERTIFICATE 28 6 7 6 47 10%
DEVELOPMENTAL CREDENTIAL 17 11 8 36 8%
DIPLOMA 84 17 18 26 145 32%
POST-DEGREE CERTIFICATE 1 1 0%
SHORT CERTIFICATE 1 3 4 1%
Total 283 39 44 84 450 100%
% Total 63% 9% 10% 19% 100%
BCCAT 11
Credits to Graduation
Figure 1. The percent of baccalaureate graduates by program and basis of admission
Note: Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Program
Direct
Entry
Transfer Total Total %
Dierence from 2010 Study
(Graduates of 2007/08)
Arts 3,027 620 3,647 43% -7%
Business 1,174 106 1,280 15% 1%
Engineering 779 71 850 10% 1%
Sciences 2,438 251 2,689 32% 5%
Total 7,418 1,048 8,466 100%
Table 6. Baccalaureate graduates by program and basis of admission
41%
59%
16%
10%
11%
7%
33%
24%
Direct Entry
Transfer
Arts Business Engineering Sciences
12 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Stated Number of Credits Required for Graduation
Each receiving university provided the number of credits required for graduation from programs with a graduating
student in the cohort. This stated number of required credits serves as a benchmark to evaluate the number of credits
actually completed by students in the cohort. Baccalaureate degrees in Engineering required the highest number of
credits for completion, with programs in the current study ranging from 143 to 177 required credits (Table 8). Arts and
Business degrees typically required 120 or 121 credits, and graduates with those degrees comprised 75% of the cohort.
Arts and Business Honours or Combined Honours degrees required 132 credits. The requirements for Science pro-
grams ranged from 120 credits (the majority of programs; 76% of science graduates) to 147 credits. Overall, 81% of the
cohort graduated with degrees requiring 120 or 121 credits in Arts, Business and Science.
In comparison to the results of the 2010 study, Arts and Business programs still required the same number of credits to
graduate as in 2010. The range of required credits for Science programs stayed almost the same as in 2010; the major-
ity of students graduated with between 120 and 139 credits. However, two streams requiring 145 and 147 credits were
notpresentin2010.Engineeringprogramsincreasedthenumberofrequiredcreditsonboth“ends”oftherange:136
to 161 credits were required in 2010, compared to 143 to 177 credits in 2018 (Table 8).
Program
Area
SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Total
%
Total
Direct Entry Arts 766 91 210 1,257 282 45 376 3,027 41%
Business 314 109 446 140 71 94 1,174 16%
Engineering 91 113 501 74 779 11%
Sciences 400 330 1,177 75 110 346 2,438 33%
Direct Entry
Total
1,571 200 653 3,381 497 226 890 7,418 100%
Transfer Arts 252 5 62 136 12 12 141 620 59%
Business 7 4 44 3 25 23 106 10%
Engineering 10 9 22 30 71 7%
Sciences 41 49 63 2 35 61 251 24%
Transfer
Total
310 9 120 265 17 72 255 1,048 100%
Grand Total 1,881 209 773 3,646 514 298 1,145 8,466 100%
Table 7. Transfer students by program and Receiving University
BCCAT 13
Credits to Graduation
Table 8. Number of students in cohort by program area and number of required credits for
graduation (Combined direct entry and transfer students)
Number of Credits
Required for Graduation
Arts Business Engineering Sciences Total
120 3,598 721 2,056 6,375
121 490 32 522
122 65 65
123 83 83
124 9 9
126 9 9
127 21 21
128 6 6
129 26 26
130 3 3
132 49 69 106 224
133 10 10
134 93 93
136 18 18
137 10 10
139 7 7
143 10 10
144 122 122
145 170 21 191
146 21 21
147 117 114 231
148 4 4
149 92 92
152 69 69
153 81 81
154 99 99
156 1 1
159 26 26
165 3 3
177 35 35
Total 3,647 1,280 850 2,689 8,466
14 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Asnotedearlier,directentryandtransferstudentsweredistributeddierentiallyacrossprogramareasandwithin
programareas.Theywereenrolledinprogramsrequiringdierentamountsofcreditsforgraduation.Onaverage,
both direct entry and transfer students were enrolled in Arts and Business programs that had very similar numbers of
credits required for graduation. In Engineering programs, direct entry students graduated from programs requiring on
averageslightlymorecredits.TheoppositewastrueforScienceprograms–moretransferstudentsgraduatedfrom
Bachelor of Science programs requiring a slightly higher number of credits than the programs, which enrolled direct
entry students.
Theprogramtypesandtherequiredcreditsforeachprogramtypeinuencedthenumberofcreditsobtainedfor
graduation at university. The largest proportion of the students graduated with a major (74% of the whole cohort;
6,306 students). More transfer students graduated with a major (81% of transfer students, 856 students) than direct
entry students (73%, 5,449 students). However, even for this program type (i.e., baccalaureate with a major), the num-
berofrequiredcreditsrangedfrom120to161credits,whichaectedthenumberofcreditsrequiredforgraduationfor
both direct entry and transfer students.
Thenumberof“specializations”(e.g.,major,minor,orconcentration)atthereceivinguniversitywasdeterminedbythe
numberofprogramCIPsinthestudents’records.Themajorityofbothdirectentryandtransferstudentswereen-
rolledinone“specialization”.Thisnumberincluded65%ofdirectentrystudents(4,854students),and72%oftransfer
students(750students).Therestwereenrolledinmore“specializations”.Theoverallnumberofspecializationsper
student ranged from 1 to 7 for direct entry, and from 1 to 4 for transfer students. For the students enrolled in one to
three“specializations”,theaveragenumberofobtainedcreditsgrewasthestudent’snumberof“specializations”grew.
This correlation was observed in all four program areas for both direct entry and transfer students. The number of
programs taken by transfer students during their studies at the CDW post-secondary institutions was similarly corre-
lated with the average number of obtained credits.
The Year Level of Admission for Transfer Students
It is assumed that a full-time student can accumulate roughly 30 credits in a typical academic year on the way to
baccalaureate. The relation between the year level and the number of transferred-in credits was not assessed: most
institutions record the number of granted credits, but not the number of credits presented for transfer. Almost half
of transfer students (47%, 493 students) were admitted to the third year of baccalaureate studies. Another 41% (428
students)wereadmittedtothesecondyear.Inaddition,10%oftransferstudentswereadmittedtotherstyear,and
a small number of UFV, UNBC, and UVic transfer students (one percent of all transfer students) were admitted to the
fourth year of baccalaureate studies. On average, the students admitted to fourth year collected much more cred-
its than the rest (Table 9); however, their small numbers call for caution in interpreting this result. Notably, transfer
students admitted to third year at UBC-V, UBC-O and UFV collected fewer credits on their way to baccalaureate than
suchstudentsadmittedtorstorsecondyear.Thispatternwasnotpresentatotherreceivinguniversities.
The data in Table 9includetransferstudentsinallfourprogramareas;thustheprograms“mix”byareceivinguniver-
sityandthenumberofcreditsrequiredbyprogramaectthenumberofcompletedcreditsbyuniversity.Forexample,
the greater number of graduates from program areas that require larger number of credits to graduate, such as Engi-
neeringorScience,wouldincreasetheaverageforaspecicuniversity.
BCCAT 15
Credits to Graduation
Table 9. The average number of credits by Receiving University and Year Level of Admission
for transfer students
Receiving University Year Level Admitted to
Average # Credits
Completed
Total # of Transfer
Students
SFU 1 131.5 21
2 140.9 148
3 142.9 141
SFU Total/ Overall 141.2 310
TRU Unknown 129.4 9
TRU Total/ Overall 129.4 9
UBC-O 1 143.3 18
2 144.4 31
3 130.7 71
UBC-O Total/ Overall 136.2 120
UBC-V 1 149.1 46
2 142.6 118
3 139.9 100
UBC-V Total/ Overall 142.7 264
UFV 1 177.0 1
2 171.2 6
3 154.0 7
4 193.7 3
UFV Total/ Overall 168.4 17
UNBC 1 130.0 14
2 140.1 27
3 142.6 29
4 183.5 2
UNBC Total/ Overall 140.3 72
UVic 1 147.0 5
2 147.8 98
3 161.3 145
4 194.0 2
UVic Total/ Overall 156.0 250
Total/Overall 3 144.9 1,042
Note:thenumbersinthetabledonotincludeveUVictransferstudentsadmittedtolevel"U",andoneUBC-Vtransferstudent
admitted to level "Access".
16 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
1
“Atleasthalfoftheprogram'stotalunitsmustbeearnedthroughSimonFraserUniversitystudy;andAtleasttwothirdsofthepro-
gram'stotalupperdivisionunitsmustbeearnedthroughSimonFraserUniversitystudy.”(https://www.sfu.ca/students/calendar/2019/
summer/fees-and-regulations/credentials-oered/denitions.html#residency%20requirements)
2
“[A]tleast18ofthe300or400levelunitsmustbeUViccourses,andatleast30oftheunitsmustnormallybeUViccourses.Students
shouldbeawarethatupto30unitsoftransfercreditwillnormallybeappliedtowarddegreerequirements.”(https://web.uvic.ca/calen-
dar2019-01/undergrad/info/regulations/graduation.html) 30 UVic units equal 60 credits at other universities.
The Maximum and Average Number of Transfer Credits
Severalfactorsinuencethenumberofcreditsthancanbetransferred.Manypost-secondaryinstitutionshave
residency policies that require students to earn roughly half of all credits for a credential at the institution. Institution-
specicresidencyrequirements(i.e.,theproportionoftime/creditsthestudenthastotakeatthereceivinguniversity
to graduate) typically allow between 0 and 60 transfer credits to be used toward program completion (e.g., at SFU
1
or UVic
2
). The additional UBC data showed that the maximum transfer credit granted at UBC was 76 credits, while the
maximum of presentedtransfercreditswas126credits.Itishighlylikelyfortransferstudentswhoobtainsignicantly
more than 60 credits at the sending institution(s) to lose the credits beyond the allowed 60 when they transfer to the
receiving institution. The residency policies may also vary by program/ faculty.
Inadditiontotheresidencyrequirements,institutionalpracticesofassessingtransfercreditmayalsodier(e.g.,as-
sessingalltransfercreditsvs.assessingonlytransfercreditapplicabletothestudent’sprogram).Transferstudents
at institutions assessing/ recording all transfer credits may appear to collect more credits than transfer students at
universities that assess only applicable transfer credits.
In programs with residency requirements, the maximum of transferred credits reached 139 credits (in Arts programs)
and 115 credits (in Engineering programs). The average number of transferred credits was still lower than 60 for all
four program areas (ranging from 48.8 credits in Engineering to 52.0 credits in Science programs), indicating that the
number of students transferring more than 60 credits was relatively small.
The mode (the most frequent value) of transferred credits varied among programs: 60 credits for Arts, Sciences, and
Business programs, and 64 credits for Engineering programs (at UVic). Sixty-credit programs (associate degrees or
diplomas) have been traditionally developed to facilitate further transfer into a baccalaureate degree. Although the
variability of timing when students transfer (i.e., the stage of their studies, or the number of credits in their program)
has increased in the recent years, the large numbers of students transferring 60 credits may indicate that the pathway
of transferring into Year 3 of university studies is still popular.
Attempted and Earned Credits at University
This study inquired into both attempted credits (i.e., credits from all courses, even if a student failed a course) and
earnedcredits(creditsobtainedwhenacourseiscompleted).Theanalysisoftheaveragedierencebetweenthe
amount of attempted credits and total credits earned at receiving universities indicated that transfer students often
required fewer attempted credits than direct entry students in all program areas except for Engineering (Table 10).
TheaveragedierencebetweennumbersofattemptedandearnedcreditswasthehighestinstudentsinEngineering
programs, for both direct entry students (7.5 credits) and transfer students (7.9 credits). Students in business programs
showedthesmallestdierencebetweennumbersofattemptedandearnedcredits(4.2creditsfordirectentrystu-
dents, and 4.0 for transfer students).
BCCAT 17
Credits to Graduation
Table 10. Average dierence between attempted and earned credits at university by program area,
Receiving University*, and basis of admission
Program Area
Receiving
University
Direct Entry
(A)
Transfer
(B)
Overall
Dierence between
transfer and direct-
entry (B-A)
Arts SFU 3.9 4.0 4.0 0.1
TRU 4.9 0.8 4.6 -4.1
UBC-O 6.9 4.5 6.1 -2.4
UBC-V 7.2 5.8 6.9 -1.4
UFV 4.6 0.9 4.5 -3.7
UNBC 3.4 4.2 3.6 0.8
Arts Overall 5.8 4.7 5.6 -1.1
Business SFU 1.3 2.3 1.3 1.0
TRU 10.3 5.3 10.2 -5.0
UBC-V 2.3 3.5 2.6 1.2
UFV 7.9 2.0 7.8 -5.9
UNBC 12.5 7.4 11.1 -5.1
Business Overall 4.2 4.0 4.2 -0.2
Engineering SFU 9.0 10.2 9.2 1.2
UBC-O 5.1 3.3 5.0 -1.8
UBC-V 7.8 8.5 7.8 0.8
Engineering Overall 7.5 7.9 7.5 0.4
Sciences SFU 5.8 4.3 5.6 -1.5
UBC-O 4.6 2.4 4.2 -2.2
UBC-V 5.0 5.4 5.1 0.4
UFV 7.3 2.0 7.1 -5.3
UNBC 5.4 3.4 4.9 -2.0
Sciences Overall 5.2 4.2 5.1 -1.0
Overall 5.5 4.7 5.4 -0.8
Note: * UVic data on attempted credits were not available.
18 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Although the receiving universities provided data on students whose transfer credits came from a single Study Sender
institution, the data revealed that at all receiving universities, a number of transfer students attended more than one
CDW PSI, possibly without transferring credits from all of those. Almost a quarter (24.5%, 346 students) attended two
ormoreCDWinstitutions–bothpriortotransferringtoareceivinguniversityandduringtheirstudiesforthebac-
calaureate.Theaveragenumberofaccumulatedcreditswasroughlythesame(1.2creditsdierence)foralltransfer
students who started a university program prior to enrolling in a Study Sender institution and for all transfer students
whowenttoaStudySenderrstandthentransferredtoauniversity.
The Overall Total of Credits Completed
to Graduate with a Baccalaureate
The CDW data revealed that the transfer students in the selected pathways collected the majority of credits from the
Study Senders, but the total of accumulated credits for some students included credits from other BC public post-
secondary institutions. Some students transferred to university with a previously obtained credential.
SomedirectentrystudentsatreceivinguniversitieswerealsoidentiedintheCDWdata,meaningtheyhadaccumu-
lated post-secondary credit prior to entering or during the studies at the receiving university despite being recorded
as direct entry from high school. Where these data were available, these credits were included in the total number of
credits these students obtained on the way to a baccalaureate.
Combining the total number of credits completed at CDW institutions with the total number of credits completed at
a receiving university revealed that transfer students on average completed more credits on their way to baccalaure-
ate than did the direct entry students (Table 11).ThisdierencewasgreatestforstudentsinEngineeringprograms
–roughlyayearoffull-timestudycreditload.Engineeringprogramstendtobehighlydiversewithoutacommonrst
andsecondyearcurriculum.ThedierenceinBusinessandScienceprogramsrangedaroundasemesteroffull-time
studycreditload.ForArtsprograms,thedierenceofcreditsbetweendirectentryandtransferstudentsamountedto
two or three 3-credit courses. (Table 11).
Table 11. The overall average number of credits completed by basis of admission and program area.
Program Area Direct Entry Transfer Dierence
Arts 128.8 136.1 7.2
Business 129.7 143.1 13.4
Engineering* 168.4 201.2 32.8
Sciences 137.7 151.8 14.0
Overall 136.1 144.9 8.8
*
TherewassignicantvariabilityintheaveragesofthenumberofcreditsamongEngineeringpathways.
The overall program area average should be interpreted with caution.
BCCAT 19
Credits to Graduation
Table 12. The total average of credits completed by receiving university.
Receiving University Average # Credits Total # Students
Program
Area
Direct Entry Transfer Direct Entry Transfer Dierence
SFU Arts 128.8 136.9 766 252 8.1
Business 129.5 140.7 314 7 11.2
Engineering 157.7 197.4 91 10 39.7
Sciences 132.6 154.2 400 41 21.6
SFU Total/ Overall 131.6 141.2 1571 310 9.6
TRU Arts 136.6 144.0 91 5 7.4*
Business 138.2 111.3 109 4 -26.9*
TRU Total/ Overall 137.5 129.4 200 9 -8.0
UBC-O Arts 125.6 129.2 210 62 3.6
Engineering 152.9 186.1 113 9 33.2
Sciences 128.8 136.3 330 49 7.5
UBC-O Total/ Overall 131.9 136.4 653 120 4.4
UBC-V Arts 125.8 134.4 1257 136 8.6
Business 123.4 139.1 446 44 15.7
Engineering 170.5 175.4 501 22 4.9
Sciences 141.0 151.1 1177 63 10.1
UBC-V Total/ Overall 137.4 142.6 3381 265 5.2
UFV Arts 138.9 164.3 282 12 25.4
Business 130.0 177.7 140 3 47.7*
Sciences 143.7 179.5 75 2 35.8*
UFV Total/ Overall 137.1 168.4 497 17 31.3
UNBC Arts 124.9 136.5 45 12 11.6
Business 126.5 131.2 71 25 4.7
Sciences 134.6 148.1 110 35 13.6
UNBC Total/ Overall 130.1 140.3 226 72 10.2
UVic Arts 131.7 136.5 376 141 4.8
Business 152.5 165.3 94 23 12.7
Engineering 191.7 225.8 74 30 34.1
Sciences 140.8 164.3 346 61 23.5
UVic Total/ Overall 142.5 156.3 890 255 13.8
Overall / Total 136.1 144.9 7,418 1048 8.8
* Note: Some UVic graduates (267 students; 23% of UVic students in the cohort) completed programs with a co-op component.
UVicstudentswhocompletedaco-opearnedsignicantlymorecreditsfortheirdegreesthanUVicstudentswithoutaco-op.76%
of students completing a co-op were direct entry students.
20 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Table 13. Average number of credits completed by transfer students in each program area,
by each Study Sender by program area
Study Sender Arts Business
Engineer-
ing
Sciences
Overall
Average
Total
Students
Camosun College 136.5 165.3 225.8 164.3 156.3 255
Coast Mountain College 139.5 156.0* 150.5 6
College of New Caledonia 138.8 130.5 147.1 139.8 67
Douglas College 138.7 152.5 189.8 154.9 143.7 231
Langara College 135.7 137.8 187.5 153.5 141.7 346
Okanagan College 131.0 123.0* 160.0* 136.3 132.8 109
Selkirk College 133.5* 107.3* 144.5* 126.0* 125.6 10
Thompson Rivers
University
123.6* 159.0* 184.8 140.2 159.8 24
Total/ Overall 136.1 143.1 201.2 151.8 144.9 1,048
Notes: * averages where the number of transfer students in the category was 5 or smaller.
Program areas are shown as recorded by the receiving university.
An average with fewer than 120 credits may not account for other possible credits not included into this study (e.g., test credits)
that would bring the number of total credits to or over 120.
Ataninstitutionallevel,thelargestdierencesbetweenthenumberofcreditscompletedbydirectentrystudentsand
transferstudentswereatUFV(about33creditsdierence)andUVic(roughly14creditsdierence)(Table11).Forthe
restoftheuniversities,thedierencewasmuchsmaller,fromatrivialdierenceof3.6creditsatUBC-Vto11.5credits
at UNBC. Caution is needed in interpreting the results for TRU and UFV students, as their transfer students numbers
were quite small. The detailed data of the number of credits obtained by receiving university, Program Area, degree
type, and the basis of admission are shown in Appendix 3. Appendix 4 contains the distribution of students by the
number of completed credits by the basis of admission and the receiving university.
Themixofprogramsthetransferstudentsgraduatedfromatareceivinguniversityinuencedtheoverallaverage
number of credits. A greater number of students in Engineering and Science programs would imply a higher average
number of credits, given the greater number of credits required to graduate for these programs. This applies to inter-
preting the overall average results by Study Sender and receiving university (Table 12 and Appendix 5).
BCCAT 21
Credits to Graduation
Program Match between the Sender and the Receiver
Studies of transfer student credit completion commonly assume that students who transfer between similar program
areaswilldosomoreeciently,withfewertotalcreditstoacquireaftertransferinordertograduate.Conversely,if
students change their program area post-transfer, the number of transfer credits applicable to their new program
would be smaller, and they would be required to acquire more credits at the receiving university to complete their
credential.
The data revealed that 17% of transfer students (178 students of 1,048 total) had the same CIP at their CDW institution
and their receiving university. Among these, 37% (65 students) had one or more credentials with the same CIP as their
main baccalaureate program, predominantly in Arts programs. The relatively small proportion of program matches
could be explained by the fact that about 73% of transfer students studied in General Studies, General Arts, or Univer-
sityTransferprograms(CIP24)attheCDWStudySenders,buttypicallywereenrolledintoamorespecicdiscipline
program at a receiving university. Many students may have a planned credential pathway in mind, but do not register
inaprogramwithoutproperincentivestodeclareaspecicprogram.Beingregisteredingeneralstudiesmayprovide
themwithgreaterexibility.
Overall, the analysis of the number of credits to graduate between transfer students with or without matching CIP was
inconclusive (Table 14).Therewasonlyamarginaloveralldierencebetweenthetotalnumberofcreditsforstudents
withorwithoutmatchingprograms.Businesswastheonlyprogramareawherethedierenceintheaveragenumber
of credits was much smaller for transfer students with matching CIP. This could imply that there may be factors beyond
matchingprogramthataectthenumberofcreditsforgraduation(e.g.,streamlinedcollegeanduniversitycourses
neededforaprofessionaldesignation).Also,theresultsmayimplythatpre-transferstudiesevenindierentsubjects
than the student enrols in at the receiving institutions can prepare students to generally perform well academically
and obtain their baccalaureate post-transfer.
Table 14. The average number of credits for transfer students with matching pre- and post-transfer
CIP codes, and all transfer students
Average # Credits Number of Students
Program Area
With
Matching
CIP
Without
CIP Match
Dierence
With
Matching
CIP
All
Students
% with
Matching
CIP
Arts 139.9 135.4 4.5 88 620 14%
Business 131.6 148.1 -16.5 32 106 30%
Engineering 265.5 199.3 66.2 2* 71 3%
Sciences 150.1 152.2 -2.2 56 251 22%
Grand Total/
Overall
143.0 145.3 -2.3 178 1,048 17%
Note: * Due to the small number of students in the category, caution is needed in interpreting this result.
22 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Conclusion
ThisstudycontributestothebodyofliteratureontheecacyofBC’stransferpathwaysasawayforstudentsto
obtain a baccalaureate degree. Following previous similar studies, the analysis explored the number of credits 2015/16
direct entry and transfer baccalaureate graduates obtained on their way to completing the degree. This research ex-
ploredthepathwayfromboth“sides”:weaccountedforcreditsearnedatareceivinguniversity,andforcreditsearned
fromcertain“typical”sendinginstitutions.
Theresultsindicatethatavarietyoffactorsinuencedthenumberofcreditsstudentsobtained.Thesefactorsinclude
the program area; Engineering degrees typically require more credits to graduate than, for example, Arts or Business
degrees.Theyalsoincludethecredentialsreceivedinadditiontothebachelor’sdegrees,priororduringbaccalaure-
ate studies. While transfer students obtained overall slightly more credits than direct entry students, it appears that
transfer pathways into Arts and Business degrees are more aligned than similar pathways in Sciences and Engineering.
The study results indicate that transfer students performed as well as direct entry students in terms of attempted and
earnedcredits.Therewasanegligibledierencebetweentransferstudentsanddirectentrystudentsonthismetric.
The study results also showed that some direct entry students also earned credits at Study Sender institutions on
theirwaytoabaccalaureatedegree.Thisndingconrmsthenotionthatstudents’pathwaystoandthroughpost-
secondary education are rarely linear. The current transfer environment allows students a range of options for degree
completion, as well as for post-secondary studies and credentials other than the baccalaureate.
Future research could include a comparison of the average number of credits completed at sending and receiving
institutionsforsimilarcredentials,forexample,psychologyorcriminologydegreesnowoeredatbothcollegesand
universities. The use of the system-wide database (Student Transitions Project) would also allow for including all CDW
institutionsassendersinafuturestudy;expandingthescopetoincludeallinstitutionsoeringdegreeswouldalso
better characterize the transfer environment in the province. Another possible qualitative study could explore the mo-
tivationsofbaccalaureategraduatesthroughfocusgroups,inordertobetterunderstandstudents'programselection
processandthe“linearity”oftheireducationalpath.
While transfer students obtained overall slightly more credits than drect entry
students, it appears that transfer pathways into Arts and Business degrees are more
aligned than similar pathwas in Sciences and Engineering.
BCCAT 23
Credits to Graduation
References
Attewell, P., & Monaghan, D. (2016). How many credits should an undergraduate take? Research in Higher Education,
57(6),682–713.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-015-9401-z
Bell, A., & N. Valliani. (2014). The Real Cost of College: Time & Credits to Degree at California State University. Retrieved
from https://realcostofcollegeinca.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Real-Cost-of-College_Full-Report_CSU.pdf
Complete College America. (2014). Four-Year Myth. Make College More Aordable. Retrieved from
http://completecollege.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/4-Year-Myth.pdf
Johnson,I.,&Muse,W.(2012).Studentswirlatasingleinstitution:Theroleoftimingandstudentcharacteristics.
Research in Higher Education,53(2),152–181.
Pendleton, S. (2010). Credits to Graduation: A comparison of the number of credits undertaken toward degree comple-
tion by students admitted on the basis of BC secondary school and those admitted as BC transfer students to
British Columbia’s four research universities (SFU, UBC, UNBC and UVic). Retrieved from http://www.bccat.ca/
pubs/creditstograduation.pdf
LaSota, R. R. (2014). Factors, Practices, and Policies Inuencing Students’ Upward Transfer to Baccalaureate-Degree
Programs and Institutions: A Mixed-Methods Analysis (Thesis). Retrieved from https://digital.lib.washington.edu/
researchworks/handle/1773/25022
Sidhu,R.,Lin,S.,Munro,Y.,Smith,R.,Parna,J.,&DeOcaSarasua,E.(2016).Are Excess Credits for College-to-University
Transfer Students a Concern? A Case Study within the Ontario Context. Retrieved from http://www.oncat.ca/les_
docs/content/pdf/en/oncat_research_reports/2014-32-Final-Report-Excess-Credit-Study-at-York-University.pdf
Simone, S. A. (2014). Transferability of Postsecondary Credit Following Student Transfer or Coenrollment. Retrieved from
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2014/2014163.pdf
24 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Appendix 1:
The study includes graduates with a BA (Arts), BSc (Science), BCOM (Commerce or Business Administration) or BASC
(Engineering) degrees in Academic year 2015/16 (Fall 2015 and Spring 2016 graduates). Both direct entry graduates
and transfer graduates are included. Baccalaureate graduates pursuing a second degree are excluded.
Variables Requested: Specications
Name of Receiving institution
UniquestudentIdentier Auniqueidentier,notStudentNumberatinstitution.(e.g.,SFU_LANG001)
Day of birth (DD) Day of birth only; no month and year
Transfer or secondary school Students with fewer than 15 awarded transfer credits are considered second-
ary school (direct entry) students. A transfer student is a student who transfers
from a BC post-secondary institution with a minimum of 15 eligible credits as
articulated in the BC Transfer Guide.
Degree program student graduated with
Program Type 1 (Major/Minor/Double Major/
Double Minor/Honors, etc.)
Subject Area 1 (e.g., English)
CIP Code 1 for Subject Area 1
Program Type 2 (Major/Minor/Double Major/
Double Minor/Honors, etc.)
Subject Area 2 (e.g., Psychology)
CIP Code 2 for Subject Area 2
…
Program Type X (Major/Minor/Double Major/
Double Minor/Honors, etc.)
Please include the information for all other (3 to X) programs that student
graduated with
Subject Area X (e.g., ) Please include the information for all other (3 to X) programs that student
graduated with
CIP Code X for Subject Area X Please include the information for all other (3 to X) programs that student
graduated with
Degree Program start year
Completion/ Graduation Year
Completion/ Graduation Month
Start year at University
Year Level admitted to
Sending Institution Name
Transfer credits granted the total of all granted transfer credits
Total credits required for graduation total credits by program
Total credits attempted at University Including failed courses
Total credits earned at University
(excludes transfer credit)
Ever international student (y/n) Preferably, indicate whether the student required a visa permit to study. If this
is not available, indicate whether the student ever paid international student
fees at your institution.
Data Specications: Information Shared
between a Receiving Institution and BCCAT
BCCAT 25
Credits to Graduation
Appendix 2.
STPdatawillprovideinformationonstudents’post-secondaryprograms,numberandtimeofregistrationand
transitionsanddemographics,asspeciedbythedataelementsshowninthesectionbelow.Itwillalsobeused
toassessthenumberofcreditscompletedbytheidentiedstudentsbysemester.Thisdataisrequestedforall
institutions the student was registered in to account for the credits the students might have obtained beyond the
Sender institutions. Time period of interest is from 2001-2016.
Data within STP (from Accumulated Credits le):
K12_GRAD_YEAR_MONTH
PSI_FULL_NAME_CUR
PSI_SCHOOL_YEAR
PSI_REG_TERM
PSI_PROGRAM_CODE
PSI_CIP_CODE
PSI_ENROLMENT_SEQUENCE
PSI_CREDENTIAL_CATEGORY
PSI_CREDENTIAL_PROGRAM_DESC
PSI_CREDENTIAL_CIP
PSI_MIN_START_DATE
CREDENTIAL_AWARD_DATE
PSI_NEW_STUDENT_FLAG
PSI_VISA_STATUS
SUM_TOTAL_CREDITS (by semester)
Student Transitions Project
Data Elements Requested
26 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Appendix 3.
The number of credits obtained by
receiving university, Program Area,
and basis of admission
SFU: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major 127.4 136.5 9.1 660 218
Honours 141.1 144.7 3.6 36 11
Minor 134.2 136.3 2.1 23 7
JointMajor 127.7 139.6 11.9 23 12
Double Major 147.9 156.5 8.6 21 2
Extended Minor 133.0 125.0 -8.0 2 2
JointHonours 125.0 1
Arts Total 128.8 137.2 8.4 766 252
Business Major 125.8 142.8 17.0 228 6
Honours 138.9 148.0 9.1 66 1
JointMajor 137.1 17
JointHonours 153.0 2
Double Major 168.0 1
Business Total 129.5 143.7 14.2 314 7
Engineering Major 156.8 197.4 40.6 87 10
Honours 178.5 4
Engineering
Total
157.7 197.4 39.7 91 10
Sciences Major 130.9 149.2 18.3 355 35
Honours 149.2 162.3 13.1 30 4
Minor 142.0 188.0 46.0 9 1
JointMajor 133.4 5
Double Major 144.0 204.0 60.0 1 1
Sciences Total 132.6 153.3 20.6 400 41
Overall/ Total 131.6 141.9 10.3 1,571 310
BCCAT 27
Credits to Graduation
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major 131.7 136.5 4.8 376 141
Business Major 152.5 165.3 12.7 94 23
Engineering Major 191.7 225.8 34.1 74 30
Sciences Major 140.8 164.3 23.5 346 61
Overall/ Total 142.5 156.3 13.8 890 255
UVic: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major
138.0 165.5 27.5 264 10
Minor
151.8 158.0 6.3 18 2
Arts Overall/
Total
138.9 164.3 25.4 282 12
Business Major
130.0 177.7 47.7 140 3
Business
Overall/ Total
130.0 177.7 47.7 140 3
Sciences Major
143.7 179.5 35.8 75 2
Sciences
Overall/ Total
143.7 179.5 35.8 75 2
Overall/ Total
137.1 168.4 31.3 497 17
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major 136.6 144.0 7.4 91 5
Business Major 138.2 111.3 -26.9 109 4
Overall/ Total 137.5 129.4 -8.0 200 9
TRU: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
UFV: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
28 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
UNBC: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major 123.7 130.8 7.1 43 10
Major w/ Honours 139.0 175.0 36.0 1 1
Double Major 162.0 155.0 -7.0 1 1
Arts Overall/ Total 124.9 136.5 11.6 45 12
Business Major 126.5 125.1 -1.4 41 13
Double Major 126.5 137.8 11.4 30 12
Business Overall/ Total 126.5 131.2 4.7 71 25
Sciences Major 132.9 148.4 15.5 83 33
Major w/ Honours 134.5 144.0 9.5 19 2
Double Major 141.2 5
Double Major w/
Honours
171.3 3
Sciences Overall/ Total 134.6 148.1 13.6 110 35
Overall/ Total 130.1 140.3 10.2 226 72
UBC-O: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts
Major 125.7 128.7 3.0 188 56
Honours 127.3 133.5 6.2 9 2
General Arts 123.4 137.0 13.6 8 1
Combined Major 121.8 133.0 11.2 5 3
Arts Overall/ Total
125.6 129.2 3.6 210 62
Engineering
Degree 152.9 186.1 33.2 113 9
Engineering Overall/
Total
152.9 186.1 33.2 113 9
Sciences
Major 127.7 131.0 3.4 206 22
Nursing Deg (BSN) 134.8 144.3 9.5 69 21
Honours 124.7 128.0 3.3 46 6
General Science 125.6 7
Combined Major 145.5 2
Sciences Overall/ Total
128.8 136.3 7.5 330 49
Overall/ Total
131.9 136.4 4.4 653 120
BCCAT 29
Credits to Graduation
Average Credits Total Students
Program Area Program Type Direct Entry Transfer Dierence Direct Entry Transfer
Arts Major 126.0 134.6 8.6 1146 127
Honours 125.7 135.0 9.3 53 6
Interdisc. Studies
Arts
123.0 127.3 4.4 44 3
Combined Major 124.5 14
Arts Overall/
Total
125.8 134.4 8.6 1257 136
Business Option 123.1 139.1 16.0 439 44
Combined Major 142.3 7
Business
Overall/ Total
123.4 139.1 15.7 446 44
Engineering In 170.5 175.4 4.9 501 22
Engineering
Overall/ Total
170.5 175.4 4.9 501 22
Sciences Major 136.8 148.3 11.6 846 48
Pharmacy 176.1 189.5 13.4 110 4
Combined Major 135.5 141.2 5.7 109 5
Honours 150.0 150.0 0.0 56 2
General Science 136.7 144.0 7.3 20 1
Combined Honours 140.8 13
Global
Resources
119.0 9
Nursing
Degree
154.1 153.5 -0.6 7 2
Minor 146.2 187.0 40.8 6 1
Concentration 131.0 1
Sciences
Overall/ Total
141.0 151.1 10.1 1177 63
Overall/ Total 137.4 142.6 5.2 3381 265
UBC-V: The number of credits obtained by Program Area, program type, and basis of admission
30 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Appendix 4.
The distribution of students by the number of
completed credits by the basis of admission
and the receiving university
Receiving
University
Credits
Completed
Arts Business Engineering Sciences Total
SFU
Direct Entry 100 - 120 150 55 54 259
121 - 140 521 228 1 266 1016
141 - 160 77 22 65 66 230
161 - 180 13 7 15 7 42
181 - 200 4 1 9 3 17
>200 1 1 1 4 7
Direct Entry Total 766 314 91 400 1571
Transfer
100 - 120 11 11
121 - 140 163 4 11 178
141 - 160 52 2 1 17 72
161 - 180 16 1 3 6 26
181 - 200 9 2 5 16
>200 1 4 2 7
Transfer Total 252 7 10 41 310
TRU
Direct Entry 100 - 120 29 52 81
121 - 140 49 50 99
141 - 160 10 4 14
161 - 180 3 2 5
181 - 200 1 1
Direct Entry Total 91 109 200
Transfer 100 - 120 2 2
121 - 140 2 2 4
141 - 160 2 2
161 - 180 1 1
Transfer Total 5 4 9
(table cont'd on following page)
BCCAT 31
Credits to Graduation
Receiving
University
Credits
Completed
Arts Business Engineering Sciences Total
UBC-O
Direct Entry 100 - 120 120 2 162 284
121 - 140 69 4 137 210
141 - 160 15 84 21 120
161 - 180 4 17 5 26
181 - 200 2 2 4
>200 4 5 9
Direct Entry Total 210 113 330 653
Transfer
100 - 120 14 10 24
121 - 140 42 25 67
141 - 160 4 2 10 16
161 - 180 1 2 2 5
181 - 200 1 2 2 5
>200 3 3
Transfer Total 62 9 49 120
UBC-V
Direct Entry 100 - 120 644 154 9 163 970
121 - 140 512 273 15 660 1460
141 - 160 65 18 178 188 449
161 - 180 12 1 166 55 234
181 - 200 12 98 57 167
>200 12 35 54 101
Direct Entry Total 1257 446 501 1177 3381
Transfer
100 - 120 19 3 1 23
121 - 140 85 25 2 23 135
141 - 160 18 13 4 20 55
161 - 180 8 10 16 34
181 - 200 6 3 3 2 14
>200 3 1 4
Transfer Total 136 44 22 63 265
32 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Receiving
University
Credits
Completed
Arts Business Engineering Sciences Total
UFV
Direct Entry 100 - 120 30 15 4 49
121 - 140 182 107 37 326
141 - 160 26 16 22 64
161 - 180 27 2 8 37
181 - 200 10 2 12
>200 7 2 9
Direct Entry Total 282 140 75 497
Transfer
100 - 120 1 1
121 - 140 4 4
141 - 160 2 2 1 5
161 - 180 1 1
181 - 200 2 2
>200 2 1 1 4
Transfer Total 12 3 2 17
UNBC
Direct Entry 100 - 120 19 34 12 65
121 - 140 25 34 74 133
141 - 160 1 3 19 23
161 - 180 3 3
181 - 200 1 1
>200 1 1
Direct Entry Total 45 71 110 226
Transfer 100 - 120 2 7 2 11
121 - 140 7 12 14 33
141 - 160 1 6 11 18
161 - 180 1 5 6
181 - 200 1 2 3
>200 1 1
Transfer Total 12 25 35 72
(table cont'd on following page)
BCCAT 33
Credits to Graduation
Receiving
University
Credits
Completed
Arts Business Engineering Sciences Total
UVic
Direct Entry 100 - 120 127 1 55 183
121 - 140 166 1 151 318
141 - 160 50 73 85 208
161 - 180 23 17 13 35 88
181 - 200 3 2 42 14 61
>200 7 19 6 32
Direct Entry Total 376 94 74 346 890
Transfer
100 - 120 14 1 15
121 - 140 78 17 95
141 - 160 32 12 6 14 64
161 - 180 16 7 1 11 35
181 - 200 1 3 3 11 18
>200 1 19 8 28
Transfer Total 141 23 30 61 255
34 BCCAT
Credits to Graduation
Appendix 5.
Average number of credits obtained by transfer
graduates, categorized by Study Sender and
receiving university
Study Sender SFU TRU UBC-O UBC-V UFV UNBC UVic Overall
Camosun College 156.3 156.3
Coast Mountain College 150.5* 150.5
College of New Caledonia 166.0* 139.4 139.8
Douglas College 140.8 137.0* 149.7 166.0 143.7
Langara College 141.7 139.2 141.2 179.7* 141.7
Okanagan College 129.5* 133.1 130.3 132.8
Selkirk College 120.3* 119.0* 139.3* 125.6
Thompson Rivers University 180.1 149.7 159.8
Overall 141.2 129.4 136.4 142.6 168.4 140.3 156.3 144.9
Note: * denotes averages with the total number of transfer students in the category of 5 or fewer.
BCCAT 35
Credits to Graduation
Acknowledgements
The following study participants are gratefully acknowledged:
• BC Student Transitions Project (STP)
• Simon Fraser University
• Thompson Rivers University
• University of British Columbia
• University of the Fraser Valley
• University of Northern British Columbia
• University of Victoria
The author also thanks all members of the BCCAT Research Committee, as well as Dr. Robert Adamoski and Dr. Fiona
McQuarrie of BCCAT, for their help with the project and the drafts of the report.
Your guide through post-secondary education.