Credit and Transcripts

To transfer the credit you earned through the Challenge Program you must order an official transcript from PSU. Please follow the instructions posted on this Transcript Request page to have your transcript sent to the university/college you plan to attend. There will be an $8 fee.

You will need your PSU student login name (Odin) and password to log in to myPSU.  Visit oam.pdx.edu to reset your Odin password. 

• Only YOU can order your official transcript.
• Wait until all grades have been entered by your instructors (usually mid-June). You can also print an unofficial transcript to verify current enrollment and courses in progress to help with scheduling and advising at PSU or another university.

You can view your unofficial transcript on your PSU student account my.pdx.edu.  Go to the "Academics" menu and you'll see the option for "view unofficial transcript"

Transcript Request Info Sheet (PDF)

What to Consider when Applying to Colleges

Policies for credit transfer are typically listed on a university’s website, with their admissions information. We encourage you to take a look at the policies for the universities to which you plan to apply. Then, make an informed decision about where you choose to apply that includes understanding these policies. In today’s economy, choosing a school that accepts your PSU credit should be a consideration in your final decision. It can make a significant difference in the cost of your college education.

Kinds of college credit:

• Direct transfer based on the equivalency of courses between the two institutions (e.g., PSU Writing 121 maps to an equivalent campus college writing course)

• Elective credit (course isn’t equivalent but the institution honors the learning; elective credit counts toward overall required credits to graduation). Elective partial credit may be given when converting a quarter credit to a semester credit (quarters are 10 weeks/180 credits to graduate; semesters are 16 weeks/120 credits to graduate)

• Advanced standing or exemption (no actual credit but able to take a higher-level course, granted a prerequisite waiver, or granted an exemption to a required class.) In all cases, you still save money and time.

Small liberal arts schools, including Whitman, Willamette, and Puget Sound, have boiler- plate “no dual credit transfer” policies (though they will consider advanced standing). Their reasons:

• Don’t accept credit for a course that also fulfills a high school graduation requirement(double dipping)

• Can’t duplicate a college experience at the high school.

Questions to ask visiting College Recruiters:

• What is your dual credit transfer policy?

• If you do not accept dual credit, why?

o If the response is that they don’t allow double dipping, your response is that your Challenge course exceeds regular high school learning outcomes required for graduation in Oregon. Schools that have transferred credit when the double dipping question is clarified by a letter from us or a high school registrar include Lewis & Clark, Stanford, Rice, Cornell.

o If the response is that your Challenge class is not a true college experience, ask about their AP, IB, and online policies since these have less exposure to college experience than dual credit classes.

• What petition process is available to provide evidence of:

o Equivalent courses and learning outcomes (syllabus, assessments, etc.)?

o Program governance?

o Authenticity of experience?

• Why should a Challenge Program HS student, who can demonstrate both the academic learning and cultural outcomes of a successfully completed college course, apply to a college that does not recognize this work, or does not have a petition process in order to assess this work on its own merits, vs. a blanket no-credit policy?

Challenge’s Responsibility: to deliver an authentic college course at our high schools, both culturally and academically and to be able to defend this authenticity with evidence.

A Challenge student’s responsibility: To make an informed decision about your college choice; if credit transfer is a priority, make sure you know a school’s dual credit policy. If you want to challenge that policy, be ready to demonstrate your learning—save your syllabus and any work that provides evidence of your learning. Seek out the Chair of a Department to request an assessment of this learning for credit consideration. And let us know how to help.