The Transfer Associate Degree Agreement

Several of the schools and colleges1 at the University of Washington have entered into the Transfer Associate Degree Agreement2 with the Intercollege Relations Commission of the state of Washington to aid in transfer from two-year schools to the University.

If you enter one of these schools or colleges with an academic transfer (not vocational-technical) associate's degree from a Washington community college, you receive this benefit: transferable courses which your community college counted toward its general education requirement will be accepted toward Areas of Knowledge at UW in the equivalent Area (humanities/VLPA; social sciences/I&S; natural sciences/NW), even if they do not count that way for other students.

The courses most often affected by the agreement are history, philosophy, and journalism courses. At the UW, almost all history and philosophy courses count toward Individuals and Societies (social sciences); however, at some community colleges, they count toward humanities (Visual, Literary, and Performing Arts). If you transferred any history, philosophy, or journalism courses, check Counting History, Philosophy, and Journalism Courses from Washington Community Colleges.

Please note the following:

• The agreement does not apply to students who entered the UW before Autumn 1985.
• To qualify for the agreement, you must complete all the coursework required for the associate's degree before matriculating at the UW.
• Courses counted toward the UW's Language Skills (English composition and foreign language) requirement cannot also be counted toward Areas of Knowledge. In particular, students in the College of Arts and Sciences and the School of Social Work will have to count first-year foreign language courses toward the foreign language requirement rather than Areas of Knowledge. (Students with associate's degrees who first entered college before Autumn 1985 are exempt from the earlier version of the Language Skills requirement.)
• You must meet the additional writing requirement (unless you started college before Autumn 1985). Many AA degrees require 10 credits of English composition, 5 of which can be counted toward the additional writing requirement if similar to UW courses allowed. Note that many community colleges count creative writing and verse writing as English composition, but the UW does not allow those courses toward either the English composition or additional writing requirement. (They do count toward VLPA at the UW — even if the community college did not allow them to count toward the humanities requirement of the Associate's degree.)
• Most community colleges do not require a 20-20-20 general education plan; the number of credits required in each area may be a combination such as 15-15-15, or 20-20-15, etc. You must eventually complete the entire Areas of Knowledge plan required by your UW school or college.
• If you do not meet the Areas of Knowledge requirement entirely with courses taken before transfer, you must select UW courses with the appropriate Area designations to complete the requirement.