Transfer Credit Appeal Process

West Virginia Northern Community College

Institutional Regulation

Transfer Credit Appeal: A student may appeal a decision concerning the amount of transfer credit awarded and/or denied by a faculty member or the College.

Transfer Credit Appeals Committee

The Transfer Credit Appeals Committee shall be made up of five persons: three faculty from the College and two students from the campus of the appeal.  The Committee shall select its own faculty chairperson who will have voting privileges only in the case of a deadlock decision.  One faculty member must be from the discipline and/or program of the transfer credit in question or from a related discipline and/or program.  In the event that a substitution of faculty is necessary, the Committee will determine which of its faculty will be replaced; the Vice President for Academic Affairs will select the replacement.  The Transfer Credit Appeals Committee may utilize consultants, but such persons may not take part in the Committee’s deliberations or in its decisions.

A. Transfer Credit Challenges- Challenges of transfer credit may be initiated by a student if it is believed that the rejection of transfer credit represents an arbitrary or prejudiced evaluation or discriminates on the basis of race, color, creed, sex, or national origin.  Such challenges are to be reviewed first by the faculty member who initially reviewed the transfer course request, then by the division chairperson, and then by the Transfer Credit Appeals Committee.  If not reconciled at these levels, an appeal may be made to the Joint Recommending Committee for Transfer and Articulation. This state-appointed committee hears such appeals and sends a recommendation to the president of the institution.  The president or his or her designee at the institution issues the final decision. 

Transfer Credit Appeal

In transfer credit appeal cases students must initiate appeals within twenty (20) calendar days of the rendering of decisions of the transfer credit request.  Any appeals that are initiated during summer will only be heard in exceptional cases as determined by the Vice President of Academic Affairs. If an appeal is to be addressed in the summer, Committee members will be contacted with the pertinent information.

In an effort to resolve the issue, the student must first arrange a meeting with the faculty member involved within twenty (20) calendar days of the rendering of the transfer credit decision.  If the faculty member is absent from campus, the student must attempt to contact the faculty member through mail, email or by phone, working with campus personnel, if necessary. Students must document all attempts to contact faculty.

The second step to a transfer credit appeal is initiated by the student through a typed statement to the respective Division Chair within seven (7) business days of the decision from the first step of initial contact to the faculty member.  Upon receiving the typed student appeal the Division Chair will notify the faculty member and request a written statement from the faculty member concerning the appeal. Additionally, the Division Chair may request a meeting with the faculty member and/or the student to obtain further clarification of the appeal.  The Division Chair must give a typed response to the student with a copy to the faculty member within ten (10) business days.

A student wishing to take the appeal to the Transfer Credit Appeals Committee must submit their typed appeal to the Vice President’s Office within five (5) business days of the Division Chair’s response.

Upon receipt of a written student appeal, the Vice President for Academic Affairs shall notify the student, faculty member, the Division Chairperson, and the chairperson of the Transfer Credit Appeals Committee of the date, time, and place of the hearing, which will take place within fourteen (14) days of receipt of the written appeal.

Within five (5) calendar days of the hearing, the Transfer Credit Appeals Committee must make a recommendation to the Vice President for Academic Affairs, who must, within seven (7) calendar days, accept, reject, or modify it and respond to the student.  Within seven (7) calendar days of the Vice President for Academic Affairs’ decision, the student may appeal to the Joint Recommending Committee for Transfer and Articulation. Joint Recommending Committee for Transfer and Articulation sends their decision to the President of the College, whose decision is final.  The President must respond in writing within ten (10) calendar days of being notified of the Joint Recommending Committee for Transfer and Articulation’s decision.