Academic Policies for Study Abroad

Approval of Off-Campus Study

Eligible students must secure approval of off-campus study before leaving Purchase and are urged to talk with their faculty advisor as early as possible.

Eligiblity for Off-Campus Study

To be eligible for off-campus study, students must:

4. Obtain a Request for Pre-Approval to Transfer Credit and the Approval for Study Abroad form. You must complete this paperwork in consultation with an academic advisor. Specific course titles and credits should be indicated on the forms. Your signature, along with your advisor’s, and the dean of your department are required; they are then submitted for approval to the Office of International Programs & Services.

• required to register and pay tuition through Purchase;
• not considered to be on academic leave of absence;
• required to have sufficient international medical insurance.

• For the credit earned to be applied toward Purchase matriculation, a grade of D or higher must be earned in academic work taken off campus.
• Study must be done at an accredited institution of higher education.
• Transcripts or transcript supplements must be awarded by a U.S. transcripting body or evaluated by an International Credit Evaluation service .

Credit Recognition:

Different credit recognition rules apply depending upon the program administrator. See the full credit explanations below for Purchase Programs, other SUNY Programs, SUNY Community College Programs, and Non-SUNY Programs.

Credit for the major or minor must be determined by the appropriate department, regardless of whether your program is offered by Purchase, another SUNY school or a non-SUNY program provider.

Your academic advisor(s) will determine whether or not major or minor credit can be granted. Rich Nassisi, Associate Dean of LAS will determine whether or not General Education credit can be granted. Course descriptions or other documentation may be needed. You may be required to bring back syllabi or copies of papers you write.

If you do not know exactly what classes you will be taking while abroad, or if there are changes in your proposed course schedule, you need to obtain approvals during your time abroad or once you return to Purchase. Alternately, email approvals, together with course equivalencies, from your academic advisor can be forwarded to your program advisor in the Office of International Programs.

There are often delays in the arrival of grades from abroad. These delays can occur due to the different semester schedules of our partner universities abroad, the slower pace of international mail, any delinquencies or debts owed by you to the foreign university or the home university, the failure to complete a program evaluation, and the need to seek course approvals from faculty, schools, and departments after the semester abroad.

All students will be required to complete a Program Evaluation before the study abroad grades will be released: you will receive an email after your time abroad inviting you to complete the Evaluation.

Note about Transfer Students

Transfer students need to pay particular attention to the limits on the total number of transfer credits if they are considering other SUNY or non-SUNY programs.

How Credit Works for Purchase Programs

Purchase programs provide Purchase credit. The program name and each course, along with the number of credit-hours and the grades earned are listed on the Purchase College transcript. General credit toward your undergraduate degree is usually guaranteed.

While abroad, all students participating in Purchase programs are registered for placeholder credits. Once the grades from the semester abroad have been received and processed in our office, they will be sent to the registrar and will become part of your transcript.

How Credit Works for SUNY Programs

Credits are treated as SUNY transfer credits. Although the grades are not averaged into your grade point average, a "Transcript Supplement" created by the SUNY campus sponsoring the program includes the name of the program, each course with the corresponding credits and grades earned. The transcript supplement becomes a part of your permanent record. It's automatically included with your Purchase transcript every time it is issued. Graduate schools (including law schools and medical schools) will look at the grades you earn on study abroad and may average them with your other grades.

General credit toward your undergraduate degree is usually guaranteed on SUNY programs.

Normally you will receive the amount of credit for each course that is designated by the SUNY campus sponsoring the program.

Participants in other SUNY programs need to discuss the possibility of recognition of credit toward general education with advisors in their school's academic advising office.

SUNY Community College Programs

Special regulations apply to the administration of the community college programs. The rules for non-SUNY programs apply to all programs sponsored by SUNY two-year and/or community colleges.

How Credit Works on Non-SUNY Programs

All credit is viewed as transfer credit. You should be particularly careful to obtain pre-approval of the program from your department before you make a commitment to the program; credit is not automatically guaranteed. You must be certain that you can obtain a U.S. transcript, or a transcript from a U.S. accredited institution or organization. In the future you will request transcripts from Purchase and from the program sponsor to represent completely all of your undergraduate work. Graduate schools (including law schools and medical schools) will look at the grades you earn from study abroad and may average them with your other grades.

Normally you'll receive the amount of credit for each course that is designated by the U.S. campus or provider sponsoring the program.