Summer Courses FAQ

If a Penn summer course is closed, you can also try to find an alternate course at Penn or through Credit Away (see the Credit Away FAQs below).

You can find the cost of Penn summer courses on the Penn Summer page. You should check with Penn Student Financial Aid to see if you are eligible for summer aid.

You can use a Penn summer course for College requirements. The same designations and policies apply as during the academic year.

Penn credit for courses taken at other schools during the summer is called credit away. Penn credit for credit away is determined through XCAT. You should submit a request for credit away before the course begins so that you know if you have Penn credit before taking that course.

A Penn department can act on an XCAT request for credit away in one of four ways:

1. Departments may return the request to you in XCAT for more information. In that case you should include the requested information and resubmit to the department.
2. Departments can approve the request for a Penn equivalency. This approval applies to the student making the request only. 
3. Departments can approve the credit for the student requesting the course and set a precedent for students taking the course in the future. 
4. Departments may deny a request if there is no equivalency in the Penn department.

Grades received from other institutions through credit away are not recorded on the Penn transcript nor are they included in the grade point average at Penn.

*Note that the review of requests is done by staff and faculty in Penn departments and requires a good deal of work on their part.  Please do not request credit away unless you are fairly certain you will take the course if the Penn equivalency is granted.

The kind of Penn credit away you can get from another school depends on a number of factors:

• The school must be a regionally accredited institution.
• The school must be a four-year institution that grants bachelor’s degrees.
• No credit away will be awarded for courses taken at two-year institutions (i.e., a junior or community college).
• Both in-person and online courses may be approved for credit away.
• You must earn at least a C in the course to receive Penn credit.
• The kind of Penn credit you receive depends on Penn departmental review through XCAT. 
• If you would like a particular course number for the credit, please add that to the comment section of your XCAT request. The Penn department will consider whether the course number you request is appropriate.
• The Penn department will also determine the number of c.u. appropriate for a credit away request.
• No credit will be given for courses taken in timeframes significantly different from the regular University schedules.
• No credit will be granted for courses (other than field courses) taken on sites without appropriate facilities of a college or university (e.g., libraries and laboratories) unless supervised by School of Arts and Sciences faculty.

Grades received from other institutions through credit away are not recorded on the Penn transcript nor are they included in the grade point average at Penn.

You can use credit away courses for General Requirements if the Penn departments gives you the same number (e.g., ENVS 1000) for the credit away course as the Penn course that fulfills that General Requirement. If the Penn department does not give you the exact number, you cannot use it in the General Requirement.

You can use credit away courses for major and minor requirements with the major or minor departmental approval.  Contact the respective department to find out if your credit away course fulfills their requirements.

You can use credit away courses for free electives.

You should research which courses at Penn meet the requirement you would like to fulfill with credit away.  You will then need to research courses at other schools and see if there are similar courses to the Penn course you need. Once you have found a good candidate, submit the course information including a syllabus in XCAT and submit to the appropriate Penn department for review.

If the Penn department approves the course, you can use that information to determine if it will fulfill the a College General Requirement in consultation with your pre-major advisor or College Contact and whether it will fulfill your major or minor requirements in consultation with for major and minor departments.

You can check the status of your requests in XCAT. If the request says “Precedent approved, in division queue” or “Dept. approved, in division queue,” the institution you took the course from meets the requirements outlined on the Credit Away webpage, and you complete the course with a grade of “C” or better, you will receive Penn credit.

The departments are asked to review a request within two weeks of submission.  You can check on the status of your request if it has not been reviewed by contacting the departmental credit evaluator.

After the course has been completed, you must request that an official transcript be sent to the College Office from the institution at which the course was taken. The transcript should be sent to college@sas.upenn.edu or an official hard copy to 120 Claudia Cohen Hall 249 South 36th Street Philadelphia, PA 19104-6304.

Penn financial aid can only be used for courses taken at Penn.

You cannot receive Penn credit for courses taken at another school during the academic year (fall and spring). 

Incoming students cannot receive Penn credit away before matriculation at Penn.