Three types of credit can be applied toward a Bates degree:

1. Bates credit, earned from courses taught and/or evaluated and graded by Bates faculty;
2. Approved program credit, earned from courses taken while participating in a Bates-approved program administered by the Committee on Off-Campus Study;
3. Non-Bates credit, earned at an institution of higher education other than Bates that meets the established standards for transfer to Bates or credit awarded from the following standardized tests: Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or A-Level examination.

Degree candidates matriculating as first-year students, either in the fall or winter semester, must earn at least 28.0 Bates credits or approved program credits. A maximum of 4.0 non-Bates credits, including transfer credit and credit awarded from standardized tests, may be applied to the degree requirement of 32.0 earned credits. Transfer students must earn a minimum of 16.0 Bates credits. They may transfer a maximum of 2.0 non-Bates credits earned after matriculating at Bates. A transfer student is defined as any student who has previously matriculated as a degree candidate at another institution.

The Office of the Registrar and Academic Systems and the department or program chair are responsible for the evaluation of non-Bates credit, subject to established guidelines. The Committee on Academic Standing may grant exceptions to the established guidelines. All non-Bates course credits awarded are equivalent to either 1.0 or 0.5 Bates credit, based on their equivalent Bates course, and 2.0 quality points toward the graduation requirements.

Non-Bates credit is evaluated based on specific requirements:

• Credit must be awarded from an official college or university transcript; from an official Advanced Placement, International Baccalaureate, or A-Level test score report; or from an official document considered equivalent to a transcript by the registrar.
• Courses must be appropriate to a liberal arts and sciences college, comparable in quality to those offered at Bates, and students must earn a grade of C or better.
• Courses taken in a college or university continuing-education or extension program must be applicable toward the bachelor of arts or the bachelor of science degree being pursued by full-time undergraduate students at that institution.
• College courses taken prior to secondary school graduation must have been taught on a college or university campus and graded in competition with college students, and not have been counted toward the high school degree.
• Credit must be earned at a regionally accredited non-profit institution.
• Courses taught online may transfer, as long as they are pre-approved by the respective department or program and meet all other transfer credit standards.
• Courses must be worth at least 3.0 semester hours or 5.0 quarter hours or meet a minimum of 45 class meeting hours to be eligible for transfer. When appropriate, quarter hours may be added together and multiplied by two-thirds to determine the equivalent total number of semester hours to be used toward unspecified transfer credits.
• Students may receive a maximum of 2.0 credits taken during summer sessions.
• All credits must be transferred by the beginning of the final semester of the senior year.
• Credit for Short Term courses may not be transferred from another institution.
• Students may not transfer credits into Bates that are the result of simultaneous enrollment (i.e., enrollment at another institution during a semester the student is enrolled at Bates). However, students who have a compelling reason to do so may request permission in advance by petitioning the Committee on Academic Standing. For such credit to transfer into Bates, approval must be given by the Committee on Academic Standing before enrolling in the course.
• Students must be enrolled at Bates for the final semester of their senior year.

A student who fails to graduate by their original anticipated graduation date may transfer credits necessary to graduate for up to two years afterward. After two years, the student is withdrawn automatically from the College but may petition the Committee on Academic Standing for readmission and permission to complete the degree.

With the exception of summer courses, matriculated students who wish to receive credit for study outside the United States must have the preapproval of the Off-Campus Study Committee. They must study on a program approved by the Center for Global Education and complete their studies in accordance with the Committee's guidelines. The Off-Campus Study Committee is responsible for awarding approved program credit.

When credit is awarded as equivalent to a specific Bates course, it may be used to fulfill any requirements that the equivalent Bates course fulfills, subject to transfer credit limits. Credit without a direct Bates equivalent may count toward a General Education Concentration if it is judged by the concentration's coordinator to be comparable to a Bates course in the concentration. The writing-attentive courses ([W1], [W2], and [W3]) must be taken at Bates, even if transfer credit is earned for a Bates equivalent that carries a writing-attentive designation.