Course Waivers, Transfers and Earned Credit

Transfer of Credit

Undergraduate Programs Transfer Credit
The SANS Technology Institute only accepts transfer credits completed at other schools for our bachelor’s degree program. These transfer credits are required to be admitted to and graduate from the bachelor’s program at SANS.edu. The degree requirements are outlined on the undergraduate admissions page.

• SANS.edu can accept a maximum of 70 college credits as transfer credit to count toward the bachelor’s program.
• Accepted transfer credits receive no credit hours or grades awarded.
• All transfer credits are evaluated as part of the admissions process when applying. We do not complete unofficial evaluations based on unofficial transcripts or preliminary evaluations conducted before a student applies.
• Transfer credits are only accepted from accredited colleges and universities.
  • If the transfer credits were earned outside the U.S., they must be sent for course-by-course evaluation to International Education Evaluations (IEE) or World Education Services (WES) 
• SANS.edu can only accept CLEP, AP, IB or similar test-related credits after they have been accepted by another college and send to us on that college’s official transcript.

To be admitted to SANS.edu undergraduate certificate programs, students are required to have completed previous college work. However, the undergraduate certificate programs do not require or accept transfer credit in place of the required SANS.edu curriculum.

Graduate Programs Transfer Credit
The SANS Technology Institute does not accept any transfer credits from other colleges/universities in place of SANS.edu curriculum for our graduate certificate programs or master’s degree program.

Waiver Credit

"Waiver credit" refers to credit earned from previously completed SANS courses, GIAC exams, PMP or CISSP.

Waivers may be granted for up to, but not more than, one-quarter of the total number of credit hours required by a program (the "25% limit"), and are subject to the requirements as described below:

• All waivers are granted only prior to a student's matriculation. Students may not take courses outside SANS.edu for credit in their program after they matriculate.
• Course waivers receive no credit hours or grades awarded. Waivers are not figured into the calculation of a student's cumulative grade point average (GPA).
• All certifications must be active and current to eligible for credit. See the GIAC renewal policies.

• Waiver exceptions for government and military employees: Learn about exceptions to the waiver limit in the section below on Participants in Government or Military Education and Training Programs.
  

Previous SANS.org Classes without GIAC Exams

Waivers may be granted for SANS.org training classes completed prior to matriculation if the student completes any remaining SANS.edu course requirements, such as the associated GIAC exam. All waivers are granted prior to a student's matriculation. Students may not take courses outside SANS.edu for credit in their program after they matriculate.

For example, if you’ve taken LDR 433, you will need to complete the SSAP and Written Assignment to earn credit for ISE 5300.

PMP® Certification

Students who hold a current PMP® from the Project Management Institute will be granted a waiver for the graduate course ISE 5800: IT Security Project Management.

CISSP® Certification

Students who hold a current CISSP® from (ISC)², may seek a partial waiver for SEC 401. Students may choose to take and pass the GIAC GSEC exam to earn the full waiver for either:

• ISE 5101: Enterprise Information Security
• ACS 3401: Security Essentials
• BACS 3401: Security Essentials
  

Earned Credit

"Earned credit" refers to credit earned by taking SANS.edu coursework that can count toward multiple programs. Earned credit can be combined with waiver credit. There is no limit on earned credit with the exception that a student must complete at least 50% of their program while enrolled in that program.

• Eligible earned credit will not be included in the cumulative GPA.
• All certifications must be active and current to be eligible for credit.

Participants in Government or Military Educational and Training Programs

Waiver Limit Exceptions
Approved programs and government agencies are eligible for exceptions to the waiver credit limit, to be used towards the master's or bachelor’s program. This exception to the 25% limit does not extend to any certificate program.

• All certifications must be active and current to be eligible for credit.
• All eligible coursework can be applied to the master's degree program or bachelor's degree program. This exception to the 25% limit does not extend to any certificate programs.
• Eligible credit and waivers are not included in the cumulative GPA.
• All waivers are granted prior to a student's matriculation. Students may not take courses outside SANS.edu for credit in their program after they matriculate.
• To be eligible for this exception, students need to be currently employed with an approved agency.

Learn more about using US Federal Government education benefits at SANS.edu.