Transfer FAQ

At Lake Tahoe Community College, courses with middle digit of 0-4 will transfer to the California State University system. Course transferability to the University of California and University of Nevada, Reno is indicated below to each course in the LTCC catalog and schedule.
For UC and CSU, students must complete 90 quarter units that will transfer in order to be eligible for full junior status at the transfer school. Many private universities and out-of-state colleges will accept transfer students with fewer units. For example, students with 36 quarter units and 2.5 GPA are eligible for UNR transfer. Please check the catalog for the specific college you are interested in for transfer requirements.
UC's and CSU's will accept up to 105 quarter units from LTCC toward your Bachelor's degree. UNR will only accept 96 quarter units from LTCC.
Most colleges and universities will accept 105 quarter units towards the total number of units needed to complete your bachelor's degree; however, if you have taken more units than that, the content of the courses will be used to satisfy needed requirements. Students who have already attended a four-year institution should see an LTCC counselor about other possible unit limits.
The minimum GPA needed to transfer to a California State University (CSU) is 2.0 for California residents and 2.4 for out of state residents. The minimum GPA needed to transfer to the University of California (UC) is 2.4 for California residents and 2.8 for out of state residents. The GPA needed for transfer to private colleges varies so check their college catalog. Some majors and some colleges are impacted and will require higher GPA's for admission. Please see a counselor for further assistance.
To be accepted to an impacted program or a very popular campus, the GPA for admission will need to be considerably higher than the minimum required. A GPA of 3.0 and higher may be required to be competitive for transfer admission. The GPA will vary each year according to the specific applicant pool at that time.

The California General Education Transfer Curriculum (Cal-GETC) is a general education pattern designed to make transferring from a California Community College to a California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC) easier and more efficient. Starting in Fall 2025, Cal-GETC will be the only lower-division general education pathway for students pursuing an Associate Degree for Transfer (ADT) or planning to transfer to CSU or UC.

While we work to update our courses to reflect the Cal-GETC pattern, we advise students to meet with a counselor for GE guidance. Contact a counselor at counselor@ltcc.edu .

An associate degree is a "two-year" degree granted by a community college to students who complete a specified program of study, usually totaling 90 units.

A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is a "four-year" degree granted upon completion of at least 120 semester units or 180 quarter units. Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science Degrees are offered by the California State Universities, the University of California, UNR and many private four-year colleges and universities.

Lower division courses are offered for freshman and sophomore level credit. All courses offered at a community college are lower division courses. Upper division courses are offered for junior and senior level credit. These courses are not offered by community colleges.

Articulation is the process of evaluating courses to determine whether coursework completed at one college will meet the requirements for admission, transfer credit, general education, or major preparation at another college.

To have your transcripts sent to another college, contact the Enrollment Services office located within the One-Stop and fill out the Transcript Request Form (PDF). You can also access your transcripts via your Passport portal.

A major is a program of study which leads to a degree. It is the primary area of study in which the greatest depth of knowledge will be developed.

A minor is a secondary field of study, not as comprehensive as the major. Minors are not available at community colleges.

Preparation for a major is an important step. Information as to which classes are required for a specific major can be obtained from the college catalog and from articulation agreements. For public institutions in California, articulation agreements between schools are stored on the web at ASSIST.org. Please see a counselor for further information.

An impacted major is one that is very popular and more applications for admission are received during the priority filing period than the campus can accommodate.

If you are applying to a major that is impacted, the GPA for admission will be higher and you will need to complete lower division courses for the major prior to transfer.

There are many resources available in Student Services to assist you. You will want to plan to visit the college you are interested in and also research the transfer requirements in the college catalog and on the World Wide Web. See a counselor for assistance in identifying transfer requirements for a particular major and university.

The California State University (CSU) is the system of higher education in California that grants the most bachelor degrees. CSU majors are commonly more vocationally specific than UC majors. It is sometimes called the "teacher training" institution. The CSU also grants master degrees.

The University of California (UC) is the research system of public higher education in California. The UC grants professional and doctorate degrees, as well as bachelor and master degrees.

The CSU has a more practical, career-oriented approach to education in contrast to the more theoretical approach offered by the UC.

Each college has an academic year with terms marking the beginning and end of classes. A quarter is one type of term within an academic year. Each quarter is 10-12 weeks in length, and there are usually three quarters (fall, winter and spring) per academic year. A semester is the other type of term within an academic year. Each semester is 15-18 weeks in length, and there are two semesters (fall and spring) in an academic year. In addition, most colleges offer an additional term during the summer. Lake Tahoe Community College is on the quarter system and offers a condensed 6 week summer session.

There is a period of time when applications are first accepted for a specific term at the CSU and UC. Please refer to the Dates and Deadlines section for the priority filing dates.