Overview
Articulation is the process that connects courses at two educational institutions to help students make a smooth transition from one to the other without having to complete duplicate coursework. The process identifies courses at the sending institution that are accepted by the receiving institution. This allows students to fulfill a receiving institution requirement at the sending institution before transfer. For more information, please see the FAQs below.
Forms
FAQs
What is articulation at Merritt College?
Articulation is the process of establishing which Merritt College courses are acceptable in lieu of courses offered at 4-year institutions. Merritt has articulation agreements with all public universities in California, including all campuses of the University of California (UC) and the California State University (CSU). Merritt also has articulation agreements with private and independent colleges and universities in and outside California. The goal of articulation is to create a clear pathway for students to transfer from Merritt College to a 4-year institution without having to repeat courses after transfer that they’ve already taken and passed.
What is an articulation agreement?
Each 4-year institution has its own admission, general education, graduation, and major requirements. An articulation agreement is an agreement that specifies which Merritt College course(s) will fulfill one or more of these requirements.
Transfer Course Agreements. These agreements list courses that will be accepted for credit by the 4-year institution. Courses that are approved for transfer credit may or may not count toward general education, major, or graduation requirements. Merritt College courses that transfer for credit to CSU or to UC are identified in the Merritt College catalog at the end of each course description and/or on the ASSIST website (see below).
Course-to-Course Agreements. A course-to-course agreement lists Merritt College courses that are acceptable in lieu of specific courses at a 4-year institution.
General Education Agreements. There are different GE patterns: *Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC) is a general education pattern that lists Merritt College courses that fulfill lower-division GE requirements at either a UC or a CSU. IGETC is usually not recommended for high-unit majors like Engineering, Computer Science, Biology, and Business.
*CSU General Education-Breadth (CSU GE) is a general education pattern that lists Merritt College courses that fulfill lower-division GE requirements at all CSUs.
*Campus-specific GE agreements are those at a specific 4-year institution that a student may opt to fulfill instead of system-wide GE patterns like IGETC and CSU GE that fulfill GE requirements at all UC and/or CSU campuses.
Major Preparation. Major preparation agreements list courses that fulfill specific lower- division requirements for different majors at 4-year institutions.
Course Identification Numbering System (C-ID). C-ID is a statewide numbering system that can be used to determine course equivalency between California Community Colleges (CCCs) and CSUs. If a course at a CCC has an approved C-ID designation, it can be considered comparable to a course at either another CCC or at a CSU with the same C-ID designation. However, just because a Merritt College course shares a C-ID designation with a course at a CSU doesn’t mean it will fulfill admission, general education, major preparation or graduation requirements. Merritt College courses that have been approved for C-ID to date are listed at <https://www.c-id.net/course_compare.htm> See a counselor or contact the transfer institution for more information.
How can I learn more about articulation agreements?
One source of articulation information is the Articulation System Stimulating Interinstitutional Student Transfer (ASSIST). ASSIST is the official repository of articulation agreements for public higher education institutions in California (CCCs, CSUs, and UCs). These agreements have been reviewed and approved by the faculty at these institutions and identify how CCC courses will fulfill admission, transfer, general education, major preparation and graduation requirements at CSUs and UCs. Students planning to transfer should become familiar with articulation agreements found on ASSIST at <https://www.assist.org/> and on other sites. Students are strongly encouraged to see a counselor and to visit the Merritt College Transfer Center for more information.
