ASSIST is best used in consultation with a counselor on your campus. It is intended to help students and counselors work together to establish an appropriate path toward transferring from a public California community college to a California college or university.
FAQs from Students
1. I can’t find my college/university on ASSIST. How do I figure out if my courses transfer?
ASSIST’s mission is to support undergraduate student transfer in California by providing official articulation information for students and those who serve them. Initially, the ASSIST website (assist.org) only included course transfer and articulation information for public institutions in California. With the Budget Act of 2022, funding was allocated to integrate participating member institutions of the Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU) onto the ASSIST platform. The first cohort of AICCU member institutions began displaying articulation agreements on assist.org in the 2024-2025 academic year. New cohorts of AICCU member institutions are onboarded onto assist.org each academic year. We will continue to onboard additional AICCU member institutions in future academic years. Onboarding to assist.org is voluntary; therefore, there is no guarantee that an AICCU member institution will choose to onboard to the assist.org website.
The ASSIST website does not include course transfer and articulation information for the following:
- Out-of-state institutions
- Community college to community college transfer
- AICCU member institutions that have not opted into assist.org participation
- All other independent or private institutions
- Graduate and professional programs
For institutions and agreements not listed in ASSIST, we recommend you contact the admissions department of the specific college or university of interest with transfer questions, as they have the authority to officially advise on the transferability and use of transfer credits.
2. How do I transfer my courses/credits to my current school?
Each college and university manages the process of transferring courses/credits. We recommend you check your school’s admissions website or contact them directly for information on how to transfer your courses/credits.
3. I found a course on ASSIST that I want to take. How do I register?
Each college and university manages course schedules and registration. We recommend checking the institution’s website for information about course registration.
4. I am interested in transferring to an AICCU participating institution. Which general education transferable course lists apply to AICCU general education and admissions requirements?
The general education transferable course lists available on assist.org are specific to transfer from a California community college (CCC) to a California State University (CSU) or University of California (UC). Some AICCU participating institutions choose to make General Education agreements available or choose to embed general education information within major articulation agreements; however, this is not a requirement and may not be appropriate for all AICCU participating institutions. Contact the AICCU institution directly with questions regarding admissions and general education requirements. Contact information for each institution on assist.org is available on the ASSIST Resource Center Contact page.
5. Some institutions only have department agreements available. What is the difference between a department agreement and a major agreement?
Articulation agreements are formal agreements between two institutions that define how courses completed at one institution may satisfy requirements at another institution.
Department and prefix agreements are the simplest type of agreements on assist.org and display course-to-course and series articulation. They display how courses at one institution articulate to courses at another, organized by department or prefix. Beginning with the 2023-2024 academic year, searching by a sending institution department or prefix became available, whereas prior academic years are limited to searching by the receiving department or prefix only. These agreements are helpful when users have a specific institution course of interest.
Major agreements display specific course and institution requirements for a major (left side of the agreement) and the community college courses that can be used to satisfy those program requirements (right side of the agreement). Major agreements may also include specific advisories and/or admissions requirements.
Articulation officers and data managers may publish agreements for a new academic year, beginning with the simplest type - department and prefix agreements - before transitioning to major or general education/breadth agreements. Viewing agreements “by major” is the system default, but when no major agreements are available, viewing agreements “by department” displays instead.
6. What does "no course articulated" mean in the agreements between institutions?
This is the default setting for when a college or university course does not have established articulation with the community college you are viewing. Reasons why articulation is not established will vary. Consult your campus counselor or the institution’s ASSIST primary data manager with specific questions. Contact information for each institution on assist.org is available on the ASSIST Resource Center Contact page.
7. I need help completing my application/supplemental application.
ASSIST can only provide information on how to use the assist.org website. We recommend contacting the college or university directly if you need help completing your application.
California State University (CSU)
University of California (UC)
Association of Independent California Colleges and Universities (AICCU)
- Varies by institution. Contact each institution directly.
- For institutional contact information, visit the AICCU Our College webpage.
Other FAQs
8. Is there a way to find courses articulated to a single course without having to search one institution at a time?
Development of an AI Transfer Articulation & Exploration tool is underway to enhance and streamline the user search experience. This new tool will help users find transfer and eligibility approvals, as well as articulation information, without having to search by individual institutions. The release of the AI Transfer Articulation & Exploration tool is scheduled for summer 2026, so keep a lookout.
9. How can I compare articulation agreements between two different receiving institutions?
The Agreement Comparison tool, available for all types of articulation agreements, enhances the user experience by providing the user the option to compare articulation agreements. It allows viewing a side-by-side comparison of any two articulation agreements on assist.org in the same display. An overview of the tool, along with a tutorial, is available if you have any questions about using this system functionality.
10. Why aren’t “Formerly” notations displayed to identify prior versions of courses in the 2025-2026 Cal-GETC for UC and CSU transferability lists, like they are in the IGETC lists?
The 2025-2026 Cal-GETC for UC and CSU (Cal-GETC) transferability lists do not display “Formerly” notations to identify a previous version of a course. To produce the “Formerly” notations, transferability lists compare the current academic year's list to the prior academic year's list. Because there are no Cal-GETC lists prior to the 2025-2026 academic year, it is not possible to compare courses featured on the lists to a prior version.
Therefore, “Formerly” notations will only begin to display on the Cal-GETC lists beginning with the 2026-2027 academic year and will only include “Formerly” notations referencing previous versions of courses for the 2025-2026 academic year and forward.
11. When does the upcoming academic year begin to display on ASSIST?
ASSIST releases the upcoming academic year in late spring/early summer making new articulation agreements and updated general education and transferable course lists available. The general education and transferable course lists are updated based on the most recent review cycle, which is completed at varying dates each academic year. The list of approved CSU US History, Constitution, and American Ideals Courses (CSU AI) and Cal-GETC courses is dynamic and will continue to be updated into the summer until the current review cycle is completed. The UC Transfer Course Agreement (UC TCA) and UC Transfer Admission Eligibility Course Lists will become available at the end of October upon completion of the UCOP summer review and October appeal cycle.
12. Will I find articulation agreements for every academic year?
The availability of new articulation agreements historically begins the summer before the new academic year and varies by institution. Each institution is responsible for updating and publishing articulation agreements. Many factors may affect the process, including the availability of updated community college curriculum, campus articulation resources, and approaches to publishing. Additionally, AICCU-affiliated institutions in Cohorts 1, 2, and 3 began building articulation agreements in the system during the summers of 2024, 2025, and 2026, respectively. Creating and publishing these articulation agreements will take time and impact their availability.
Given the varying approaches, there are important considerations to keep in mind when evaluating the availability of articulation agreements. Many campuses begin by publishing the less complex department and prefix agreements.
- The default system behavior is to display major articulation agreements first. If no major agreements are available, the system will grey out this option as not available and display any available department agreements. Please note that departmental articulation agreements should not be relied upon for major-related information.
- A help menu option identified with a question mark is available to explain the differences between major, department, prefix and general education/breadth agreements. The question mark is located near the "View Agreements by:" header.
If you have questions about the availability of an articulation agreement or specific information contained in an articulation agreement, please contact the college or university directly.
13. How do 2023-2024 articulation agreements differ from agreements in prior academic years?
The data management application used to build articulation agreements was modernized to include these new design features:
- HTML agreement availability (on-demand display versus a static PDF document)
- Increased consistency and formatting across institutions
- Bolder colors, modernized design, and color differentiation among features
- Group numbers and section letters to clarify the contents and structure of agreements
- Improved and expanded conjunction display options
- Additional options to include instructions that help when reading agreements
For more information about variations in the display of articulation agreements, visit the Articulation Modernization Project flyer. The flyer details the applicable academic years for each iteration of assist.org articulation agreements.
14. Is there a tutorial available for the ASSIST public website that I can share with others on my campus?
Yes, please review the ASSIST Overview available on the ASSIST Resource Center website. Another tutorial worth viewing and/or sharing is the ASSIST Agreement Comparison Tool tutorial which provides instructions on using this tool to search and compare articulation agreements.
15. Are footnotes and comments still included on the transferability lists?
Footnotes and comments previously included on the CSU GE-Breadth Certification Courses, CSU US History, Constitution, and American Ideals Courses (CSU AI), and IGETC for UC and CSU transferability lists in the legacy system were phased out. In most cases, the footnotes or comments that previously appeared on these lists ended before the 2017-2018 academic year. If additional footnotes or comments are available, a link is provided within the text at the top of the list. Footnotes continue to appear on the UC Transferable Courses list (the UC TCA).
16. Have any changes been made to the display of the UC Transferable Courses list (the UCTCA)?
The “#” symbol denoting something new or changed is not currently appearing on UC Transferable Course lists. It will appear as a feature on this list with a future public website release.
17. Whom should I contact if I have questions?
Please email help@assist.org with any questions about the ASSIST website. The ASSIST team will either assist you or direct your inquiry to the appropriate party for response. If you have questions about a specific agreement, please contact your campus counselor or the institution's ASSIST Primary Data Manager. You may also provide feedback on the assist.org website via the feedback form located on the public website Support page.
18. How often is information on the ASSIST public site updated?
Transferability list updates are based on institution curriculum change timelines and system office course review cycles. Any changes made are displayed on assist.org immediately after publication. However, the display of course or transferability changes is subject to the availability of an academic year on assist.org and publication rules for mid-year adjustments (winter, spring, and summer terms).
Articulation agreement updates are displayed immediately after publication, subject to the availability of an academic year on assist.org. Publication timing depends on curriculum cycles and articulation processes of the CSU, UC, and participating AICCU institutions. Each institution is responsible for creating and publishing their articulation agreements in ASSIST.
No updates are made to legacy ASSIST transferability lists and articulation agreement PDFs for academic years before and including 2016-2017. The PDFs of those lists and agreements were produced in the legacy ASSIST system, and no further changes are being made in that system.
19. When will extracts and web services containing course transferability information become available?
The ASSIST technology project timeline is based on a phased approach to key deliverables, including ASSIST data access via extract files, reports, and web services. Please review the Data tab on the ASSIST Resource Center for more information.
20. Where is the "Explore Majors" feature?
Although we were unable to include an Explore Majors feature in the first phase of the modernized ASSIST release, we understand its importance, as clearly reinforced by feedback from counselors, transfer center directors, and students. Thanks to a creative partnership with Los Medanos College, an alternative exploring majors tool known as the Transfer Major Explorer is available. The tool was built using information from the legacy ASSIST Explore Majors application and makes available a core exploring majors search feature. Students, counselors and other site users can select an Area of Study and a related Discipline to see which CSU and UC institutions offer the major selected, and click a link to visit a specific associated CSU or UC website for further information. It is important to note that some information contained on the website may be out of date, and updates are being provided over time by CSU and UC articulation officers. AICCU-participating member institutions (PMIs) are not included on the Transfer Major Explorer. A link to the Los Medanos tool is located on the ASSIST public website in the grey “Important Notes from ASSIST” information panel as shown in the screenshot below.
ASSIST has convened intersegmental groups comprised of representatives from various areas of the CCC, CSU and UC systems, including counselors and transfer center directors, who used the legacy ASSIST Explore Majors application, to provide focus group-type feedback. The input received helped ASSIST identify how a variety of users interacted with the application, the most critical components, and where improvements might be made in the future to prioritize development of a new Explore Majors tool. Until development work can begin, ASSIST will continue its partnership with Los Medanos College to host the alternative tool.
21. Where can I find C-ID course related information?
The C-ID website is the primary source for all C-ID-related resources. C-ID course-related information can be accessed on the C-ID Courses page.
22. Where can I find more information on Common Course Numbering (CCN)?
Common Course Numbering (CCN) is a statewide initiative to align course numbers across California community colleges, making it easier for students to identify equivalent courses and streamline transfer. ASSIST will reflect CCN changes as they are implemented beginning Fall 2025. For the latest details, please visit the California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office CCN Project page.