Sometimes students may need to look at completing a certain course or requirement at a different institution in order to stay on track to graduate, or if they are interested in taking a course that SDSU does not offer.

Unlike lower-division requirements, which can be taken at a community college, upper-division requirements must be completed at a 4-year institution. For this reason, it is often more difficult to find a cost-friendly option to complete upper-division coursework at a different institution. Below is a cost-effective option that students can consider when looking to complete upper-division coursework outside of SDSU.

CSU Fully Online

CSU Fully Online is a program that allows students enrolled at a CSU campus to complete one online course offered at another CSU campus per semester at no additional cost* (*if students meet certain eligibility criteria). In order to be able to take an online course through CSU Fully Online, students need to pay full-time tuition (6.1 units) at SDSU, and courses will only appear as available if it is still within the enrollment period within the home campus and if the course still has available seats.

Nonresident students will be charged nonresident tuition by the campus at which they are taking the CSU Fully Online course (host campus).

The Registrar's Office has a very helpful page with information on eligibility, how to enroll, how grades are received, etc.

Important: PSY courses taken through CSU Fully Online must be taken for a letter grade unless Cr/NC is the only option.

To take upper-division psychology coursework through CSU Fully Online, students should look at available courses offered through CSU Fully Online and create a list of potential courses. If wanting to satisfy an upper-division PSY requirement, be sure to use the filtering options: Enter "PSY" under "Online Course" and select "UPPER" under "Course Level".

Additional units: Any upper-division course offered through a Psychology department should transfer in to count toward the Additional Units (i.e., PSY elective) requirement. For example, some CSUs offer Psychology of Social Justice, Sports Psychology, etc.

To satisfy a specific course/requirement (e.g., PSY 380 or Group IV) a course from another campus needs to either (1) have previously been deemed equivalent or (2) be pre-approved by the psychology advising directors.

See the "Pre-Approved CSU Courses" page to check whether any courses of interest have already been reviewed by the directors.

If not included within the list of pre-approved courses, check SDSU TAP to see if the course has an active articulation agreement with SDSU. See instructions on how to use TAP to make sure you choose the search option that is regularly updated.

If the articulation agreement is still current, then the course will transfer to SDSU as listed.

If the articulation agreement is outdated (or if the course will not satisfy a specific requirement that the student hopes to complete), students need to receive pre-approval to take the class. Send copy of the course syllabus to the Psychology Advising Office via email (psychology.advising.sdsu@sdsu.edu) for review. Students can request a copy of a syllabus by contacting the Psychology Department of the CSU campus at which the course is offered.

Students may need to periodically check CSU Fully Online to see if courses have been removed/added as course offerings may change as the new semester approaches.

Be aware of each CSU campus' enrollment periods as they differ across campuses. Request enrollment in one course through the "Enroll in CSU Fully Online" link in my.SDSU.

Note: There are no equivalent upper-division methods courses through CSU Fully Online that can meet the Methods requirement at SDSU. If you are unable to complete the Methods requirement at SDSU, please see the "Methods Requirement Class Options" page for alternative options to complete the Methods requirement at a different institution.