Graduate on time

With careful planning, NSE will not delay your graduation. On average, participants graduate in 8.08 semesters.

Learning beyond Iowa State

National Student Exchange is open to any undergraduate major at Iowa State. After completing one year at Iowa State, students who meet eligibility requirements may exchange to another campus through NSE. You will enroll as a full-time student at the host institution for up to one academic year. 

With careful planning and coordination with your academic advisor, complete courses at the host institution that may count towards major, minor, or elective credits. Note: NSE cannot guarantee enrollment in any course at another institution. You should have a flexible academic plan while on exchange.  

Transfer Credit Resources 

  • Ivy College of Business students will find the transfer credit process easier when exchanging to institutions with AACSB accreditation. Many NSE schools share Iowa State's AACSB accreditation. -- Current as of 10/2022. 
  •  TRANSIT is a system that allows you to enter coursework you have taken (or will take) will on NSE, then to generate an evaluation to see how it will be accepted at Iowa State University. Then, TRANSIT allows you to submit your evaluated credit to DARS (Degree Audit Reporting System), which will produce an individualized report that reflects how your evaluated credit applies toward a specified degree at Iowa State University. It will compare your evaluated course work with the requirements of an academic degree program and prepare a report, or preliminary audit, which details your progress toward meeting those requirements.
  • Iowa State's NSE office maintains an internal database of transfer credits completed on exchange. Contact our office to review this information. 

Last 32-Credits

  • In Spring 2023, ISU updated the Last 32-Credit policy to exclude NSE and Study Abroad from the policy. Therefore, students will no longer need to apply for a last 32-credit rule waiver to their respective academic college.  
    • Link in Catalog: https://catalog.iastate.edu/admissions/#transfercreditstext
    • Primary Change(s):
      • The following sentence was added to the end of the policy: “Credits earned while students participated in an ISU Study Abroad or National Student Exchange program are exempt from this requirement.”
    • Implementation Note: This policy will be globally administered beginning with the graduating class of Fall 2023 forward, regardless of the Catalog Year they are graduating under.