Transient Students

Transient Students

Many students take courses at Columbus State while continuing to attend another college. We may call them "transient students," but we treat them just like our degree-seeking students.

If you are planning to transfer credits back to your “home” institution discuss your plans with your academic advisor at your “home” institution.

Be sure to contact the Financial Aid Office at your home institutions for questions you may have about paying your tuition while you attend Columbus State. You may also want to consider self-pay options such as: cash, check, or credit card.

Find transfer courses with u.select

View u.select (Transfer.org) to find course equivalencies and what courses you need for your intended program/major.  Select "Quick Equivalencies" to see how specific courses will transfer.  Create an account on u.select to see what courses you will need to complete your degree.

Please follow these steps as a Transient Student to get started at Columbus State

Follow the Getting Started Guide for all of these steps:

1. Apply to Columbus State by using our online application.

Note: To help with processing your application as a Transient Student, please choose your major in this way when completing your online application:

General Area of Interest at CSCC:  Non-Degree Seeking

Program/Major: Transient

Degree/Certificate: Transient Student

2. Complete a Getting Started Information Session (Orientation) either online or in person.

3. Have your sealed, official transcript sent from your home institution to the Records & Registration Department. Transcripts generally take 1 to 2 weeks to process. All students, regardless of degree-seeking status, are required to show college readiness in English and Math.   If you have not completed college level Math and English, you make need to take part of or all of the COMPASS Placement test. Do I need to take the COMPASS test?

If you would like to speed up the transcript process, you can additionally take your transcript to an Academic Advisor who can conditionally enter that data for you contingent on your official transcripts.

Once your transcript has been evaluated, you will receive an email indicating if you are ready to register. Keep in mind that some courses have prerequisites at Columbus State and you will need to ensure that you have any prerequisites met before you can register.

4. Once you have proven college readiness, you can now create your student email account and access your student portal, CougarWeb. Click here to discover your Cougar ID, Login name and/or reset your password.

If you took part or all of the COMPASS Placement test, you will need to attend a Registration Workshop where an academic advisor will review your scores and help you with what classes you can take. If you did not have to take the COMPASS, you can meet with an academic advisor to determine what you need to register for. Please remember that if you email academic advising, you must email them from your Columbus State email for them to access your student account. Also, the Student Assistance Center on the Columbus Campus and Student Services at Delaware Campus are here to help you with any questions that you may have about using the student portal.

5.Your last step is to register and pay for fees. All fees must be paid by the fee payment deadline dates. Learn more about other fee payment options.

Still have questions? Admissions Advisors are on live chat Monday through Friday. Visit Advising Services to live chat with an advisor or to find the contact information for your Admissions Advisor.