For students trying to switch between State University of New York (SUNY) schools, transferring credits will no longer be a complicated process.

SUNY Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher has announced that the system now has the most comprehensive transfer policy in the nation, meaning SUNY students will be able to transfer all completed general requirements and major requirements to and from all SUNY campuses.

Transfer Paths is a core curriculum for courses covering each major across SUNY campuses. The curriculum consists of general requirements and even major-specific courses to be completed in the first two years of study, and will allow any student with junior status to easily transfer to any SUNY institution. Nearly 900 SUNY faculty members participated in an online review of the Transfer Paths to determine the core courses for each discipline to transfer.

The transfer policy was passed in December 2012 and will take effect this fall semester. This “seamless” transfer process is meant to benefit more than 30,000 students who transfer between SUNY campuses each year by reducing debt and helping them graduate on time.

According to Binghamton University President Harvey Stenger, the policy makes sense.

“Many students change colleges for a variety of reasons, and if they stay within the SUNY system, we should help them as much as possible with that transition,” Stenger said. “This will directly help many students graduate in four years, even if they do not do all four years at one institution.”

Daniel Knox, the director of Student Mobility at SUNY System Administration, said that the Transfer Paths typically do not include upper-level coursework unless they are approved by the receiving campus.

“[The Transfer Paths] do not cover every major, but have been developed for 52 disciplines inclusive of the most popular majors, accounting for over 95 percent of all transfers in SUNY, with more in development,” Knox wrote in an email.

Previously, individual faculty or departments had authority over transfer decisions, and advising for transfer students was inconsistent. According to Knox, creating one comprehensive transfer policy, students receive more consistent advising, which helps them graduate in a timely manner.

With the new policy, students can appeal campus-level transfer credit decisions to the central SUNY System Administration. The final authority on the decision rests with the SUNY Provost.

Sarah Ketcham, a senior majoring in nursing, transferred twice before coming to BU at the beginning of her junior year. Credits did not transfer between the two SUNY community colleges that she attended, which set her back.

“I was behind and had to take summer classes to catch up, costing me more money and pushing me back,” she said. “So this policy definitely would have been helpful.”

For Amanda Fitzpatrick, a senior majoring in nursing, the transfer from SUNY Oswego to BU was simple. Almost all of her credits transferred except for one, and after BU reviewed the syllabus of the class at SUNY Oswego, the credit transferred.

Although her transfer was already seamless, Fitzpatrick sees value in the new SUNY-wide policy.

“I think that having all credits transfer from SUNY to SUNY is an amazing idea,” Fitzpatrick said. “It makes transferring schools a lot less stressful.”