Charter Oak State College is Connecticut's public online college offering master's programs, bachelor's and associate degree programs, and certificate programs for adults. The college was established in 1973 by the Connecticut legislature and is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), and by the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education.
The college offers degree completion programs in a number of high-demand fields including Business, Health Care, Public Safety, Cyber Security, Early Childhood Education and more. Students can complete degrees in many majors and concentrations through the exclusive use of affordable and accelerated online courses offered by the college. In other cases, majors and concentrations may be completed by combining Charter Oak's courses and other sources of credit.
The college awards credit for:
- Most credits earned at other regionally-accredited institutions including up to 87 credits from two-year colleges*.
- Standardized tests (CLEP, DSST)
- Military training and occupation evaluated by ACE
- Corporate and agency training programs evaluated by ACE/NCCRS
- Connecticut Credit Assessment Program (CCAP)
- Portfolio Assessment
- Faculty evaluated licensures and certifications
- Advanced Placement Exams (AP)
*Charter Oak State College reserves the right to limit or exclude the transfer of credit if the course content, assessment process , or student learning outcomes do not meet Charter Oak’s faculty standards. Given these standards, effective January 16, 2020, credit will no longer be accepted in transfer from the following organizations:
- Consortium for International Studies (CIS)
- Coopersmith
- Rechtschaffen Institute of Judaic Studies (RIJS)
- Tor Academy
*As of June 1, 2020, Charter Oak State College will no longer accept in transfer FEMA Independent Study (IS) Courses. These courses will also not be accepted in our Credit Registry program. The College will continue to accept the FEMA courses that have been reviewed for credit by ACE. Please note: These are not the same as the FEMA IS courses.
Note: Students may still open a FEMA Credit Registry until June 1: however, all FEMA transcripts must be received by June 1 as well. No exceptions will be made for transcripts that do not arrive by this deadline.
*Students will have until 5/1/2020 to take the FEMA IS courses. They will then have until 6/1/2020 to send their transcripts to Charter Oak. No FEMA transcripts with IS courses will be accepted after 6/1/2020.
Charter Oak State College has over 19,000 alumni.
The college is guided by our vision statement: Charter Oak State College: A dynamic community of online learners advancing the nation's workforce one graduate at a time.
Interested prospective students should visit Admissions.
In our Official Catalog, you can read our Mission Statement and a welcome letter from our President.