UMA recognizes that students can master languages in non-traditional ways.  The following are various pathways for earning language credit at UMA.


The Advanced Placement Program (AP) sponsored by the College Board offers secondary school students the opportunity to participate in challenging college-level course work while still in high school. UMA recognizes specific AP grades enabling students to receive credit for their achievement.  Note that AP credits cannot be used to meet UMA residency requirements.  

UMA accepts the following language AP Scores:

AP ExamUMA Required ScoreAmount of Credit GrantedUMA Equivalent Course(s)
French Language34FRE 101
French Language4 or 58FRE 101 & FRE 102
German Language33GER 101
German Language4 or 56GER 101 & GER 102
Spanish Language34SPA 101
Spanish Language4 or 58SPA 101 & SPA 102

Courses and examinations from non-accredited training organizations may be granted transfer credit if they are recognized by the American Council on Education (ACE).  The courses must carry a credit recommendation from ACE and be categorized as lower division, upper division, or graduate level.  Credit will not be granted for courses at the vocational level.

ACTFL Language Connects: ACTFL assessments have been evaluated and carry ACE recommendations for college credit.  To learn more, visit the ACTFL ACE Credit Recommendations.

  • An official ACE transcript must be submitted for courses to be considered for transfer credit.
  • Credit will be awarded at the ACE recommended level (1xx or 3xx).
  • Credit will be designated as general elective credit for subjects with no comparable discipline at UMA, program elective credit, or for a specific course if the ACE recommendation aligns with an existing course.

For details on requesting ACE transcripts, click here.  You can also find the ACE National Guide here.

UMA does accept credit for the BYU FLATS exams, however we do not administer the exams.

Brigham Young University (BYU) Foreign Language Achievement Testing Service (FLATS) exams offer opportunities to test in over fifty languages.  BYU FLATS exams test for listening, reading, and writing, and do not require knowledge of technical terms or specialized vocabulary.  BYU FLATS exams are online tests that have a limit of 2.5 hours.

UMA Equivalencies for BYU Language Exam Passing Scores

BYU FLATS exams are available in the following languages:

Albanian, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Cambodian, Cantonese-Simplified, Cantonese- Traditional, Cebuano, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Estonian, Fijian, Finnish, French, Georgian, German, Greek, Haitian-Creole, Hmong, Hungarian, Icelandic, Ilonggo Hilgaynon, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Malagasy, Malay, Mandarin-Simplified, Mandarin-Traditional, Mongolian, Norwegian, Persian-Farsi, Polish, Portuguese-Brazilian, Portuguese-Continental, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish, Tagalog, Tahitian, Thai, Tongan, Ukrainian, Vietnamese

UMA Credits are awarded using the following equivalencies:

Course#GradeCredits Awarded
101 and/or 102FNo Credit
101 & 102P, PLAN 1xx (4 credits)*
101, 102 & 201P, P, PLAN 2xx (8 credits)*

* If a student passes the exam in a language UMA offers, then the three-letter prefix for the language will be used instead of LAN. (For example, passing the BYU French exam at the 101 + 102 level will result in 4 credits of FRE 1XX.)

UMA participates in CLEP for college credit.  Students in UMA degree programs may earn a maximum of 45 credits through CLEP.  CLEP credits cannot be used to meet UMA residency requirements.

UMA is also an open test center.  This means that anyone who wishes to take CLEP exams at UMA may do so and the results can be sent to any CLEP participating institution.

UMA accepts the following language CLEP Scores:

CLEP ExamUMA Required ScoreAmount of Credit GrantedUMA Equivalent Course(s)
French Language, level 1508FRE 101 & FRE 102
French Language, level 2628FRE 203 & FRE 204
German Language, level 1506Foreign Language elective
German Language, level 2636Foreign Language elective
Spanish Language, level 1508SPA 101 & SPA 102
Spanish Language, level 2668SPA 203 & SPA 204

Students who are admitted to UMA with a Seal of Biliteracy on their high school transcript shall receive eight credits under the following system of coursework.  Each may also fulfill a humanities and cultural diversity general education requirement.

ARA 101: Beginning Arabic I
ARA 102: Beginning Arabic II

ASL 101: Beginning American Sign Language I
ASL 102: Beginning American Sign Language II

CHI 101: Beginning Chinese I
CHI 102: Beginning Chinese II

FRE 101: Beginning French I
FRE 102: Beginning French II

GER 101: Beginning German I
GER 102: Beginning German II

ITA 101: Beginning Italian I
ITA 102: Beginning Italian II

LAT 101: Beginning Latin I
LAT 102: Beginning Latin II

SPA 101: Beginning Spanish I
SPA 102: Beginning Spanish II

LAN 101 Beginning [Language] I (for languages not listed above)
LAN 102: Beginning [Language] II (for languages not listed above)

Contact Information

Credit by Examination:
Augusta: Eric Allain, Toll-free: 1.877.UMA.1234 ext. 3392 or 207.621.3392; eric.allain@maine.edu.

External Training:
Augusta/Bangor: Haley Brown, Toll-free: 1.877.UMA.1234 ext. 3130 or 207.621.3130, hbrown120@maine.edu.

ACE & Transfer:
Beth Vigue, Toll-free: 1.877.UMA.1234 ext. 3291 or 207.621.3291; bvigue@maine.edu.

Learn about UMA’s Transfer policies here.