Not every student completes a college degree at a single school. It is common to transfer to campus colleges after completing classes online. Not every class will transfer to ever brick-and-mortar college, however, which means that you could waste your time if you aren’t careful. How can you ensure that your credit hours will transfer from your online school to a traditional campus college?

• Make sure that your school is accredited.

Accreditation is a process where a third party looks at a program to see if the education a student gets is of a high quality. Not every online school seeks accreditation, and just because a school isn’t accredited doesn’t mean that the program is worthless. However, accreditation cuts down on scams and diploma mills, and few campus colleges will accept credit transfers from schools that aren’t accredited. They want to make sure that the credit they’re giving you from classes is comparable to the credit you would receive had you taken the class at their college. They don’t want to cheapen their own diplomas. You can see a full list of accredited schools through the U.S. Department of Education.

• Talk to the admissions office at your college of choice.

Sometimes, you may not know where you intend to transfer when you start taking online classes. If you have a few schools in mind, though, get a copy of their credit transfer policies before you actually start taking classes. With many schools, it isn’t just about whether or not your classes were taken online. Most campus colleges have rules about how many credits you can transfer in total, including how many major-related classes you can transfer. For example, if you took three general elective classes and seven classes relating to your field of study at an online college, an offline campus college may only allow the elective credits and half of the major-related credits to transfer. Others have extra requirements relating to transferring classes. For example, for your credits to transfer, you might have to take an exam to prove that you learned enough information in your online classes to move on to more advanced classes.

• Take introductory classes.

Whether you’re transferring to a campus college from an online school or from a different campus college, there’s a better chance that your credit hours will transfer if they’re covering introductory classes. As you advance in your education, colleges structure their courses differently, so it can be difficult to enter one program when you’ve been taking classes from a different program. For example, if you’re going to culinary school, College A might have a single pastry course while College B might incorporate learning about pastries into part of every advanced course. You’ll learn the same things, but in different ways. Most colleges, however, offer introductory courses on various subjects, so these have the best chances of transferring from your online school to your new school.

Sometimes, sticking to a single program online can help you get your degree faster, without wasting any money. If you transfer, you always run the risk of losing some of the work you’ve already done. When transferring, choose your new school, in part, based on how many of your credits will transfer. Otherwise, you could find yourself essentially starting over with your education.