How to Transfer Out of CEGEP to a Different CEGEP or Program Mid-Year
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Oct 09, 2025 • Admissions & Applications, Student Housing, Canadian Universities & Colleges
You cannot switch CEGEPs or programs partway through a semester. A transfer takes effect at the start of the next session, and how much of your work carries over depends on whether you stay at the same CEGEP or move to a new one.
📩 Changing program at your current CEGEP goes through your registrar, not through SRAM, SRACQ or SRASL.
🎓 Changing to a different CEGEP means reapplying through the regional admission service that covers your new school.
Your R score follows you. It comes from your provincial transcript, not from the CEGEP you are leaving.
⏱️ Course compatibility decides whether you lose time. Pre-university to pre-university rarely adds a semester. Technical to technical often does.
Why a mid-year move is not really mid-year
CEGEPs run on two sessions a year, fall and winter, each lasting about 15 weeks. You register for a full session at a time, so switching to a different program or a different CEGEP mid-semester is not an option. Any transfer takes effect at the start of the next session, fall or winter.
The real planning window opens as soon as you decide to change, not on the day you want to leave. Start the process early enough to submit an application before the round closes for the session you want to join.
Two different processes, depending on where you are going
Quebec splits this into two separate paths. Which one applies to you depends on whether you stay at your current CEGEP or leave it.
Changing program, same CEGEP
If you want to switch programs but stay at your current school, deal directly with your CEGEP's registrar's office (bureau du registraire), not with a regional admission service. Ask for the internal program change or transfer request form. Seats in the new program depend on availability, and popular programs sometimes set a minimum R score or completed-course requirement based on the program's own admission history.
Since you remain at the same institution, courses you already passed stay on your transcript automatically. The registrar checks which of them count toward your new program's requirements. Courses that do not count get added on top of what remains, sometimes pushing your graduation date back by one or more semesters.
Changing to a different CEGEP
Moving to a different CEGEP counts as a new application, even though you already have a DEC file in progress. Apply through whichever regional service covers your target school: SRAM for the Montreal area, SRACQ for the Quebec City area, or SRASL for Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean. You compete for a seat on the same terms as any other applicant, including students coming straight from high school.
Contact the admission service that covers your new CEGEP for the current round's exact submission and document deadlines before you commit to a switch, since these shift slightly between cycles.
What happens to your R score
Your cote de rendement au collégial, the R score, is a province-wide calculation maintained by the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) from your official transcript. It does not reset when you change CEGEP or program. The destination institution sees your R score history alongside your new results, and your score keeps building from where it left off.
Steps to follow
Talk to your current CEGEP's registrar first. Ask what happens to your file, your R score, and any financial holds if you leave partway through your DEC.
Decide whether you are changing program internally or moving to a new CEGEP. These use different forms and different offices.
Submit your internal change request, or your new application through the correct regional admission service, before that round's deadline.
Once you get an offer, ask for a written summary of which of your completed courses transfer and which do not.
Confirm your seat and pay any confirmation fee by the response deadline stated in the offer letter.
How much time you lose depends on the match
Pre-university DEC programs (Sciences, Arts and Letters, Social Science) share a large block of common general education courses. Switching between them, or between two pre-university streams at different CEGEPs, rarely adds a full semester if you make the move at a natural break point.
Technical DEC programs (three years, career focused) share far fewer courses between fields. Moving from one technical program to an unrelated one commonly costs a full extra year, since specialized courses in your old program do not count toward your new one.
Switching between the two streams, pre-university to technical or the reverse, almost always adds time, because the two paths build on different course sequences from the first semester onward.