You are eligible to submit a campus change request and enroll in classes on the Columbus campus once you have earned 30 semester hours (post high-school graduation, excluding credit through examination) with a cumulative Ohio State GPA of 2.0 or greater. You can complete the campus-change request with your regional campus advisor during the semester when you anticipate earning your 30th credit hour.
Some colleges require additional college-specific forms, requirements and prerequisite courses to transfer into specific majors. Students who meet campus-change criteria but not college-specific criteria can still change campuses, but may need to be referred to another major.
Campus change requests can be submitted up to the week prior to the start of each term.
Please visit this page to learn more about how to submit a campus change request based on your current regional campus. You do not need to re-apply to the university.
Campus change requests are reviewed after the prior term grades are posted. Once approved to campus change, you will receive an email from Columbus campus with information about your new advisor. You can also find your assigned advisor and schedule an appointment in OnCourse.
If the new term is approaching and you have not been assigned a new advisor or have not received an email from Columbus campus, please reach out to campuschangehelp@osu.edu.
The Columbus campus has a live-on requirement for first and second-year students, and that includes campus-change students coming from a regional campus. If you graduated from high school within two calendar years of when you will be starting on the Columbus campus, you are required to live in a residence hall. Other campus-change students are offered housing as space is available but are not required to live on campus. You'll need to email Housing and Residence Education at housing@osu.edu to request a housing contract.
Requests for fall semester housing are due February 1. For more information about on-campus housing, email Housing and Residence Education at housing@osu.edu.
For assistance finding off-campus housing or getting situated as a commuting student, check out the resources available through Off-Campus and Commuter Student Engagement. Please note that the leasing season usually begins in November and December for the following academic year.
You can take a virtual tour of the Columbus campus' classrooms and instructional spaces at odee.osu.edu/classroom-browse.
Expenses vary between the Columbus and regional campuses. In addition to higher instructional fees on the Columbus campus, other cost variances include mandatory fees such as Student Health Insurance, student activity fee, student union fee, recreation fee and the COTA fee.
Additional fees that will vary based on individual considerations (college of enrollment, parking needs, etc.) include technology fees, program fees, parking permits and the legal services fee.
To account for these costs, financial aid budgets are larger on the Columbus campus than at the other campuses; however, these additional costs can still catch campus-change students by surprise.
Once you’ve earned 60 hours, with at least 15 earned at a regional campus, you may be eligible to receive your associate's degree. Contact your regional campus advisor to learn more or email associateofartsdegree@osu.edu.
Buckeye Alerts are text message notifications of emergency situations on campus. To sign up to receive Buckeye Alert messages, log in to My BuckeyeLink at buckeyelink.osu.edu and enter your cell phone number in the personal information area. Parents/spouse or others may also sign up to receive Buckeye Alert messages.
Because some students travel between regional campuses and the Columbus campus, you can opt in to receive alerts from multiple campuses. You must first register for Buckeye Alerts before you can opt in to multiple campus messages.
If you are currently a regional campus student and want to start the process to campus change, contact your regional advisor. If you have any other questions about campus change, contact campuschangehelp@osu.edu.