It really depends for this. If you attend a two year university, but then you decide to transfer to a private college, things can get messy. Also, Madison doesn't have the same credit requirements as other universities, so even though the credits will transfer, they may not be enough. All I remember is that when I was at MATC, you were able to tell if a course transferred to the UW system by looking at the course number (a certain numerical combination=transfer credit). Back then (yeah, the dark ages), they were transferable to all UW schools, but I'm sure some of that has changed.