Applying for Graduation

Applying for Degree

Please note: 
"Graduation" refers to the academic process of degree completion.
"Commencement" refers to the annual ceremony held each May.

DEADLINES

Any student wishing to graduate should apply for graduation well in advance of their intended graduation date. For example:

While these deadlines are suggestions, not firm deadlines, the process will be much smoother if you apply for graduation well in advance so the College will have adequate time to review your academic records and certify you for graduation.

* - Undergraduate students wishing to be considered for Valedictorian or Salutatorian should apply for graduation as early as possible. (We recommend applying before March 1.)

Note: failure to apply on or before the deadline will result in your name not being included in the Commencement program and/or exclusion from Commencement-related events (class t-shirt, class gift, etc).

PROCEDURE - What to do

You can apply for graduation in person in the Registrar's Office or you can apply online. If you wish to apply online, please follow the links:

• Undergraduate Students
• Graduate Students (Master's and Doctoral)

After mid-term of your graduation semester, the College does a preliminary review of your courses. Once the term is over, we must review your final term grades. Therefore, it generally takes several weeks before all graduates are reviewed.

CERTIFICATION and NON-CERTIFICATION

Unfortunately, not all students who participate in the May Commencement ceremony will be certified for their degrees. The College will attempt to contact nongraduating students as soon as possible to alert them that they will not be certified for graduation.

You will still have access to your Banner Web account for a few weeks after you have graduated. Once your degree is awarded, you will be able to see it in the transcript area of your Banner Web account.

Students who do not meet the requirements for graduation will be notified in writing by the Dean of their academic school. Questions regarding noncertification should be addressed either to your Dean or your Program Director:

In order to reevaluate your student record for graduation, students must reapply for graduation by filling out a new application for graduation form (online or in person). You will not be charged the graduation fee a second time.

WHAT ABOUT AUGUST AND DECEMBER GRADS?

UNDERGRADUATES (B.A. and B.S. degrees)

August grads are allowed to participate in the May Commencement ceremony prior to completing their degree. If you wish to walk in the ceremony following your degree completion, please contact Lynn Decker, Assistant Registrar for Academic Services.

December grads routinely participate in the commencement ceremony following receipt of their degree. If you wish to attend the ceremony prior to your completion of requirements, you must:

1.  Apply for a December degree
2. Send an email to Lynn Decker, Assistant Registrar for Academic Services, to let her know you wish to "walk" prior to completion of your requirements. 

GRADUATE STUDENTS (Certificate of Advanced Study, Master's, and Doctoral Candidates)

Graduate students who anticipate completion of their degree requirements for an August graduation may participate in the May commencement ceremony within the same year of their graduation or they can choose to wait until the following year. December graduates may participate in the following May's Commencement ceremony. If you have questions about this, please contact the Office of Graduate Studies at  ogs@utica.edu or (315-792-3335).
 

HOW DO I PROVE THAT I'VE GRADUATED TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYERS?

Once your degree is officially conferred, you have three methods available to you for confirmation of your degree:

• Request an official transcript. If you are requesting the transcript prior to the degree date, be sure to check the box "HOLD for degree to be posted."
• Contact the Registrar's Office to request a letter stating that the degree has been awarded.
• Utica College uses DegreeVerify (also known as the National Student Clearinghouse) to verify awarded degrees. To do so, the employer simply has to go to DegreeVerify's web site.

WHAT IF MY DEGREE HASN'T BEEN OFFICIALLY AWARDED YET?

Once your School Dean has approved you for graduation, the Assistant Registrar for Academic Services can write a letter stating your anticipated degree date. You only need to call the Registrar's office to request this.

WHAT IS THE GRADUATION FEE, AND FOR WHAT IS IT USED?

When you apply for graduation, a fee will be assessed to your account. It is not unusual for graduation candidates to return to school for another semester to complete course work for various reasons. If your degree is not conferred, the graduation fee is not refunded; instead, when you reapply for graduation, the fee will be waived.

For Baccalaureate students (B.A. or B.S.), the graduation fee is $55.
For Graduate students, the graduation fee is $80.

Note: This is a graduation fee, it is not tied to participation in the commencement ceremony. The fee is applied to your account for the term in which you apply.

HOW DO I KNOW IF MY DEGREE APPLICATION HAS BEEN PROCESSED?

Please recognize that sometimes degree applications for future terms will be held on file until we are able to process them. They are all processed manually; they are not added to the system immediately.

Once a degree application has been processed, you can go to your academic transcript in Banner Web. Scroll down to "Degrees Awarded" (it's the third gray banner). There are three options here:

1. Sought - means the degree application has not yet been processed.
2. Pending - means your degree application has been processed, and will be reviewed for graduation purposes.
3. Awarded - means that your degree has been awarded.