Academic Policies

Section IX: Graduation Policies and Procedures

1. Application for Graduation Status
2. Summer Graduates
3. Fall and Winter Candidates for Graduation
4. Transcripts, Examination Credit, Life and Vocational Credit, Portfolio Assessment Credit, Incompletes, Deferred Grades
5. Completion of Degree Requirements
6. Participation in Commencement Ceremonies
7. Graduating in Absentia
8. To Receive Diplomas

A. Application for Graduation Status

1. Each candidate must file an Application for Graduation Status with the Registrar's Office. This application is sent to students who have a total of 78 semester hours at the undergraduate level and 12 semester hours at the graduate level toward a degree at the end of the Fall Term. Receipt of this application does not in any way mean that we expect or guarantee your graduation that year. We are simply trying to notify "possible" graduates in the broadest sense of that word.
2. Applications are issued on or about December 1 and must be returned by the deadline indicated on the application together with the filing fee attached. Applications not received or postmarked on or before the established deadline must be accompanied by a late filing fee. Filing fees and late fees are specified on the application.
3. No applications will be accepted after March 16 for May and Summer graduation.

B. Summer Graduates

1. Those students who return the Application for Graduation Status indicating that they will complete all degree requirements by August 31 will be mailed the Supplemental Summer Graduation Petition by April 30. This petition must be completed and returned to the Registrar's Office no later than May 30.
2. No Summer program encompassing more than 9 semester hours of credit will be approved. No Summer registration at Aurora University, elsewhere or in concurrent registration, that totals more than 6 semester hours will be approved without overload clearance from the Registrar.

C. Fall and Winter Candidates for Graduation
Those students who return the Application for Graduation Status indicting that they will complete all degree requirements on or before the last day of the Fall or Winter Term may elect to participate in the Commencement ceremony at the end of the Spring Term or elect to have their diploma mailed to them approximately six weeks following the end of the term.

D. Transcripts, Examination Credit, Life and Vocational Credit, Portfolio Assessment Credit, Incompletes, Deferred Grades
All candidates for graduation must have all transcripts from other institutions; results of examination scores; Life and Vocational Experience credit; portfolio credit; removal of temporary grades (incompletes or deferred grades) submitted to the Registrar by the fifth week of the term prior to the end of the term in which you plan to graduate. The exception will be for Summer candidates for graduation. Official transcripts must be received by Aurora University on or before the last day of the term in which you plan to graduate. Failure to receive these transcripts by that date will mean that your graduation status will be cancelled, even though you may have already participated in the ceremony.

E. Completion of Degree Requirements
As is always the case throughout the year, whenever degree requirements are completed, the student's official transcript (which is the official document; the printed diploma is unofficial) is marked Degree Requirements Met, the date requirements were met, and the degree to be awarded. Not having the printed diploma does not prevent the student from entering graduate school, seeking certification or applying for a job.

F. Participation in Commencement Ceremonies
Students must comply with all of the above regulations in order to receive a printed diploma approximately six weeks following the last day of the term in which degree requirements are completed and to participate in the Spring Commencement ceremonies. Students planning to graduate in Spring should give special attention to their progress in Spring Term courses. About two to three weeks before the end of the Spring Term, instructors will be asked to turn in to the Registrar's Office a graduating student grades. While this may not be the final grade received in the course, it is the grade which will determine participation in the Commencement ceremony. It is the student's responsibility to have demonstrated to the instructor (by work completed and turned in and not simply by promises of good faith) by this date in the ninth week of the term that he/she can earn a "C" or above in the course. If this is not the case, the Registrar will be notified that the student is in danger of failing the course (or receiving a "D" if it is in the major) and the student will be asked to come to the Registrar's Office in person to discuss various graduation options. Students will be contacted at the address and telephone number listed in Section A of the Application for Graduation Status. It is the student's responsibility to notify the Registrar's Office if the information changes. Candidates for Spring graduation who face academic difficulty will be asked to file a contingency plan for making up the work during the Summer and if approved they will be moved to the Summer graduation list.

Summer graduates in academic difficulty may be removed from the Summer graduation list. It is important to note that the University reserves the right to remove Spring and Summer graduates from participation in the ceremony even if a "C" or above was submitted as a graduating student grade, if academic performance in the last two weeks of the term so dictates.

It should further be noted that it is the responsibility of the student to make satisfactory arrangements with the Student Accounts Office for all outstanding debts prior to the Commencement ceremony. Those students who have not completed such arrangements to the satisfaction of the Student Accounts Office will be allowed to participate in the ceremony, but will not be mailed a printed diploma. Official transcripts will also be held.

G. Graduating in Absentia
Participation in the Commencement Ceremony is voluntary (although we do need to know your decision beforehand for planning purposes). Those who choose not to participate in person will graduate in absentia.

H. To Receive Diplomas
Diplomas are mailed approximately six weeks following the last day of the term in which degree requirements are completed. Students must, in order to receive a diploma: (1) apply for graduation as noted above; (2) complete all degree requirements satisfactorily; and (3) be current in all financial obligations to the University.

Posted: 11 March 2002