Graduation

Graduation Check List

1. During priority advising appointments, students should take this opportunity to check the progress toward your degree and proposed graduation date. Students should verify that the graduation date and other information listed is correctly on their academic record. It is the student’s responsibility to know the required courses for their degree, number of hours completed, proposed graduation date, and to ascertain courses selected for registration do fulfill degree requirements.  Students should consult with their academic adviser for questions regarding degree requirements. Students can also monitor progress towards their degree via the online degree audit system, GPS (Graduation Planning System).  Students follow the school and degree requirements outlined in the catalog of the year they entered St. Mary’s University.
2. If a student changes their major, they will follow the catalog degree requirements for the year the change of major occurs.
3. Graduation Semester: Students should apply for graduation when they register for the final semester.  The Graduation Application is found in via Gateway. The application will be used to conduct a final degree audit to ascertain that all degree requirements have been fulfilled to include the following:
   • Complete the total hours required for the degree, including the University Core, major(s), and minor(s) (if applicable). Most Bachelor of Arts degrees require 120 hours, whereas Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Business Administration degrees may require more.
   • Meet the residence requirement of 45 hours.
   • Achieve at least a 2.00 GPA in major, minor, and other St. Mary’s University courses. Achieve the specific GPA of major’s department, if different; for example, Psychology, Engineering, and Education require a higher GPA.
   • Complete at least twelve advanced hours, in the major, with 2.00 GPA at St. Mary’s University.
   • Complete at least six advanced hours of Writing Intensive courses in the major.

Graduation Honors

To be eligible for graduation honors, a student seeking a baccalaureate degree must enroll in and complete a minimum of 45 undergraduate semester hours at St. Mary’s University, not counting Pass/No Pass or credit by exam courses, preceding graduation. The grade point average (GPA) of all college hours attempted, excluding transfer hours, must equal that required here for the appropriate category of honors.

GPA REQUIREMENTS

Summa Cum Laude                                                                           3.90-4.00

Magna Cum Laude                                                                            3.80-3.89

Cum Laude                                                                                         3.60-3.79

This recognition will be noted on the student’s transcript and diploma after official verification of final grades. Honor’s designations presented at the Commencement Ceremony will be based on the students’ semester credit hours and grade point average as-of the semester prior to Commencement, which may differ from honors earned after official verification of final grades.

Commencement Participation Policy

St. Mary’s University offers a Fall and a Spring Commencement. Students in good academic standing are eligible to participate in Commencement for the semester in which they apply for subject to the following conditions:

• Students will have satisfied all graduation requirements upon application for graduation; or have no more than six (6) hours remaining including incomplete grades. The cumulative grade point average must be 2.0 or higher as of the semester prior to Commencement.  The graduation audit will determine eligibility to participate at Commencement.
• Students apply for graduation by the published deadline, which is the third Friday after the first day of class of the Fall and Spring semester.  All outstanding degree requirements must be completed by the date indicated in the graduation audit provided by the Registrar’s Office.

If a student is unable to attend the appropriate commencement, a request to participate in the immediate subsequent ceremony may be granted on a case-by-case basis. Students wishing to attend a subsequent commencement ceremony must provide documentation supporting that request to the Dean of Students. If approved, students are eligible to participate only in the immediately subsequent commencement ceremony. The desire to participate in the immediate subsequent commencement must be communicated to the Office of the Registrar no later than January 31 for Spring commencement and August 31 for Fall commencement.

Time Limitation

The provisions of the catalog for the year during which a student first enrolls at the University will apply until his/her graduation, provided graduation occurs not more than seven years after enrollment. The degree program of the student who changes his/her major shall be governed by the degree requirements in effect at the time the change of major becomes effective.

Second Bachelor Degree

To obtain a second bachelor degree the candidate shall:

1. have completed all the requirements for the first degree;
2. complete a different major from that used for the first degree;
3. complete thirty hours not used for the first degree, at least twelve of which are advanced.
   (A proportionately larger total will be required when the second degree is one that normally takes more than 120 hours.)
4. fulfill 45-hour residency requirement at St. Mary’s University.