What this year’s graduates need to know
Not knowing the requirements to graduate may keep some students from graduating.
All the credits and types of classes one needs to complete in order to graduate can be found in the General Catalog, which is in the Registrar’s Office in the Taggart Student Center, Room 226. This information is also in “The Source Book,” a planner and information guide found in the Utah State University Bookstore.
Class requirements can be confusing, so advisers are available to offer help.
Heidi Beck, associate registrar, said the graduation process takes about a month to complete.
“The first thing a student needs to do is obtain the gold half-sheet application to apply for the formal application packet. Students can go to the Registrar’s Office and find the paper located in the hallway outside our offices, or go online and print out the application there,” she said.
Once you have completed the first application, it should be taken to the Registrar’s Office. It takes two to three weeks to be processed.
“Typically, it would take us about two weeks, but because of incoming students and registration going on, it takes longer,” she said.
There are six people in the Registrar’s Office who manually complete the procedure. They are divided by college. The college affects the amount of time it will take to get the formal application.
The staff figures out what graduation requirements a student has or has not met and sends the papers to his adviser. The student needs to obtain the Application for Candidacy for Graduation. The next step is to make an appointment to meet with the adviser.
“Students should make an appointment in advance to meet with their advisers to avoid all the last-minute confusion,” Beck said. “I know that sometimes there is frustration with students, because they think, ‘why do I need to apply for graduation in the fall if I’m not going to graduate till the spring?’ And it really is in the best interest of the student to have those last two semesters in a binding contract.”
That way, students won’t be caught at the last minute without the necessary requirements.
When students meets with their advisers, they draw up a binding contract stating what they will do in order to meet the rest of their graduation requirements. The next step is to obtain the dean’s signature.
In the College of Education, Staff Assistant Terri Gass said just getting the dean’s signature takes about an hour. However, in larger colleges, such as the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, or Business, it can take a few days.
“It depends on how fast the student is. It might take a little bit of time to set up an appointment,” Gass said. “It differs in different colleges.”
When all this is completed, the student should take the completed packet and contract to the Cashier’s Office in the TSC, Room 226, and pay the $10 for graduation.
The deadline for students graduating spring semester is Oct. 15. Students planning to graduate in the summer of 2002 should have all the completed paperwork in to the Cashier’s Office by Feb. 15.
If paperwork is turned in late, there is an added $10 fee.
Once a student graduates, the diploma will be mailed in approximately two to three months.
Beck said the Registrar’s Office is working on a computerized program for next year to make the procedure go more quickly and eliminate all the manual research of the staff.
Students can also find answers to their questions in the Academic Support Services Office in the TSC, Room 302, or at the Records Office, TSC 246
-eliza@cc.usu.edu