Graduation Information
Are you ready to graduate from Thomas Edison State College? In an effort to allow you to determine your graduation readiness, we have prepared a list for you to review to see if you are ready. Please review the following list carefully before you submit this form to ensure that you are truly ready for graduation.
- You must be sure that all of your transcripts from external institutions have been received by Thomas Edison State College. The best way to check this is to review your most recent Program Evaluation and see if all the degree requirements have been met. If so, continue to #2 below. If not all requirements show as being met AND you have requested additional transcripts to be sent to us, please contact the Office of the Registrar at (609) 984-1180 to see if the transcripts have been received. Please be aware that the update of additional credits takes three to four weeks and you will be ineligible for the next graduation period if all credits are not received by the closing date for any graduating period (outlined below).
- Please make sure that you have no outstanding financial obligations with the College. If you are not sure and wish to check, please call the Office of the Bursar at (609) 984-4099. Please be aware that the College also performs a final financial obligation clearance during the graduation readiness review process and you will be required to pay any additional fees on your account before graduating.
- Students must be actively enrolled in order to apply for graduation.
You may not submit the Request for Graduation form until each of the applicable criteria above is met. If you submit the form before this time, we will return the form to you and you must resubmit it once you have satisfied all the academic and financial criteria.
Once you have met the above criteria, you are ready to submit the Request for Graduation form for one of the following graduation dates: September, December, March or June.
Deadline for submission of the form and all applicable payments is as follows:
| Deadline for application submission | Graduation |
| July 1st | September |
| October 1st | December |
| January 1st | March |
| April 1st | June |
Please print out the Request for Graduation form, complete it and send it to the Office of the Bursar in accordance with the instructions on the form. The Bursar will accept the payment and forward the form to the Office of the Registrar.
Once the Request for Graduation form is received, the Office of the Registrar will take the following steps:
- An academic graduation readiness review will be conducted. We must review your completion of all the academic degree requirements. This graduation readiness review takes anywhere from three days if your file is complete when you submit the Request for Graduation form to three to four weeks if there are additional transcripts to be updated on your file. If there are additional transcripts to be updated, you most likely will be processed for graduation for the next graduation period.
- If the academic graduation readiness review determines that there are remaining academic or financial requirements, your Request for Graduation form will be returned to you along with notification or what requirements remain unsatisfied.
- If the academic graduation readiness review determines that all requirements for graduation have been met, you will be notified by mail that you have been processed for graduation.
- Your diploma will be ordered and it will be mailed to you along with a package of other information, including a final transcript and a letter certifying your degree. You may expect to receive these materials approximately two weeks after the official date of graduation.
Thomas Edison State College Commencement Ceremonies
Students will be invited to participate in the Fall Commencement Ceremony held in October. All eligible graduates will receive a letter of invitation via email for their Commencement Ceremony. The entire College family looks forward to seeing all of our graduates at the ceremony, so please consider joining us. If you have any questions, please contact the Office of the Registrar at (609) 984-1180 or via email at registrar@tesc.edu.
