Welcome prospective graduates! We are excited that you’ve reached this point in your collegiate career. Applying for graduation is one of the final steps before your graduation check-out can begin. We encourage you to work closely with your advisor to ensure that all your degree requirements have been met. Please follow the instructions below to complete your online graduation application.
NOTE: Your submission of an official application to graduate is REQUIRED for you to be eligible for degree conferral.
The application opens each semester around the time classes start. The application closes the evening of the deadline to apply for graduation. The deadline to apply is published in the Academic Calendar for each semester under the General Dates banner.
If you are completing all your requirements, you can submit a graduation application through your BOSS account. NOTE: You should not apply to graduate in a semester that you will not be finished with requirements when grades post for that term.
To apply for graduation:
- Login to your BOSS Account
- Select the “Student Services” tab.
- Click on “Graduation Applications.”
- Select Curriculum Term. (NOTE: This is not the graduation term, but your active major or program term.)
- Choose the curriculum (major or program) in which you want to apply to graduate. If the curriculum does not match exactly what you are seeking, STOP and work with your advisor on making curriculum adjustments. Then go back into the graduation application and if the curriculum matches, continue.
- Select Graduation Date: If you are applying for fall graduation, there will be no graduation term to select. The fall application will be the only item listed, while that application is active, (August-October). When both the spring and summer graduation applications are available, you will need to select the term you want to apply to graduate in, from the drop-down menu option.
- (NOTE: if you initially apply for spring graduation and later determine you need to apply for summer graduation, you must contact the Office of Records and Registration. The spring application MUST be de-activated before a summer application can be submitted.)
- Continue to review and update information until you can submit the application.
- NOTE: The application will ask if you are planning on attending the ceremony. Even if you list that you will be attending the ceremony, you still need to keep watch in your UA Little Rock (@ualr.edu) email inbox for any updates or additional RSVP requirements that may be sent out.
Summer Graduates
For summer graduates, UA Little Rock usually has a spring commencement ceremony in May and a fall commencement ceremony in December. No commencement ceremony is held during the summer.
You are welcome to either of the ceremonies. If you choose to walk in the spring ceremony then you will have a special note in the program stating that you will graduate in the summer. If you walk in the fall ceremony, you will be listed as having graduated since you would have already completed your degree requirements.
To be included in the spring commencement program, summer graduates must complete their graduation application for the summer term by the spring application deadline. Graduation application deadlines are in the academic calendar and must be adhered to meet printing deadlines.
Conferring of Degree
Students who apply to graduate are invited to attend the graduation ceremony for their graduating term, however, degrees are not conferred at that time. Processing of the degree starts after the grades are posted for all parts of the term.
The university processes graduation as quickly as possible. However, depending on the situation, there are times when the intensive review can take up to 4-6 weeks to complete.
Graduation Honors
To qualify for graduation honors, a student must have completed a minimum of 60 hours in residence at UA Little Rock. Graduation honors are calculated on all academic work completed in UA Little Rock credit-bearing courses. For repeated courses, only the grade from the final iteration of the course will be included in the calculation of the cumulative grade point average for determining graduation honors. All work completed at all other institutions, whether accepted as transfer credit at UA Little Rock or not, will not be included in the final calculation of honors (except as noted below).
The bachelor’s degree with honors will be conferred upon candidates who graduate and earn a minimum cumulative grade point on all credit courses taken at UA Little Rock as follows:
- Summa cum laude: minimum grade point average of 3.90
- Magna cum laude: minimum grade point average of 3.70
- Cum laude: minimum grade point average of 3.50
Students who do not complete the minimum of 60 hours in residence at UA Little Rock may request, in writing, that all work completed at all other institutions, whether accepted as transfer credit at UA Little Rock or not, be used in the final calculation of honors. Requests can be sent to the Records office via email at records@ualr.edu. For repeated courses at other institutions, only the grade from the final iteration of the course will be included in the calculation of the cumulative grade point average for determining graduation honors. Some courses from institutions outside of the U.S. are calculated in the admissions process on a pass/not pass basis. For a student to be considered for honors, all credentials from institutions outside of the U.S. must be evaluated to determine an A, B, or C equivalency.
Students granted academic clemency are still eligible to qualify for graduation honors, but they must complete a minimum of 60 hours in residence at UA Little Rock, not including the hours for which clemency was granted.
The associate degree with honors will be conferred upon candidates who have completed a minimum of 30 hours in residence at UA Little Rock and at graduation have earned a minimum cumulative grade point of 3.7 on all academic work completed in UA Little Rock credit-bearing courses. The recipient must have met all requirements for graduation with an associate degree and must not have completed more than 83 credit hours. Students who are granted academic clemency are still eligible to receive an associate degree with honors, but they must complete a minimum of 30 hours in residence at UA Little Rock, not including the hours for which clemency was granted.
A student who has earned a baccalaureate degree from UA Little Rock and is pursuing a second baccalaureate degree at UA Little Rock is granted graduation honors based on the credit hours earned after the posting of the first degree. If fewer than 30 credit hours are completed at UA Little Rock after completion of the first UA Little Rock degree, the level of graduation honors can be no higher than that obtained on the first degree. If 30 or more credit hours are completed at UA Little Rock after completion of the first UA Little Rock degree, the level of graduation honors on the second degree is based on the cumulative grade point average on coursework after the first degree.
Students who graduate from another college or university and pursue a second undergraduate degree at UA Little Rock must complete a minimum of 30 hours in residence at UA Little Rock to be eligible for honors. Graduation honors on the second degree are based on the cumulative grade point average on all UA Little Rock coursework after the first degree.
University and departmental honors (but not awards) may be posted on the academic transcript.
| Cord Color | Honor | Minimum Grade Point Average |
|---|---|---|
| Gold | Summa Cum Laude | 3.9 |
| Silver | Magna Cum Laude | 3.7 |
| Burgundy | Cum Laude | 3.5 |
| Yellow | Associate Honor | 3.7 and no more than 83 hours |
For more information, visit Academic Honors Policy
Deadlines for changes to Your Submitted Graduation Application
NOTE: The information you submitted on the graduation application is static and does not update when you update your official record in BOSS or through Records. Contact the Records office if you have any changes that will need to be updated in YOUR SUBMITTED graduation application.
Some of the common changes requested to Graduation Applications and Policies for Priority Checkout Processing are detailed in the information sections listed below.
If you plan to graduate, please pay attention to the deadlines posted in the Academic Calendar for the semester you wish to graduate.
Request for Diploma Name Changes & Mailing Addresses Changes
The deadline to request changes to names appearing on your diploma and the mailing address your diploma will be sent to after degree conferral is published in the Academic Calendar for each semester. You will find this deadline listed under the General Dates header in the Academic Calendar.
If you are requesting a name change, from what appeared on your application for graduation, here is what is required:
1) Adding a middle name or expanding the middle initial to be the complete middle name on your diploma only – not on official record:
Submit, from your UA Little Rock email account, an email request to: records-graduation@groups.ualr.edu explaining your request. We will search your official record for any official documents that are on file to see if they contain information regarding your request. If supporting documents are located, the diploma name will be updated. If not, then we will contact you and request an official name change form with supporting documents. If the name change form is needed, and you have applied to graduate, you will need to indicate you have applied to graduate on the name change form so the diploma name can be updated.
2) Moving from married name to maiden name for diploma name only – not on official record:
Submit, from your UA Little Rock email account, an email request to: records-graduation@groups.ualr.edu explaining your request. We will search your official record for any official documents that are on file to see if they contain information regarding your request. If supporting documents are located, the diploma name will be updated. If not, then we will contact you and request an official name change form with supporting documents. If the name change form is needed, and you applied to graduate, you will need to indicate you have applied to graduate on the name change form so the diploma name can be updated.
3) Moving from maiden name to married name:
An official name change form and supporting documents will be needed to change the name in the system officially. If you have applied to graduate you will need to indicate that on the name change form so the diploma name can be updated.
If you are requesting a change in your diploma mailing address:
- If you have applied to graduate and you will be changing your address and need to update your diploma mailing address, please complete a Graduation Address Change form.
- If you will be officially changing your mailing address on your record and you have applied to graduate, you will need to complete a Graduation Address Change form. and write a note that you applied to graduate and would like your diploma address updated as well to the new address.
- If you have changed your mailing address in BOSS after you applied to graduate and you want your diploma mailed to the address you updated, you will need to submit a Graduation Address Change form.
Request for Priority Graduation Checkout
If you are requesting inclusion in the Priority Graduation Checkout (First review and conferral) applicant group, please be aware that the processing of the degree starts after the grades are posted for all parts of the term.
While the university processes graduation as quickly as possible, there are times when the intensive review can take up to 4-6 weeks to complete. Students pending degree conferral in the following degree programs will be automatically added to the Priority Graduation Checkout group:
- Building Level Administration and Supervision-GC
- Education – MED
- Education-K-12 Education-MED
- Education-Middle Education-MED
- Education-Special Education K-12-MED
- Educational Administration-EDD
- Educational Administration-EDS
- Elementary Education K-6-BSE
- Elementary Education-BSE
- Gift/Creative/Talented-MED
- Middle Childhood Education-BSE
- Middle Childhood Education-MED
- Nursing-BSN
- Nursing-AAS
- Reading-MED
- Rural/Urban School Leadership-MEd
- Social Work Clinical-MSW
- Social Work Mgmt/Comm-MSW
- Social Work-BSW
- Social Work-MSW
- Special Education K-12-GC
- Special Education-BSE
- Special Education-MED
- Teaching Gifted/Talented-GC
Four other groups of students are eligible to request inclusion in the Priority Graduation Checkout group:
- Students who are seeking admission into a UA Little Rock program and have already applied for admission into that program,
- Students who will be required to satisfy international or embassy requirements for degree conferral under deadlines,
- Students who will be required to satisfy employer requirements for degree conferral under deadlines and have written documentation of that request
- Students who request, pay for, and select the “Hold for Degree” notation on the transcript request.
Eligible Students may apply by requesting priority checkout via email to records-graduation@groups.ualr.edu.
Deadlines for requesting priority checkout are the same date as the deadline for requests of diploma name changes & diploma mailing address changes.
These deadlines are published in the General Dates section of the Academic Calendar for each semester.
If you have questions, please email our graduation list-serv at: records-graduation@groups.ualr.edu
Withdraw Graduation Application
If you need to withdraw a graduation application, you may only do so before it is either awarded or denied for the semester of the application. Please submit the Request for Graduation Application Withdrawal form.