Graduation FAQs
Students eligible to apply must meet one of the following criteria before the option to apply appears in their Student Center under Other Academics:
- Undergraduate student with 85 or more earned hours. Note: Walton College of Business undergraduates must contact the Undergraduate Programs Office at 575-4622, WCOB 328, prior to applying to graduate.
- Graduate student with one completed semester.
- Law student with 60 or more earned hours. For complete details on applying to graduate click here.
Details regarding upcoming Commencement ceremonies will be posted on the appropriate ceremony page, spring or fall as the details develop. For general information regarding the ceremony, please visit the Commencement page.
Participation in the spring Commencement or a recognition ceremony does not mean you have graduated. Graduation occurs the term in which all degree requirements have been satisfied. If you finish your requirements over the summer, you will need to apply for the summer graduation date. Providing clearance is granted by your school or college, you may expect to receive your diploma in early October.
You may defer the application to a later term at the Office of the Registrar, Hunt Hall 146. You may also reapply for a later term by completing the Reapplication to Graduate form.
Contact your school or college to determine your outstanding requirements. You may then reapply for graduation during the term in which you plan to complete your remaining requirements. To reapply for graduation, submit a Reapplication to Graduate form, with signature, by fax to 479-575-4651 or scan and email as an attachment from your UARK email account to registra@uark.edu. You may also mail or deliver in person your completed form to the Office of the Registrar, 146 Silas Hunt Hall, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701.
Clearing students for graduation during any term is a very detailed process with the cooperation of the schools and colleges and the Office of the Registrar. After final clearances are determined they are printed by the Office of the Registrar, audited for accuracy and then mailed. Fall graduates should receive diplomas in early February, Spring graduates should receive it by late July and Summer graduates by mid-October.
Your diploma has your name, graduation date, the degree awarded to you (along with Latin honors, if appropriate), the university’s seal and official signatures. The diploma shows the full name of the degree awarded, such as Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration or Doctor of Philosophy. Majors and minors are not shown on the diploma but are listed on your official transcript.
As part of the application process, you were asked to enter a diploma address by logging into your account in the student information system (UAConnect). If this address becomes invalid and you are no longer able to access UAConnect, please submit the Diploma Mailing Address Update Form to the Office of the Registrar. You may drop it off Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., or mail to the Office of the Registrar, 146 Silas Hunt Hall, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR 72701, or fax it to 479-575-4651. We will also accept a scanned and emailed form that has your hand written signature on it sent from your UARK email address to registra@uark.edu.
As outlined in the Catalog, the faculty of each college will recommend for graduation with honors or with high honors those students it considers to be eligible for such distinction under its own regulations with the following general restrictions:
- To be eligible for graduation honors, a student must have completed at least one half of his or her degree work at the University of Arkansas.
- No student shall be eligible for graduation honors whose cumulative grade point average is below 3.125.
- A college should not be expected to recommend more than 10 percent of its graduating class for graduation honors except under unusual circumstances.
- It is recommended that in determining graduation honors the faculty consider the whole of a student's record but give greater weight to the last half of the record than the first half.
Graduate students are not eligible for honors.
There is no additional cost to graduates to be included in the Senior Walk. Consent must be given to the University of Arkansas to have your name etched. Starting in Fall of 2010 this consent is included in your application process.
Graduation occurs the term in which all degree requirements have been satisfied. Although you may walk in the May Commencement you actually graduate in the term in which your degree is conferred. To locate your name on Senior Walk you will want to keep in mind these factors.
| Year | Includes these Graduation Terms | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Before 2010 |  |
Graduates of summer 1998 would actually find their names listed on the 1999 Senior Walk |
| 2010 | Summer & Fall 2009 - Spring & Summer 2010 | Graduates of summer 2010 will be on the 2010 Senior Walk |
| After 2010 |  |
Graduates of fall 2010 will be on the 2011 Senior Walk |
Senior Walk assignment is relative to the spring term for each academic year.
A map is located on the University of Arkansas campus planning website.
Names requested for the diploma and the sidewalk are generally the same. However, you should keep in mind there is a space limitation for the sidewalk. The sidewalk name, including degree and appropriate spaces, cannot exceed 22 characters.
Due to the equipment used to sandblast names into the concrete, there are limits as to how many characters are permitted per name. The Senior Walk name field on the graduation application is limited to 22 characters, including spaces, and with no punctuation (other than a hyphenated last name), permitted. The 22 characters are allotted for the students name and do not include the graduate level degree abbreviation following the students name. Bachelor recipients are listed by name only, the degree is not engraved following the name but is implied. If a future graduate degree is earned on our campus by a former undergraduate then that persons name will appear again on the Senior Walk year they receive their graduate degree. There is no limit to how many Senior Walk years a person’s name may be included, but is dependent only upon the receipt of a degree on our campus.