Graduation

Completion of Degree and Graduation Application

Students are required to graduate and to receive any degree and certificate in the term in which they have completed all requirements. Students who wish to be considered a candidate for a degree should submit an online application for graduation through myUH during the graduation filing period as listed in the Academic Calendar. (Application for commencement is also part of the application process.)

• Graduation Application Fees: A non-refundable application fee will be assessed for graduation applications filed during the regular graduation filing period and a non-refundable late graduation application fee assessed for those filed thereafter. For current fees, please see the University Registrar’s website.
• Multiple Degrees: Candidates for multiple degrees are required to complete an application for each degree they are seeking and will be assessed the appropriate fees. Students pursuing multiple degrees who are not on track to complete all degrees within the same academic year should complete an application for their first completed degree and complete the remaining degree(s) under postbaccalaureate status.
• Graduation Certification: Once a graduation application has been submitted, it may not be withdrawn and decision must be made to approve or disapprove based on whether all of the requirements of the degree have been met. Certification for graduation is performed by the dean’s office in the college of the student’s major and a decision of approved or disapproved is rendered within 4-6 weeks after the close of the term. Diplomas are typically mailed within 1-2 weeks from the time the approved certifications for graduation are processed.
• Application Disapproval: Disapprovals may be made prior to the close of the term if degree requirements are not met or are not in progress. Students will be notified of the disapproval and the requirements that must be completed. If disapproved for graduation, a student’s application will automatically be evaluated for graduation in the next term.

In cases where the student’s academic records have been adjusted to indicate completion of degree requirements within one year of the disapproval, the original application will be used to graduate the student in the current term. Students will be notified of their automatic application. If degree requirements are not completed within one year of the disapproval, students are notified and required to submit a new application.

• Administrative Application: The University reserves the right to initiate a graduation application for any student who has fulfilled all requirements for a declared degree or who is enrolled in courses which will complete all degree requirements. The University will notify the student, assess the appropriate graduation application fees, and confer the degree, along with any certificates for which the student has completed all requirements. Under this action students are not permitted to make degree requirement modifications to include change of majors and/or minors or add majors, minors, or second degrees. See Exceptions for further guidance.

In cases of students pursuing multiple degrees, if an administrative application finds the student has completed one degree and is not on track to complete the other degree(s) within the same academic year, the student will be required to graduate from the first completed degree and complete the remaining degrees under postbaccalaureate status.

Exceptions: Students may petition for exceptions to this policy, including application withdrawal, degree requirement modifications, and the administrative application, through a petition filed with the major department. The petition will be forwarded to the office of the dean of the college then to the Office of the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost for final decision.

Cap and Gown

Students are responsible for ordering and paying for caps and gowns at the University Bookstore for all commencement exercises.

Graduation with Honors

Undergraduate students who have completed the graduation requirements of the Honors College, including a senior honors thesis or senior honors project, are graduated with “University Honors with Honors in Major.” Undergraduate students who have completed all requirements of the Honors College except for the thesis or project are graduated with “University Honors.” (See University Honors College .)

Undergraduate students who successfully complete a senior honors thesis or senior honors project and who are not members of the Honors College are graduated with “Honors in Major.”

Undergraduate students will graduate with the stated academic honors if they complete at least fifty-four (54) hours at UH and achieve the following grade point averages earned in the last fifty-four (54) hours (all of which must be A, B, C,… letter grade courses) completed at the University of Houston. 

Clarifications:

• The honors calculation will include all hours completed in the term in which the first of those final fifty-four (54) hours was completed.
• Grades of S are not assigned grade point values but do earn credit hours. Therefore, grades of S are not used in the computation of the grade point average and are excluded from the count of the last 54 credit hours.
• Grades of U, I, and W are not assigned grade point values and do not earn credit hours. Therefore, grades of U, I, and W are not used in the computation of the grade point average and are excluded from the count of the last 54 credit hours.
• See Catalog Archives  for honors policy for students graduating under catalogs prior to Fall 2010.

Posthumous Degree

Upon the recommendation of the dean of the college of the student’s major and the approval of the provost, students who die before completing all degree requirements shall be awarded a bachelor’s degree posthumously if all of the following conditions had been met at the time of their death.

Eligible students meet the following:

1. were enrolled in their last semester or term of their degree plan at the university and either had been or were eligible to be approved for graduation.

2. were making satisfactory progress toward the successful completion of all remaining degree and graduation requirements.

The posthumous degree shall be awarded with any academic honors for which the students were eligible at the time of their death.

DEGREE IN MEMORIAM

A Degree in Memoriam may be awarded for students who do not meet the criteria for posthumous degree but at the time of their death were enrolled at the University of Houston.