Contact the NAU Office of Graduate & Professional Studies
Important Resources
Graduation for Graduate Students
Graduation: official awarding of a Master’s degree, Doctoral degree, or Graduate Certificate, certifying that all requirements have been fulfilled.
Graduation: official awarding of a Master’s degree, Doctoral degree, or Graduate Certificate, certifying that all requirements have been fulfilled.
Commencement: public ceremony celebrating academic achievements for students graduating with a Master’s or Doctoral degree.
Commencement: public ceremony celebrating academic achievements for students graduating with a Master’s or Doctoral degree.Notes on Graduation Accordion Open
- Graduation is not automatic; all graduate students who wish to have their degree or Graduate Certificate awarded from Northern Arizona University must submit a graduation application. Please see graduation application directions below.
- A separate graduation application is required for each Master’s degree, Doctoral degree, and Graduate Certificate.
- A nonrefundable $50 graduation application fee is charged with each submission, and cannot be waived for any circumstances. This fee does not apply to Personalized Learning students.
- Students should apply for the semester in which they will complete all requirements for the individual degree or certificate.
Notes on Commencement Accordion Closed
- Commencement is held twice a year: May for the Spring commencement and December for the Fall commencement.
- Students graduating from a stand-alone Graduate Certificate are not included in commencement.
- Students graduating from a Master’s or Doctoral program who submit a Summer, Fall, or Winter graduation application by the respective commencement booklet deadlines will have their names included in the Fall commencement booklet. Students who submit a Spring graduation application by the Spring commencement booklet deadline will have their names included in the Spring commencement booklet. Please see commencement booklet deadlines below.
- View NAU’s Commencement Webpage for more information, including regalia, guest tickets, and ceremony dates/times.
Graduation Application Directions
Follow the Step-by-Step Graduation Application Guide to apply for graduation.
- A brief overview of the guide is also provided below.
- Students will need to view the list of first-wave, second-wave, and third-wave programs on the Graduate Academic Advisement Report (Graduate AAR) webpage.
Graduation Deadlines
Graduation Review Process
Initial Review Accordion Closed
Initial review of graduation applications is completed on a rolling basis, in order of application submission. Typically, initial review begins in:
- September for Fall graduation.
- November for Winter graduation.
- February for Spring graduation.
- May for Summer graduation.
During initial review of a graduation application, OGPS will complete the following:
- Confirm student’s official transcripts have been received by NAU that verify the student’s completed Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, depending on the level of degree required for their admission.
- Confirm student’s Program of Study is uploaded to their LOUIE milestone, and meets the following requirements:
- Includes advisor and department signatures.
- Downloaded from an eligible catalog year.
- Meets or will meet all program requirements, pending final grades.
- Meets or will meet all university-wide graduation requirements, pending final grades.
OGPS will then update the student’s graduation application status from “Applied for Graduation” to one of the following:
- “Needs to Finish Pending Work”: No issues were found, and the student is on track to graduate.
- “Program In Review”: One or more issues were found, and must be resolved before the student can graduate.
Students will be notified of their updated graduation application status via email.
Final Review Accordion Closed
Final review of graduation applications is completed program-by-program, with prioritization for programs that lead to professional licensure/state certification. Final review cannot begin until all grading processes have been completed for the semester:
- 12/20/24 for Fall 2024, per the Fall 2024 Academic Calendar.
- 1/15/25 for Winter 2024, per the Winter 2024 Academic Calendar.
- 5/19/25 for Spring 2025, per the Spring 2025 Academic Calendar.
- 8/13/25 for Summer 2025, per the Summer 2025 Academic Calendar.
During final review of a graduation application, OGPS will complete the following:
- Confirm student has successfully fulfilled all program and university-wide graduation requirements, based on final grades.
Degree Awarding Time Frame Accordion Closed
See “Final Review” to find the date in which all grading processes will be completed for each semester. OGPS cannot begin awarding degrees for the semester until grades have finalized on this date.
Depending on the volume of graduation applications, it may take up to 3-4 weeks to complete final review and degree awarding for all students. For Fall 2024, the anticipated time frame for degree awarding is as follows:
- Friday, 12/20 – Tuesday, 12/24: Master’s, Doctoral, and Graduate Certificate programs that lead to licensure/certification.
- Wednesday, 12/25 – Wednesday, 1/1: University closure.
- Thursday, 1/2 – Friday, 1/17: Master’s, Doctoral, and Graduate Certificate programs that do not lead to licensure/certification.
Once a graduation application has undergone final review with no issues found, the degree will be immediately awarded. At that time:
- The student’s graduation application status will update to “Degree Awarded.”
- The student’s degree and/or Graduate Certificate will post to the student’s transcript.
- The student’s diploma will be ordered by NAU to be delivered to the student’s diploma address.
Students will be notified of their awarded degree and/or Graduate Certificate via email.
Graduation Deadlines for Theses and Dissertations
View NAU’s Thesis and Dissertation Webpage to find the last day to hold a thesis/dissertation defense, and the deadline to upload the final version of your thesis/dissertation to ProQuest.
Academic Recognition
At the time of graduation, if you have earned a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 3.90 or higher for all courses taken as a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, you will be recognized with the notation of “with distinction” on your transcript and diploma.
What if I do not meet the requirements to graduate?
Students may request their application to be withdrawn by contacting GradGraduation@nau.edu. If an application is not withdrawn and OGPS finds that the student does not qualify for graduation during final review, the application will be denied.
The student will need to submit a new graduation application for their updated graduation term. Please note, the $50 graduation application fee is nonrefundable whether an application is withdrawn or denied, and will be charged again with the new graduation application submission. This fee does not apply to Personalized Learning students.