To receive the Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree (B.F.A.) or Bachelor of Arts Degree (B.A.), students must have completed all departmental course requirements; been enrolled for a minimum of 54 credits in residence at Ringling College of Art and Design, including the senior year; satisfied all outstanding bills, charges and accounts; and have a minimum cumulative grade point average (G.P.A.) of 2.00.
Degrees are conferred three times a year in May, August, and December. The dates for conferral are as follows: May is the date of Commencement and December is the date final grades are due as published on the academic calendar; Summer is the last Friday prior to the fall semester. All grades and final transcripts must be received by the Registrar’s Office within 30 days of the published conferral date. The awarding of a degree will be deferred to the next published conferral date if any requirements are fulfilled by a course that either begins or ends after published conferral date. Students expecting to complete requirements for a degree are required to file a diploma application during their last semester with the Office of Advising, Records, and Registration Services where the Registrar will certify that the student has met the degree requirements and the degree will be awarded. The conferral date will be posted on the student’s transcript and diploma. Following credential conferral, the College will issue one diploma to the student if the diploma application was completed.
Students who are, as of the date of the May Commencement Ceremony, missing no more than 12 liberal arts or art history credits and can show proof of being able to complete the missing credits by the next degree conferral date, may participate in the May commencement ceremony. Students will not receive their degree until all requirements and obligations to the College are met.
The listing of candidates and degrees in the commencement program is preliminary. Seniors are audited and certified for graduation honors for the May Commencement Ceremony at the end of the preceding fall semester. The fall semester cumulative G.P.A. is used to determine if the student is eligible to wear honor cords at Commencement. Wearing cords is a notice of eligibility, not of having earned actual honors. Actual degree honors are noted on the diploma and official transcript and are based on the final cumulative G.P.A. computed after all course requirements are completed.
The posting of the earned degree on the permanent transcript record, issued by the Office of the Registrar, is the official testimony of possession of the degree and any honors associated with that degree.