DIPLOMAS, TRANSCRIPTS AND YOUR DEGREE

So, when I graduate, how is that confirmed, anyway? And how long before I get my diploma? Those are questions students ask regularly when they finally finish all their courses. So, here’s how it works.

*Your confirmation of earning a degree is having a transcript in your hands showing the degree posted to it. What employers and other educational institutions want to see is the transcript, not the diploma.

Here’s what you do:

*Send in a transcript request to the Registrar’s office at EOU in La Grande before the end of the term you plan to graduate. The request should include the following:

1. Your name and SSN
2. Dates of attendance
3. Birth date
4. Request that your transcript(s) be sent after the degree is posted to it.
5. Sign your request – this is required.
   Fee

(The fee is $5 for the first official transcript and $1 each for additional copies ordered at the same time. I recommend ordering 5 just so you have additional copies for anything you might need. You want at least one official copy. If you want additional unofficial copies, there is no charge for those.)

How long does this all take?

The process is that the Registrar verifies the completion of all courses for each student whose graduation application falls during that term. She then posts the degree to the transcript as soon as the verification is done. She does it first for students who have sent in a transcript request form. For the rest, she does it in alphabetical order. So, it pays to send in the request before the end of the term, asking to have it sent as soon as the degree is posted.

For spring graduates, it sometimes takes several weeks because of waiting on transcripts from other schools, e-mails from faculty or advisers, grade changes and the like. It is also the term with the largest number of graduates. The verification is done as quickly as possible after all the required items are received. For other terms, it probably is somewhat quicker, but the same types of things can hold up the final transcript.

Once all students on the graduation list for a given term are verified, the names are sent off so that the diplomas can be printed. They are returned to the Registrar’s office, which in turn sends them to students. So, the diploma is the last thing which happens and is often about 6-8 weeks after graduation.