In order 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 and diplomas are conferred once a year at the May Commencement Ceremony. Students expecting to complete requirements for a degree within the year are required to file a diploma application 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.
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 confirmation date, may participate in the May commencement ceremony. Students will not receive their degree until all requirements and obligations to the College are met.
For students who complete degree requirements in the fall semester or the summer, the transcript and the diploma will be dated with the December or August date. 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 they 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 cumulative G.P.A. computed through the Spring Semester.
The listing of candidates and degrees in the graduation program is preliminary and in some cases subject to final certification of grades at graduation. Actual degree honors will be noted on the diploma and official transcript and will be based on the cumulative G.P.A. computed through the final semester. 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.