The graduation application has been around for over 20 years. However, not many students at Lakeland University know about it.

In Lakeland’s Student Catalog, there is a section about the graduation application and it states, “It is the responsibility of the student to notify the Registrar’s Office of his/her intention to graduate by filling out and submitting an Application for Graduation no more than one year prior to the student’s intended graduation date.”

The Registrar’s office uses this application for a variety of reasons. They use it to know when a student will be graduating and to make sure a student has attended all of their required convocations. They also use the application to know how students would like their name to appear on their diploma.

According to Kristi Vogel, associate registrar, about 60 percent of students fill the application out before their last semester, but the other 40 percent of students trickle their applications in during crunch time.

Typically students should have the application in within a year of the expected graduation date, but the Registrar’s office will accept applications sooner than that if a student wishes to get it done early.

One of the biggest frustrations for the Registrar’s office is the fact that not many students know about this application. The application can be found on my.Lakeland and should be viewed as a safety check to make sure a student knows if they’ve met all their requirements of graduation.

Students also have to fill out a commencement form, which is completely separate from the graduation application. The commencement form is for reservation for the graduation ceremony and isn’t connected to the graduation application.

The graduation application is very important, as students may be limited on what they can or cannot do if the form is not filled out. The Student Catalog states, “Students who reach graduation eligibility without having submitted an Application for Graduation risk not being included in the graduation ceremony.”