Commencement Ceremony Participation

Commencement exercises are a public ceremony recognizing the achievement of students who have or will soon complete the requirements to be awarded a degree by Kansas State University. These exercises are held twice a year – in May and December - and are not held during the summer term.

Undergraduate students within a semester of graduating are eligible to participate in commencement exercises if extenuating circumstances will prevent their participation in the ceremony held the semester they expect to graduate. Extenuating circumstances include, but are not limited to: study abroad trip, out-of-state internship, military deployment, serious documented illness, or significant documented family emergency. Choosing to complete your degree remotely is not an approved extenuating circumstance and should not be used as justification for participation in an alternative commencement ceremony.

With prior approval by the College of Agriculture Academic Programs Office, students who will complete degree requirements in the Fall or Spring term may participate in a commencement ceremony one semester prior to their term of degree completion OR one semester after their term of degree completion. Requests using the Alternative Commencement Participation form are evaluated on a case-by-case basis.

Note: Students who complete degree requirements in the summer term need not complete this request as these students are allowed to elect to participate in either the Spring commencement prior to their degree completion or the Fall commencement after their degree completion. (eg. A student graduating in Summer 2023 does not need to complete the form to participate in Spring 2023 commencement.)

Request Deadlines Applications for participation in a commencement ceremony prior to or after degree completion must be submitted by November 15th for Fall commencement or April 15th for Spring commencement.

Students participating in a commencement ceremony in a term other than the term of their graduation will not have their names printed in the commencement program. Names are printed only during the term that students will complete their degrees and have applied for graduation by the deadline.

Note: Participating in commencement is NOT the same as graduating. A student who participates in commencement will receive a diploma cover, but will not actually graduate from Kansas State University until all course requirements are met and such requirements have been verified by the College of Agriculture Student Records Office staff.

For questions regarding graduation and degree completion requirements, please contact Mishelle Hay-McCammant (mhay@ksu.edu). For questions regarding commencement exercises, please contact Abby Johnson (abbyjohnson@ksu.edu).