The Student Records Office updates and evaluates students’ expected completion dates after the Add/Drop period with significant input from Advising and Planning. All students with an expected completion date in the current semester will be determined as having applied for degree completion. After the end of the semester and when all final grades and accomplishments (e.g. Junior Review, Internship, Thesis) have been submitted, degree conferrals are processed upon the successful completion of all degree requirements. Diplomas are issued accordingly.

Automatic Eligibility: A graduation year covers Fall, Spring, then Summer (e.g. Fall 2026, Spring 2027, Summer 2027). Students who have graduated at the end of the leading Fall term, or who are intending to complete all degree requirements in the Spring or Summer term, are automatically eligible to participate in the annual Spring Commencement ceremony.

Undergraduates must have a cumulative CCA GPA of 2.0 or higher to be eligible to graduate from CCA. Degrees are posted on the student's transcript after the successful completion of all degree requirements once all grades and accomplishments (e.g. Junior Review, Internship, Thesis) are received by the Student Records Office for evaluation. Students with outstanding degree requirements will be notified by email.

CCA awards academic honors of Distinction and High Distinction for undergraduate students who graduate.

Distinction honor is based on a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.

High Distinction honor nomination is based on qualitative assessment, not the cumulative GPA requirement. Students will be nominated by their program chair following the criteria below:

1) Artistic achievement demonstrated in studio output, both graded and ungraded;

2) Academic and artistic performance demonstrated in the last 30 units completed at CCA and not necessarily reflected in earlier CCA studies;

3) Unusual level of technical skill, professional artistry, and/or intellectual understanding only indirectly reflected in GPA or other conventional academic measures but which is clearly demonstrated in an important aspect of work product;

4) Quality and quantity of participation in the collective academic and artistic efforts of the program; the candidate's contribution to the program and to the College seen as a community of artist-scholars.

If students receive both Distinction and High Distinction honors, the higher honor of High Distinction will be noted on the student's record.

Honors are noted on the transcript and diploma.

Commencement is often referred to as "graduation" but it is different. Commencement is the celebratory experience (e.g. ceremony, exhibition, student speaker selection process, etc.) The celebration are for students who are expected to complete all of their academic requirements by the end of the academic year. Commencement experience is overseen by the Commencement Planning Committee.

Graduation means the student has officially completed all of their academic requirements as recorded on an official transcript. Students receive a diploma in recognition of the degree the student has earned from CCA. Graduation process is overseen by Student Records.