Notification of expected term of graduation is sent to all students entering their last year of enrollment at CCA. This notification is sent to the students' CCA email account.

Seniors are asked to respond to this notification by confirming their graduation term or discuss any discrepancies with Student Records. Notifications regarding the commencement ceremony and receipt of diploma are dependent on the student's response to Student Records.

Automatic Eligibility: Students who have graduated at the end of the 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.

Eligibility Exceptions: Students who are expected to be within 6 units of completing their degree requirements by the end of the upcoming summer term will be offered the opportunity to participate in commencement the year prior to their automatic eligibility. Students who are eligible for the exception will be notified by the Student Records Office after the spring drop deadline. To participate in the current year's ceremony, eligible students are required to opt in by responding to Student Records before the deadline designated in their eligibility notification email.

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 once all grades have been received and the Student Records Office has conducted a final graduation check. Students who do not pass this final check will be notified by mail of any outstanding requirements.

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 completed 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.