Welcome to the APUS Help Center

Applying for Graduation

You can apply for graduation as early as 6 months prior to your anticipated conferral date. The conferral date is the date on which your degree is officially awarded, not the date you finish courses or receive academic clearance for graduation. If you are requesting any extensions in your last courses, please remember that the END date of your extension must be prior to your anticipated conferral date.

If your course is a Capstone, Practicum, Thesis, or Comprehensive Exam course, your instructors are not able to post your final grades for your courses or extensions early in order for you to have your degree conferred prior to your courses being officially over.

Please follow the due dates below for graduation application deadlines:

For conferral onApplication due no later than
February 1December 2
April 1February 2
June 1April 2
August 1June 2
October 1August 2
December 1October 2

Submitting Your Application for Graduation

  1. Log into the ecampus.
  2. Under the Student Services/Graduation menu, choose the Apply for Graduation link.
  3. Review the information at the top of the form.
  4. Type your name in the box as you would like it to appear on your diploma (If this name is different than the official name we have on file, you will need to submit a name change request or update your contact information  with the university.
  5. Select your intended conferral date from the drop-down menu (you’ll want to choose a conferral date that is at least one month beyond the date of the end of your last course).
  6. Confirm your email address.
  7. Click Submit.
  8. Pay the $150 graduation fee.

The one-time, non-refundable fee of $150 covers:

  • administrative costs associated with the graduation review;
  • processing your diploma;
  • supporting alumni and career services available to all alumni.

Graduation Review Process

After receiving your application, a representative from our graduation department will contact you to discuss the review process, which includes academic and financial audits, various end-of-program surveys and learning assessments, and loan repayment counseling, if necessary.

If you are required to complete any learning outcomes assessments, you will be emailed directly from the assessment team within one week of submitting your graduation application.

Once you have been cleared of all graduation audits, you will be eligible to attend our annual commencement ceremony held each summer in the Washington, DC area.

For more detailed information, read Your Graduation Process in the student handbook.

If you have specific questions regarding your graduation status, please email [email protected].