Commencement FAQs

Undergraduates are invited to participate in the ceremony based on the college associated with their major, not the degree.

https://www.millersville.edu/academics/colleges/ 

Graduating students do not need a ticket to attend commencement.  All guests over the age of three years old wanting to enter Pucillo Gymnasium will need to present a ticket.

Please watch your MU email for communication from officeoftheprovost@millersville.edu by the end of March (for May Commencement), by the end of October (for December Commencement), or approximately 1 week after your graduation application has been approved.  The first email to all eligible graduates will ask you to register for commencement by completing a form electronically that will ask you several questions including how many tickets (up to 4) that you want and how many “additional tickets” you would want, if room allows us to issue additional tickets.

One other thing to consider is we offer an on-campus viewing site for the livestream in the Winter Center for Visual and Performing Arts at 60 W. Cottage Avenue. This is an accessible, climate-controlled venue and tickets are not been required.

We hope you find this information helpful in your graduation celebration planning.  We look forward to celebrating with you, your family, and friends!

Your degree is the credential of your program of study:

• BSE-Bachelor of Science in Education
• BA-Bachelor of Arts
• BDES- Bachelor of Design
• BSN-Bachelor of Science in Nursing, etc.

Your degree is conferred when all requirements have been met, and this is tracked on your degree audit. When all requirements have green checkmarks and your degree audit states that 100% of requirements have been met, the Office of the Registrar will confer your degree. Degrees are generally processed two weeks after the end of the term (the week after grades are processed). You will see your degree listed in MAX and on a transcript.

A diploma is the ceremonial document showing your earned credential. When all your requirements are met and your degree is conferred, a diploma will be prepared and mailed to you.

 

No. Neither degree conferral nor diploma delivery require attendance at a commencement ceremony.

Yes.  The $30 degree fee is charged to cover the vendor’s pricing of processing, printing, and mailing of your diploma.  This is only charged to students that graduate from MU.  It does not go towards the commencement ceremony expenses.

Please email the registrar’s office if your post-graduation address has changed. We cannot guarantee that the United States Post Office will forward your diploma. Even if you do not remember the address you listed on your graduation application, please email registrar@millersville.edu with a current address if you think there could be any issues with receiving your diploma.

The official record of your academic record is your transcript, where all degrees, concentrations and honors are listed. You can order official transcripts 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online on the Millersville University website: https://www.millersville.edu/registrar/gradesandrecords/transcripts.php

If a potential employer would like to verify your degree, our resource is the National Student Clearinghouse: https://secure.studentclearinghouse.org/vs/Index

Graduates who are participating in the ceremony are required to wear the appropriate regalia which is available for purchase from the University Store. Below are links to watch based on your degree to prepare to arrive for the ceremony.

• Doctoral
• Masters
• Bachelors

There is an Inter-Collegiate Code that sets out a detailed uniform scheme of academic regalia that states that it is tradition in Academia for the bachelor’s gown to be worn without a hood.  In receiving a master’s degree at MU, there is actually a “hooding” ceremony that takes place where the hood is put on the graduate by the graduate coordinator of the program. The removal of the hood from the undergraduate regalia is a 41% cost saving measure to a student by reducing the fee by $28.00.  For these reasons, after careful consideration, President Wubah and his Cabinet decided to remove the hood from the undergraduate regalia.

The academic regalia for undergraduate students consists of a gown, cap, and tassel.  “Cords distinguish those students who have earned Departmental Honors, University Honors, and/or who have graduated from the University’s Honors College. Graduates may wear as many cords as they qualify for. The colors, and the academic achievement they represent, are as follows: white, cum laude; silver, magna cum laude; gold, summa cum laude; purple, University Honors College; and red, Departmental Honors.”

There are organizations on campus that have been approved by the President’s Cabinet in the past that have a history of distributing stoles to their members (SGA, First Generation, etc.).  It is not approved for academic departments to distribute stoles to their students.

You are welcome to decorate your cap (in a 2-dimension fashion) with something that represents you, your department, degree, or college.

For further information regarding stoles and cords, please reference the Millersville University approved stoles and cords under the Academic Regalia section of the Commencement webpage.

The formal walk into the gymnasium as the ceremony begins is called a processional.

Prior undergraduate classes have given university administration positive feedback regarding the removal of undergraduate procession. Previous classes have communicated since eliminating the processional, it allows them to be able to sit with their friends for the duration of the ceremony. It also enables the graduate to inform their families of their exact location on the floor so guests can sit nearby in the bleachers. Parents of recent graduates have also provided feedback that they appreciated their child not processing because it is optimal for picture taking of their child with their friends throughout the ceremony. 

The graduate students (Doctoral & Master's degrees) will participate in the processional.  At the appropriate time of the ceremony, the graduate student is escorted to the stage by their graduate coordinators and advisors.

All participants in the ceremony will walk in the recessional after the ceremony concludes with the platform party, faculty, and all graduates.