How to Graduate

Participation in commencement ceremonies does not imply degree conferral. 

No diplomas are granted during commencement.

Commencement 

Commencement refers to the ceremony, officiated by the President of the University, where you celebrate and share the excitement and importance of your academic accomplishments with peers, family, and friends. Cal State East Bay has only one commencement ceremony per year which is held in June.  

You will not receive a diploma at the commencement ceremony. Confirmation of degree completion will not occur until official grades are posted. 

Graduation 

Graduation indicates that degree requirements have been completed and your degree has been awarded and is recorded on your official transcript.

If you meet all graduation requirements, two to three months after the graduation filing quarter of candidacy ends, your degree will be posted to your academic record in MyCSUEB. Check your Horizon email account regularly as you will be notified of any issue with your graduation via email only. It can take up to two months after the quarter ends for your degree to be awarded and displayed in MyCSUEB. Check your Horizon email account regularly as you will be notified of any delay in graduation.  Once your degree is awarded in MyCSUEB, it will take an additional six to eight weeks for your diploma to be mailed to your permanent address; your legal name as it appears on your official academic record and transcript will be printed on your diploma.  In person pickup of diplomas is not permitted.  

Cal State East Bay recognizes undergraduate students at graduation for consistently high scholarship through their entire academic careers, which includes coursework they may have transferred in from other institutions.

1. To qualify for any category of honors, you must have a minimum cumulative and Cal State East Bay grade point average of 3.65, and
2.  You must have completed at least 40 semester units coursework in residence (as defined in the university catalog) at Cal State East Bay.
3.  You will qualify for one of these categories of honors at graduation on the basis of the following grade point average in all college work: 3.85-4.00 summa cum laude (highest honors); 3.75-3.84 magna cum laude (high honors); 3.65-3.74 cum laude (honors)

The GPA is officially calculated at the time you have completed your graduation requirements. Therefore, graduation with honors is governed by the catalog in effect at the time of your graduation. The honors designation will be noted on your diploma and official transcript. The conditions noted above apply equally to second-baccalaureate degree candidates. Post-baccalaureate and graduate students are not eligible for university honors.

In addition to the lower-division General Education requirements for writing, the California State University system requires that all undergraduate students must demonstrate competency in written communication as a requirement for graduation and to receive a baccalaureate degree. This requirement was implemented system-wide in 1977 and updated in 2020 and 2023. Students must satisfy the University Writing Requirement (UWR) in order to receive a degree from Cal State East Bay unless they are exempt by one of the following criteria:

1. Previously satisfied the UWR at Cal State East Bay or at another CSU campus, Cal State East Bay will accept official certification of completion if the entire requirement, as specified by that CSU campus, was satisfied and the student was a matriculated student at that campus at the time.  On some CSU campuses, the requirement is called the “Graduation Writing Assessment Requirement (GWAR).”
2. Graduated from any regionally accredited institution of higher education with a baccalaureate degree or equivalent. 

Undergraduate students are required to satisfy the University Writing Requirement in a timely manner, either in their junior or senior year, as defined by the roadmap for their major.  Students who do not enroll in an appropriate course in a timely manner will be placed on administrative academic alert until the requirement is completed. Note: Undergraduate students cannot satisfy this requirement before completing 60 units. Completion of GE Area A2 and ENGL 200 or another approved second composition course, which are graduation degree requirements, is also required before attempting to satisfy the UWR.

To satisfy the requirement at Cal State East Bay, students must complete one (1) writing intensive (WI) class of 3 or 4 units with a C- or better. Writing Intensive classes are designated with a “W” after the course number, see the list below.

Courses that satisfy the UWR have a “W” suffix in the course number (e.g., ENGL 300W).  Courses approved to satisfy UWR in this Catalog are:

• ENGL 300W Writing for Inquiry 
• ENGL 301W Writing for Inquiry (English for Speakers of Other Languages) 
• ENGL 303W Advanced Expository Writing 
• ENGL 308W Writing Bad Bodies  
• ES 300W Writing for Social Justice  (GE-UD-C; Social Justice)
• HDEV 499W Senior Research Seminar 
• HIST 301W History Writing Workshop 
• HIST 477W History and Trends in Nursing  (GE-UD-C; Diversity)
• KIN 422W Exercise Nutrition 
• PSYC 300W Experimental Psychology 
• SOC 301W Writing and Analysis in the Social Sciences 

Other breadth requirements are indicated in parentheses above.  Any course offered that is numbered “396W” will also satisfy the UWR.  That number is for a one-time-only course offering that was created after Catalog deadlines.

UWR for Graduate and Second Baccalaureate Students

Students admitted to a second baccalaureate degree program at Cal State East Bay are not held to completion of the University Writing Requirement (UWR). Students admitted to an EDD or master’s degree program do not need to complete the University Writing Requirement (UWR) unless it is required by the specific major or program. 

Degrees will be awarded to graduation candidates that have completed all degree requirements approximately two to three months after grades are official. A diploma will be mailed to your permanent/home address within six to eight weeks after the degree is posted to your academic record.