Awarding Honorary Degrees
American College of Education may grant honorary degrees under special circumstances. Nominations for honorary degrees may be submitted by members of the ACE Board of Trustees, the ACE President, or members of the ACE Executive Team.
- Upon receipt of the nomination form, the college registrar will alert the appropriate academic officials of the nomination.
- The nomination will be submitted to the Board of Trustees for inclusion on their agenda. Final approval and review to award a honorary degree must come from the ACE Board of Trustees.
Awarding Posthumous and Terminal Diagnosis Certificates/Degrees
American College of Education may grant certificates or degrees posthumously or after a terminal illness/physical and mental incapacitation diagnosis that would prevent them from completing their program. If the college determines the student has completed sufficient coursework (80% of program requirements) to be awarded a certificate or degree, the Program Director, Department Chair, or designated academic official has the authority to grant the degree posthumously or before program completion if the student has a terminal illness diagnosis and will not be able to complete the program.
To award a posthumous/post-illness doctoral degree, the student must have completed 80% of the program requirements and completed RES6551 (Analyzing the Dissertation Research).
- Upon receipt of the Record Release for Deceased/Terminally Ill Student form, the college registrar will alert the appropriate academic officials of the student’s passing and/or diagnosis, conduct a degree progress audit and inform the percentage of program completion.
- Because this is an academic matter, the student’s program director, department chair, or designated academic official must give final approval and review to award a posthumous/post-diagnosis degree.
Commencement
Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Educational Specialist students who intend to participate in a commencement ceremony at American College of Education must be in a “Graduate” status within ten-weeks of the commencement date. For example, if commencement is held in July, students with expected graduation dates in August and September may participate.
Doctorate (Ed.D.) students who intend to participate in a commencement ceremony must be in a “Graduate” status by the date of the commencement. Furthermore, the academic team must confirm anticipated dissertation completion for all Ed.D. students prior to the student being allowed to participate in commencement.
Students must be in Good Standing to graduate.
Degree, Certificate, or Micro-Credential Conferral
Degrees, Certificates, and Micro-Credentials will be conferred or awarded when the following requirements have been met:
- A grade of “C” or better in all required program courses has been achieved.
- All course and credit hour requirements and/or any field experiences are successfully completed.
Additionally, the following requirements must be met:
Grade Point Average (GPA)
- Degrees
- Undergraduate students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0.
- Graduate students and Nursing students must have a cumulative GPA of 3.0.
- Note: RN to MSN students are required, per the RN to MSN Matriculation Policy, to have a 3.0 GPA for the BSN degree to be conferred.
- Certificate and Micro-Credential
- Undergraduate students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.0.
- Graduate-level students must have a cumulative GPA of 2.5.
- Students enrolled in Certificate programs designed for licensure must have a GPA of 3.0.
General Education Competencies (GECs)
For a bachelor’s degree, the student must have demonstrated proficiency in all GECs.
Students must be in Good Standing and must meet Graduation Requirements to graduate.
Conferral Process
Upon completion of program requirements, students are moved to a “Pending Graduate/Complete” status and can be seen on MyACE Portal. Once in this status, the conferral process begins. A complete degree audit is performed by the Registration Office.
Once the audit is completed, degree and certificate students are moved to “Graduate” status. Students are then eligible to receive appropriate documentation, including but not limited to, a diploma, transcript, verification, and certificates. If any of the above requirements are not met, the student status will be moved to “Complete-Degree not Conferred” status and the student will not be eligible to have their degree conferred, as a financial and/or document hold will be placed on the file and the student will not be eligible to receive a diploma, transcript, certification, verification, etc. until all requirements are fulfilled. Students who continue to have outstanding financial obligations will be turned over to collections per policy.
Degree Conferral Fee
All students must submit the degree conferral fee.
- The fee is waived for the following groups of students:
- U.S. Veterans, active military members, members of the National Guard and Reserves and current spouses of each as verified through submission of a valid military ID or copy of DD214.
- First responders defined as EMT/EMS, Firefighters, or Law Enforcement Officers.
Graduation Requirements
Students must be in Good Standing to graduate. Good Standing is defined as achieving the required academic standards and program requirements as outlined in the catalog and meeting material financial obligations to the College or the student’s third-party lender.
The following requirements must be met before a student can graduate from American College of Education:
- Satisfactory completion of all coursework.
- Satisfactory completion of the Capstone Experience, when applicable.
- Satisfactory completion of the Dissertation Oral Defense for Ed.D. candidates.
- Satisfactory completion of internship, practicum or student teaching, when applicable.
- Minimum cumulative grade point average of 2.0 for Bachelor’s students with no D’s or F’s.
- Minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 for Master’s, RN to MSN, Specialist, and Doctoral students with no D’s or F’s.
Graduation with Honors
ACE recognizes exemplary academic performance for graduates. ACE graduates of post-baccalaureate degree programs will be awarded the honor of “Distinguished Graduate” if all degree requirements have been met, a cumulative GPA of a 4.0 has been achieved in program enrollment, and no academic or conduct violations occurred during the enrollment in the completed degree program.
Verification of Graduation for Professional License, Endorsement, or Certification
American College of Education has a dedicated staff member in the Registration Office who is responsible for processing requests from graduates to verify completion of a state-approved program. This verification is required by a number of state licensing boards.
Once students have received an email from the Registration Office that the degree has been conferred, they may request verification of program completion through the MyACE Portal (Request forms). It may take up to five (5) business days for ACE to complete and mail the state certification forms.
Verification of graduation will not be completed if a balance due is on the student’s account.
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