Graduation vs. Commencement

Graduation is the official administrative recognition of a student fulfilling their academic degree requirements. This process begins when you complete your degree requirements, apply for graduation through Online Student Services, and the University’s Board of Trustees officially confers your degree.

Once you fulfill or are finalizing your degree requirements, you’ll complete a graduation application that confirms your name, address, email, your degree program, and requests payment of the graduation audit fee. Completing the application starts the process of a graduation audit, which is a complete review of your academic record to ensure the degree requirements are complete. All students who apply for graduation by the four yearly deadline dates and pay the graduation audit fee are audited for graduation. Learn more about graduation deadlines and when you should apply.

Once your graduation audit is completed and all degree requirements are met, you are sent a letter of certification by email from our graduation auditors. Once this process is complete, your degree is conferred during the next Thomas Edison State University Board of Trustees meeting, and that serves as the official date of your graduation. During the week following the Board of Trustees degree conferral, graduates are sent their diploma packages in the mail, which includes their diploma and final transcript. The conferral date is when you are officially considered a graduate of your academic program and awarded your degree. Learn more about the graduation audit process and what to expect.

Commencement is an annual ceremony designed to celebrate your accomplishment of graduation. Attendance is voluntary and all graduates from the previous year’s four graduation cycles are invited to attend along with their family and friends. The Commencement ceremony is usually scheduled for a Saturday in September at the Cure Insurance Arena, in Trenton, N.J. There are no diplomas given at the Commencement ceremony, as all graduates receive their diplomas in the mail.

At the Commencement ceremony, graduates are expected to wear their academic regalia along with any honor cords they earned through the various TESU awards and process across the stage to be publicly recognized. The Commencement ceremony is a voluntary event and there is no charge to attend. Graduates who are invited to attend the ceremony receive an email invitation in July and are given additional information about ordering their regalia, attendee tickets, and the schedule of events at that time. Students who are certified for September graduation will receive their email invitation a few days after they have been certified for graduation.