Intent to graduate forms due by Oct. 1

Jon Carey

Equinox Staff

For graduating seniors, nothing is more important than walking down the middle aisle, family and friends all attentive, awaiting the call to march up front and receive your diploma. This experience may only be an aspiration if you failed to fill out the intent to graduate form available to all seniors online and within the Registrar’s Office.

The forms are accessible through the Registrar’s Office located within the Elliot Center on the Keene State College campus, or through a PDF file on the Registrar’s website.

Currently there is no set penalty if graduating seniors fail to complete the forms. Because of this administration is talking about penalizing in order to ensure students get the forms in on time.

KSC senior Vincent Carey said it wasn’t until this year that he heard about the intent to graduate forms, and some students still may not be aware. “I’ve asked around and I still heard some students say they’ve never heard of the forms. I personally think students should be made more aware of this because graduating is a big deal,” Carey said.

Tom Richard, the head of the Registrar’s Office, said it’s imperative that graduating seniors complete and submit these forms, as there is a deadline.  “The forms are due Oct. 1 and we use the process of first-come-first-serve mostly so we can give students as much time in their final semesters to ensure their eligibility for graduation either in the winter or spring,” Richard said.

Located within the Students Services tab of Campus Cruiser, students can access the Program Evaluation option to review their academic progress dealing with their specific major requirements. This gives students the opportunity to keep up with their overall progress and highlights which categories need be completed in order to graduate.

“The program evaluation allows students to check up on their own progress so they know what they need to do in order to complete their major. Students really have no excuse for not knowing their position because they have access to their entire academic career online,” Richard said.

Graduating KSC senior Ryan Wilson said the process is made simple if you just keep up with your classes and stay updated with the evaluation process. “I started using the online evaluation last year and it has really helped me organize and keep me updated on what classes to take and how many credits I need.”

According to Richard, the main purpose of the intent to graduate forms is to ensure students are recorded in taking the correct program. This becomes difficult as many enrolled students complete more than one major throughout their collegiate career. “It’s not so obvious to the office because a percent of students who want to graduate with a specific major haven’t filed a declaration of major form. The Registrar’s Office only accounts the components that have been filed, so it seems to work against students who intend on graduating,” Richard said.

Along with making clear that students are filing for the correct academic calendar year, Richard made it a point that students filing for their intent need to provide the correct address so diplomas aren’t sent back to the college. “We get numerous diplomas sent back to us from the post office because students give the wrong address,” Richard said. “They give the address of their apartment or dormitory, where they don’t live anymore, when they really should be providing us with their actual hometown address.”

Students can fill these forms out at the Registrar’s Office on campus, or use the PDF file on the Registrar’s website and email the file to the office. Richard said the online access makes it easier for students and faculty to make sure the forms are filled out on time.

“Having students access not just the intent forms, but with all academic procedures online, it makes the process go over more smoothly. It gives students the power to complete tasks by themselves instead of flagging down a faculty member on a busy day,” Richard said.

“It’s so easy now that everything is accessible online. I used to hate tracking down professors or walking halfway across campus just to fill out a single form. It gives students a lot more responsibility and more ease when dealing with the academic forms policy,” Wilson said.

Richard said emails were sent out to seniors who met the criteria for graduating and students should be made aware that these forms are available and should be submitted as soon as possible. The website to access the PDF files online is, http://www.keene.edu/registrar/forms/Intent_Graduate_Form.pdf, or you can search “intent to graduate forms” located on the Keene State homepage.

Jon Carey can be contacted at jcarey1@ksc.mailcruiser.com.