Conferral of a Penn State degree is the most important milestone in a student's academic career. Every effort should be made to confer the degree accurately and on time. Occasionally, a student's degree is not conferred at the end of the semester in which he or she completed their academic work. In the vast majority of cases, the appropriate action is to re-enroll the student for graduation in the upcoming semester.

If, however, the withholding of a degree was due to an administrative error made by the University, a request may be made to confer the degree retroactively. The student's college dean must submit a request in writing to the University Registrar which must include:

• A description of the nature of the error that resulted in the student being omitted/removed from the graduation list
• Confirmation that all degree requirements were met prior to the requested conferral date
• The degree to be conferred and the semester of conferral
• Student's complete mailing address (for mailing of diploma)

Following approval of the request by the University Registrar, the Registrar's office will:

• Add the degree conferred to the student's academic record
• Produce a diploma and mail it to the student