Graduation Eligibility and Graduation Steps
What is Graduation?
Graduation is the administrative process of fulfilling all academic requirements and being officially awarded your degree. The term awarded refers to having your degree officially posted to your academic record. To be awarded, you must apply for graduation via your ACES account.
Commencement, sometimes confused with graduation, is the ceremonial event where you celebrate the milestone of completing your degree.You can graduate without attending commencement, however participating in commencement does not mean you have officially graduated.
A student can only officially graduate after a final graduation audit determines that you have met all graduation eligibility requirements. Final graduation audits are conducted at the end of each semester once final grades have been posted.
Graduation Eligibility
Students should apply for graduation when they are completing their degree/certificate in their final semester. Students must apply and meet all stated graduation application requirements by the graduation application deadline. See deadline dates below in Step 1.
In order to graduate from SAC, the student must meet the following criteria:
- Achieve a cumulative grade point average of 2.0 or better in all coursework taken at San Antonio College, including courses successfully completed at other institutions that apply to the student's degree.
- Complete all required courses for the degree or certificate for which they are applying.
- Maintain a status of "Good Academic Standing" through the end of the final semester at SAC.
- Complete the requirements of the Texas Success Initiative (TSI), if applicable.
- Complete a minimum of 25% of coursework at San Antonio College.
- Submit official transcript(s) from all previous colleges attended. (Email at sac-transcripts@alamo.edu or mail via USPS to San Antonio College Welcome Center, 1819 N. Main Ave., San Antonio, TX 78212)
- Complete the online Graduation Application on ACES.
- A separate graduation application is required for each degree/certificate.
Access your Graduation Application
Graduation Steps
Students who are eligible and ready to graduate should follow the graduation steps listed below.
*For questions, email sac-grad@alamo.edu.
Submit your graduation application by the deadlines below:
Summer 2026: June 30th
Fall 2026: October 30th
Spring 2027: March 19th
Failure to submit by the semester deadline will result in your application not being processed and therefore a new application must be submitted for the following semester.
Meet with your department or institute advisor to complete your request to graduate from SAC. When you meet with an advisor, you will be instructed to complete the online ACES graduation application.
Please review your legal name in your ACES account to ensure that your name appears correctly on your diploma.
If your name needs to be corrected, please click here.
Note: Be sure to complete Step 1 by the stated deadline.
Please visit the Commencement Ceremony website for more information.
Please visit the Commencement Ceremony website for more information.
Degrees/Certificates are posted to the student account in ACES 30 days after the end of the semester. If you are expecting to receive an award, check your ACES account at that time.
Diplomas will be mailed approximately 60 days after the end of the semester.
Fall Graduates: mid-February
Spring Graduates: early-August
Summer Graduates: mid-October
Important Information
Graduates will receive an email from Parchment. Once you receive the email you have 72 hours to update your mailing address for your diploma, if needed. With this advance notice, we hope to minimize the number of returned diplomas.
To be certain your degree has been posted, please check your unofficial transcripts through ACES. If degree has been posted, you can order your transcripts by visiting the transcript ordering service page here.