HONORS
Academic Honors
Undergraduate students showing high scholastic achievement are granted a degree with honors at Commencement.
Summa Cum Laude designates students with a 3.80* cumulative grade-point average or higher and with no “F” grades in the last 60 hours of work.
Magna Cum Laude designates students with a 3.60* cumulative grade-point average or higher and with no “F” grades in the last 60 hours of work.
Cum Laude honors designates students with a 3.40* cumulative grade-point average or higher and with no “F” grades in the last 60 hours of work.
MacLeish Scholars recognizes graduation seniors who are not eligible for general honors at graduation but have earned a cumulative grade-point average of at least 3.40 in all work at Rockford University (at least 30 hours), providing they earned at least a 3.0 grade-point average in all previous college work.
Honors for Commencement Day are based on final grades through the previous fall. The specific criteria for honors are outlined in the Academic Policies and Regulations section of the Academic Catalog.
To be considered for honors at Commencement, students must have completed at least 60 semester hours at Rockford University and must have earned a Rockford University GPA of 3.4 or higher.
*Honors, however, are determined by students’ cumulative GPA, i.e., the GPA earned in all course work, including all work completed at other accredited institutions of higher education. Additionally, regardless of what cumulative GPA students have attained, they may not earn a higher classification of honors than that for which their Rockford University GPA would qualify them.
Determination of final honors will include final semester grades and will appear on the transcripts. These will be determined when all grades are submitted after the Commencement ceremony.
Honors are not awarded to graduate students. All graduate students are required to maintain honors-level GPAs throughout their academic programs. Graduate students are not allowed to wear honor cords during Commencement.
Veteran/Military Graduates
Rockford University will be honoring our veterans and active duty graduates at the ceremony. If you would like to be honored with a military cord, contact SAS@rockford.edu
