Graduation is set for Dec. 13, but some students won't be able to make it, and they don't even realize it yet.
As the year inches closer to an end, some seniors are finding out they don't have the proper requirements to graduate, which varies with each college on campus.
In order to prevent occurrences like those from happening, students are assigned a graduation analyst, who gives their information a "second set of eyes" to make sure they have everything in order to graduate.
Sandra Akah is a business and finance graduation analyst. She checks around 250 students' academic records, and she said there are around 15 students a semester who aren't quite ready to walk the line.
She said the problem could be attributed to one of several things.
"Sometimes they don't realize they haven't enrolled in everything," Akah said. "The first time we check their enrollment is before school begins, then I check it the day after the last day to add classes. Then its checked one final time a week after the drop date. Another thing would be if they have some transfer work. I can't accept anything unofficial."
Business and finance checks their students' graduation statuses a semester prior so they have time to correct any problems, Akah said.
For more than 20 years, Mark Freilich has been a U of M chemistry adviser. He said he has run across students not being able to graduate on time, but finds them to be rare occurrences, something he attributes to the structure of the chemistry graduation plan.
"I do know sometimes students get into this situation if they didn't consult with their adviser beforehand," Freilich said. "But pretty much if the students follow what we set out, they don't run into situations where they go, 'Oh my god, what am I going to do?'"
He said adviser error is also very rare, and The University is "pretty understanding" about it.
"I have found most of the time students understand what situation they are in," Freilich said. "I rarely had any situation where a student blew up. It's much more reasoned. When they are approaching graduation, they know where they are going and how they got there."
One thing Karen Jackett, a graduation analyst for University College, said she noticed is students repeating classes to get a better grade, not realizing those hours don't count.
For University College, there is a minimum of 120 hours, 42- 45 of those hours coming from upper course work, 60 hours of classes, the last 30 of them coming from The U of M, and of course undergraduate courses, which vary depending on catalogues of major.
Jackett said she has also noticed students not taking the classes they are advised to take, and every once in a while, there is an "adviser error," which is when the advisor makes a mistake in calculating a student's number of hours and credits.
"That means we take credit for the mistake, depending on what it is," Jackett said. "It is keeping the student being penalized from our mistake."
Jackett said ultimately it is up to the student to keep up with their hours and know what they need to graduate.
Through the approval of their adviser, there are some ways s a student can make up for the hours they are missing, such as an independent study or a class substitution.
But it is the student's responsibility to talk to their advisor, Jackett said.
If a student wants to make an appeal on their graduation status, they should contact the Academic Vice Provost Shannon Blanton at sblanton@memphis.edu.
The vice provost then contacts the department adviser. If there is a legitimate reason for the student's appeal, they consider that and go forward with it, Jackett said.
For students on the graduation path, there are only four requirements to receive a diploma, according to the Commencement Office Web site: Meet all degree requirements to be certified for graduation; Pay all University fees; Check name on the program proofs for correct degree, honor(s), and spelling of name; and submit a diploma mailing card online with the appropriate address.
is a member of the 
Be the first to comment on this article!