- Jurisdiction
- New Mexico
Summary: I graduated from my college in December 2019. I was approved to graduate by my department's advisement and was allowed to walk at my graduation in December. Graduation should've been processed, it should reflect on my transcripts that I completed my degree, and I should've already received my diploma by the end of February. It is June and it is still not done. Would I have any grounds to seek legal action if I am not given formal evidence of my degree completion?
Full Story: I graduated from a state university in New Mexico in December of 2019. I received approval to graduate from both the psychology and biology departments (dual Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Biology) and I walked at graduation in December. I was told by advisement at the time that it could take 6-8 weeks for my graduation to be processed so that it reflects on my transcripts that I did complete my degree programs and my diploma should've been delivered after that. I wasn't thrilled about that as I wanted to jump into the job market as soon as I could, but I understand these things take time especially considering that I didn't even take my last final until the day before I graduated. But I passed all of my classes in my final semester, completed all of my degree requirements, and never got into any disciplinary trouble during my college career. So I should've been fine, right?
Mid-February rolls around (this would've been just after the eight week mark) and it's still showing my degree status as pending on my unofficial transcripts online and I hadn't received my diploma. I call the registrar's office and ask about it, they tell me that they are a bit behind schedule and that it could be March before everything is processed. At no point was I told that there was anything wrong. I accepted this answer at the time because another friend also hadn't had her graduation processed nor had received her diploma.
First week in March rolls around and that same friend tells me that her graduation had been processed and she had received her degree after some catching up. I check on my own status after she says this and it's still pending and no diploma has come in the mail. I call again and am given the news that I am actually slated to graduate in May of 2020. I am extremely displeased to hear this as I know I fulfilled all of my graduation requirements, but I patiently explain my situation on the phone and they transfer me to the Arts & Sciences department so I can talk to them. I explain what happened, they pull up my unofficial transcripts, and agree that I did fulfill all of my requirements. They tell me this was an administrative error of some kind. They put me in touch with the appropriate dean for my departments. I again explain what happened and tell him about my previous conversations. He agrees that I did fulfill my degree requirements, but tells me this won't be a quick fix and to expect everything to be resolved in April. He agrees to write me a letter proving my graduation status and profusely apologizes. I still have this letter as it is the only evidence I have of my degree completion. I know this is better than nothing, but I also recognize that a potential employer would maybe not choose to accept this as evidence of my degree completion.
Toward the end of March, the entire state of NM is shut down due to covid-19 and the offices are closed for three weeks. The offices did reopen though sometime in mid-April to accept phone calls and I was told that the staff for the registrar's office was still working from home one of the times I called. I ultimately decided to wait this out as the job market was drying up due to the ongoing pandemic situation anyway.
Present day, I am catching up with a friend who graduated in May with a biology degree. He informed me that the university was stating that his degree completion was due to be processed by the end of July. I know the offices are open again, so I call the registrar's office again. My graduation has now apparently been pushed back to July with degree completion processing in September according to the woman I spoke with on the phone. I left a message with Arts & Sciences regarding this situation and am waiting for a call back. Ultimate question being, if my degree completion does not get processed by July (or worse yet, a whole year goes by and it's still not processed), do I have grounds to pursue this legally?
Full Story: I graduated from a state university in New Mexico in December of 2019. I received approval to graduate from both the psychology and biology departments (dual Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Biology) and I walked at graduation in December. I was told by advisement at the time that it could take 6-8 weeks for my graduation to be processed so that it reflects on my transcripts that I did complete my degree programs and my diploma should've been delivered after that. I wasn't thrilled about that as I wanted to jump into the job market as soon as I could, but I understand these things take time especially considering that I didn't even take my last final until the day before I graduated. But I passed all of my classes in my final semester, completed all of my degree requirements, and never got into any disciplinary trouble during my college career. So I should've been fine, right?
Mid-February rolls around (this would've been just after the eight week mark) and it's still showing my degree status as pending on my unofficial transcripts online and I hadn't received my diploma. I call the registrar's office and ask about it, they tell me that they are a bit behind schedule and that it could be March before everything is processed. At no point was I told that there was anything wrong. I accepted this answer at the time because another friend also hadn't had her graduation processed nor had received her diploma.
First week in March rolls around and that same friend tells me that her graduation had been processed and she had received her degree after some catching up. I check on my own status after she says this and it's still pending and no diploma has come in the mail. I call again and am given the news that I am actually slated to graduate in May of 2020. I am extremely displeased to hear this as I know I fulfilled all of my graduation requirements, but I patiently explain my situation on the phone and they transfer me to the Arts & Sciences department so I can talk to them. I explain what happened, they pull up my unofficial transcripts, and agree that I did fulfill all of my requirements. They tell me this was an administrative error of some kind. They put me in touch with the appropriate dean for my departments. I again explain what happened and tell him about my previous conversations. He agrees that I did fulfill my degree requirements, but tells me this won't be a quick fix and to expect everything to be resolved in April. He agrees to write me a letter proving my graduation status and profusely apologizes. I still have this letter as it is the only evidence I have of my degree completion. I know this is better than nothing, but I also recognize that a potential employer would maybe not choose to accept this as evidence of my degree completion.
Toward the end of March, the entire state of NM is shut down due to covid-19 and the offices are closed for three weeks. The offices did reopen though sometime in mid-April to accept phone calls and I was told that the staff for the registrar's office was still working from home one of the times I called. I ultimately decided to wait this out as the job market was drying up due to the ongoing pandemic situation anyway.
Present day, I am catching up with a friend who graduated in May with a biology degree. He informed me that the university was stating that his degree completion was due to be processed by the end of July. I know the offices are open again, so I call the registrar's office again. My graduation has now apparently been pushed back to July with degree completion processing in September according to the woman I spoke with on the phone. I left a message with Arts & Sciences regarding this situation and am waiting for a call back. Ultimate question being, if my degree completion does not get processed by July (or worse yet, a whole year goes by and it's still not processed), do I have grounds to pursue this legally?
