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Graduation Requirements, Information and Process
Achieve the Dream • Be a CNM Graduate!
Graduation from CNM is an important step for a student in meeting their education and career goals. With a CNM certificate or degree, a CNM graduate will join a growing number of successful CNM alumni by increasing their job and future educational opportunities.
Students must apply for graduation. To receive a certificate or degree from CNM, a student must complete CNM’s Graduation Requirements, Graduation Application Process and pay any debts to CNM in full.
Any student with questions about graduation requirements or the graduation application process should meet with an academic advisor, achievement coach or program director.
Graduation Requirements for Certificates and Degrees
Graduation Catalog: Current students may choose to complete their program requirements as defined in the catalog in effect when they earned their first credit(s) at CNM or a later catalog as long as the catalog is not more than five years old.
Note: Course pre- and corequisites must be met for each course at the time of registration, regardless of the catalog under which a student will graduate.
Required Coursework: All program requirements must be completed, including all courses listed in the graduation catalog.
Note: Courses numbered below 1000 cannot be used to meet program graduation requirements.
Approved transfer, nontraditional, exam credit and/or waivers or substitutions used to meet program requirements must be on file in the CNM Records Office at least two weeks prior to submitting their Graduation Application Packet (see below).
Note: A student may be required to make up deficient credit resulting from course substitution or transfer. A course waiver does not require the student to make up the credits of the waived course. Because all CNM graduates in degree programs must complete a minimum of 60 credits and 90 percent of the credits required in their certificate program, there is a limit on the number of course waivers that can be granted. (Example: If a program requires 64 credits, a maximum of 4 credits may be waived. If a program requires 68 credits, a maximum of 8 credits may be waived.) Course waivers for arts & sciences courses are not permitted in Associate of Arts or Associate of Science programs.
All credits used for graduation must be displayed on the student’s CNM transcript.
All career and technical courses used to meet program requirements must have a grade of C or better and all arts and sciences courses, a minimum grade of D. Career and technical courses more than ten years old must have been officially validated by the instructional school in which the course was offered.
Residency Requirement: At least one-quarter of the required program courses and credit hours for a certificate and 12 credit hours of the required program coursework for a degree must be completed at CNM.
Note: Credit based on challenge exams and courses graded AU do not apply toward the graduation residence requirement.
GPA Requirement: A cumulative GPA of 2.0 or better in the program is required (unless otherwise stated in the program description).
Applying for Graduation
- Submit a Graduation Application Packet (GAP) for each completed program. GAPs are available through the Students tab in myCNM.
- Completed packets must be submitted during the term in which the student finishes their program. Submitted packets will be processed in the order received.
Note: Non-current students have up to one year after their last term of enrollment at CNM to apply for graduation.
Graduation With Honors
A student earning a cumulative GPA of 4.0 will graduate with highest honors. A student with a cumulative GPA of 3.6 to 3.9 will graduate with honors. Degrees, certificates and official CNM transcripts note these awards.
Updating Certificates
A student who has received a certificate may update his/her skills and earn a subsequent certificate in that program when:
- The previously earned certificate is 10 years old or older and
- 100 percent of the certificate coursework was completed within the past 10 years; and
- The student has met all other graduation requirements as stated in the CNM Catalog
Updating Associate Degree
A student who has received an associate degree from CNM may earn a subsequent associate degree in the same major (program) when:
- The student completes, at CNM, a minimum of 30 credit hours of new or additional required program course work (see note below) and
- The student has met all other graduation requirements as stated in the CNM Catalog.
Note: These credits must be earned in courses required by the program for graduation and may not have already been used to satisfy graduation requirements in the student’s prior degree in that major (program) or by completing an additional concentration in the program. These new and/or additional credits cannot be earned by repeating courses that were used for graduation in the prior CNM degree in that major (program).
Graduation Commencement Ceremony
CNM conducts two “graduation commencement ceremonies” each year, at the end of the fall and spring terms. Students graduate in the term in which all graduation requirements are completed even if there is no graduation ceremony scheduled that term. Information about the graduation commencement ceremony is available at cnm.edu.
Graduation Commencement Ceremony Dates are posted in the fall and spring Schedule of Classes.
Transferring from CNM
CNM has a number of articulation agreements with many 4-year universities in the state. Please see the Transfer Information web page cnm.edu/transferout for links to specific agreements and transfer information. Many of the agreements offer a course-by-course guide to a specific degree. In addition, you should work with an advisor to be sure the classes you take will have the best transferability possible.
CNM Alumni Association
The CNM Alumni Association is a free volunteer organization of graduates and friends who want to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with the college. All certificate and degree graduates are invited to join the Association. Members will receive benefits including volunteer and service learning opportunities, special alumni events, campus privileges, professional networking, communications, and awards and recognition. To sign up for membership, visit cnm.edu/alumni to fill out the on-line application.
Contact Information
CNM Alumni Association, CNM Foundation Office, Main Campus, (505) 224-4685, [email protected].
Graduate Employment Data
For information and/or explanation about CNM’s graduate employment data, contact the Job Connection Center. For local and state employment and wage trends, go to dol.state.nm.us/eds/index.html. For national employment and wage trends go to acinet.org. Programs not listed have no graduates for this reporting cycle.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Main Campus: (505) 224-3060, cnm.edu/depts/jcc |