Apply to Graduate

We recommend that students submit an application for graduation during the semester prior to when their degree will be complete. We invite you to apply on the registrar’s website. 

Register to Attend the Commencement Ceremony by November 8!

Once you've applied to graduate, you will receive an email invitation to attend the Commencement ceremony asking you to register to attend. (Our first invitations will be sent in early October - keep an eye on your GVSU inbox!).

The deadline to register to walk in Commencement is Wednesday, November 8. Registering by this date will also ensure that your name will be professionally recorded to be read when you cross the stage!

Additionally, if you apply and register by November 8, your name will also be included on the 2023 Commencement t-shirts, available for purchase as a memento.

Tickets

Tickets are not required. However, due to capacity limitations at the venue, we ask that all candidates be mindful of their number of guests in attendance. This will ensure everyone has an enjoyable experience and that there are seats available for all. All seats are general admission, seating is first-come, first-seated and there are no reserved seats. We will live stream the ceremony and provide a live stream link on the homepage on the day of the event.

Regalia - Order by November 11!

Visit the Laker Store website by November 11, 2023 to order your cap and gown for the December ceremony.

Celebrate at Toast 2023!

You're invited to join the GVSU Alumni Relations office and President Mantella to celebrate your graduation and what it means to be a Laker for a Lifetime.
Enjoy dessert, sparkling punch, and a glass of champagne, or a non-alcoholic variety. Take home your commemorative Laker for a Lifetime champagne flute.

RSVP for Toast

Land Acknowledgement

At a significant University event like Commencement, we have an opportunity to offer appreciation to those who were stewards of the land on which our beautiful campus was built, long before most of our ancestors arrived. As an institution committed to diversity, inclusion and equity, Grand Valley recognizes the Three Fires People, who include the Ojibwa, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi, on whose ancestral lands we now live and work.

Read Grand Valley's land acknowledgement