Graduation Requirements

To earn a bachelor's degree, a student must meet all requirements listed below: 

• The university studies requirements
• The residency requirement
• An approved course of study in an academic major
• A minimum of 120 semester hours of credit 
• Both a minimum cumulative and major grade point average of 2.00

To meet the Residency Requirement, a student must:

• Complete a minimum of 25 percent of the credit hours required for graduation (30 of 120) through courses offered at UNCW.
• Complete 15 semester hours in the major at the 300-400 level. 

Latin Honors

Three degrees with distinction are granted to graduating students based on all work attempted in meeting requirements for the degree as follows:

Cum Laude for an overall average of 3.50
Magna Cum Laude for an overall average of 3.70
Summa Cum Laude for an overall average of 3.90

Transfer Students and Latin Honors

If transfer students first have a UNCW GPA of 3.5 or higher, degrees with distinction are granted to transfer students under the following conditions:

1. The student must have the required overall average on all work attempted (including all transfer courses attempted).
2. The student must have the required average on work attempted at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Grades issued by a foreign institution are not calculated into the UNCW grade point average in determining degrees with distinction.

For the purposes of the commencement ceremony, including the distribution of honor cords and the printing of the commencement program, distinctions are calculated based on the grades up to, but not including, the student’s final term.

Departmental and University Honors

Students who complete the Departmental Honors Program satisfactorily will graduate “With Honors” in the discipline where the particular work is undertaken. Students who complete the University Honors Program will have the additional designation “University Honors.”