{"id":95,"date":"2014-02-17T13:38:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-17T21:38:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/oiegi\/current-students\/advising\/graduation\/"},"modified":"2026-04-02T15:20:34","modified_gmt":"2026-04-02T22:20:34","slug":"graduation","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/graduation\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-bc-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Graduation and the F-1 Visa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>For <strong>immigration purposes<\/strong>, your graduation quarter is the quarter you <strong>complete all degree or certificate requirements<\/strong>, even if you don&#8217;t apply to graduate. This is considered the end of your program of study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Once you complete your program, your F-1 visa allows a <strong>60-day grace period<\/strong>. Before the 60th day, you must do one of the following:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Transfer your SEVIS record<\/strong> to a new school<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Apply for OPT<\/strong> by working with your <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/advising\/\">International Advisor<\/a>. Learn more at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/immigration\/work-options\/\">Practical Training Options<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Apply to a new program<\/strong> at Bellevue College and get a new I-20\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>Note:<\/em> You must choose a <strong>different program<\/strong> (e.g., a certificate, bachelor\u2019s degree, or professional\/technical program)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Leave the U.S.<\/strong> before the 60-day grace period ends<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Graduation and your F-1 visa status can be complex, contact your <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/advising\/\">International Advisor<\/a><\/strong> if you have questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-bc-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Applying for Graduation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>You must<\/strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/future-students\/\"><strong>apply for graduation<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0one or two quarters before your expected graduation term to receive your diploma and your degree or certificate to be posted on your transcript.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bellevue College works with a company called Parchment to issue both digital and paper diplomas.\u00a0Read <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/current-students\/apply-graduation\/\">Bellevue College\u2019s Graduation instructions<\/a>\u00a0including the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/current-students\/apply-graduation\/FAQs\/\">Frequently Asked Questions<\/a>\u00a0carefully to apply for graduation and receive\u00a0you\u00a0digital diplomas and provide your complete mailing address to Parchment within the 72-hour\u00a0notification period.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-bc-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Diploma vs Graduation On Your Transcript<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the U.S.,&nbsp;an institution issues a paper (or digital) diploma when a student has met all the degree or certificate requirements and the conferred date. A paper diploma takes a few months to arrive.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your transcript shows all courses taken at Bellevue College including the course&nbsp;titles, credits, grades, term grade point average, a cumulative grade point average,&nbsp;and the name of degree or certification&nbsp;conferred.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Your future employers may require you to show proof of your&nbsp;degree&nbsp;attainment either by diploma or&nbsp;a&nbsp;transcript.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-white-color has-bc-blue-background-color has-text-color has-background\">Graduation RCL (Reduced Course Load)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In your graduation quarter, if you have fewer than 12 credits left to complete your degree requirements, you must submit the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/request-forms\/\">Graduation Reduced Course Load request<\/a>\u00a0and wait for your <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/advising\/\">International Student Advisor\u2019s<\/a> approval.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You cannot enroll in online courses only in your final term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Graduation and the F-1 Visa For immigration purposes, your graduation quarter is the quarter you complete all degree or certificate requirements, even if you don't apply to graduate. This is considered the end of your program of study. Once you complete your program, your F-1 visa allows a 60-day grace period. Before the 60th day, <a class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/current-students\/graduation\/\">...more about Graduation<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":34,"menu_order":12,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_mc_calendar":[],"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"class_list":["post-95","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17626,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/95\/revisions\/17626"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/34"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bellevuecollege.edu\/international\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}