Your last semestereverything before you walk

Start of the term

Make sure you can graduate

Do these in the first two weeks. Each one can quietly stop a diploma.

• Apply to graduateMost schools don't graduate you automatically: you apply, often by a deadline early in your last term, and some charge a fee. The registrar's page has your school's date.
• Run your degree audit with your advisorConfirm every requirement is met or in progress this term. One missing class found now is a fix; found in May it’s another semester. Am I On Track?
• Clear every holdA balance, a library fine or a missing form can hold your diploma and transcript. Hold Buster
• Check your name for the diplomaMake sure the name on your record is the one you want printed, and ask how to change it if not.
• Know you'll pass every class you needCheck your grades early and go to office hours for any class that’s close. What Grade Do I Need?

Middle of the term

Get your money ready

The first payment usually comes a few months after you leave. Set it up while you're still on campus and help is a walk away.

• Keep your FSA IDMove your StudentAid.gov login to a personal email you’ll keep. You’ll need it for your loans and for graduate school aid. Get Into Your Accounts
• Save what's in your student emailMany schools close student email after you leave. Forward anything important and switch your accounts to a personal email.
• Make a first-year-out budgetRent, transportation, phone, health coverage and any loan payment. If your coverage ends with school, check the Benefits Check.

All term long

Your next step

• Visit the career centerMost will review your resume, run practice interviews and help after you graduate too. Ask how long you can keep using it.
• Update your resumePut your degree, jobs, service and leadership on one page. Free help from the U.S. Department of Labor at CareerOneStop.
• Ask two or three people to be referencesAsk professors, supervisors or advisors now, while they remember you. Send them your resume. Email my professor
• Apply for jobs or programsStart before you graduate. Watch for scams: a real job never asks you to pay or deposit a check. Is This a Scam?
• Thinking about graduate school?Check application deadlines and tests, and ask the program about fee waivers and funded positions. File the FAFSA for graduate school too.
• Order a final transcriptAfter grades post, order an official copy for jobs and graduate school. Many schools use the National Student Clearinghouse. Keep an unofficial copy too.
• Know when and where your diploma comesIt often arrives by mail weeks after the ceremony. Make sure the registrar has a mailing address you'll have then.

The last weeks

Finish well

• Say thank youTo the professor who believed in you, the advisor who answered your emails, the financial aid officer, the family who helped. A short note matters more than you think.
• Get ready for the ceremonyOrder your cap and gown, get tickets for your family if your school uses them, and ask about honor cords.
• Stay connected to EFFYou finished. Keep your MyEFF account with a personal email, tell your chapter, and help the next student by sharing what you learned. Questions any time: the Lighthouse.
• CelebrateYou did this. Take the picture. Every Future Fulfilled.