Spartan Daily - Serving San Jose State University since 1934

Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: News

Media Credit: Matthew Mountford

Tony Tang has been waiting patiently since May for his diploma to arrive in the mail.

"It's very frustrating," said Tang, an SJSU graduate in business marketing. "I bought my frame already. It's empty."

Tang is one of several students who graduated this past spring who have yet to receive their diplomas from SJSU's undergraduate and graduate admissions office in the Student Services Center.

Tang said the office e-mailed him twice, notifying him that his diploma was going to arrive in a certain time.

"They haven't e-mailed me in the last month or so. No word or anything," he said. "I'm planning on calling more."

Benjamin Henderson, a political science graduate and former Associated Students president, said he has been waiting for his diploma since he graduated six months ago. He said he understands the process the office has to go through to get diplomas out to other graduates.

"I know it's not an easy process," he said. "I know they are busy. For it to be this long, I'm trying to be understanding."

Delia Chavez, the acting manager for undergraduate and graduate admissions, said one of the reasons students are still waiting for their diplomas to arrive is a delay at the plant where the diplomas are printed.

"We don't print diplomas in house," she said. "We go to an outside vendor."

Chavez said she estimates that the backlog of students still waiting for their diplomas is about 150.

Chavez said another reason for diploma delays could also be attributed to students changing their major or minor or if the wrong information is printed on the diploma.

"It's hard to say because it depends on the situation," she said. "Students will also change their dates (to later in the future). They will then have to be re-ordered. Normally, it takes about four weeks for re-orders to go through."

Chavez said students should be applying for graduation a year in advance to receive them on time.

Henderson said he applied a year in advance but is still waiting for his diploma to arrive. He said he has received e-mails from the office telling him his diploma would be coming in soon.

Chavez said that if there's anything wrong with the information on the diploma, the process of verifying the students' requirements and getting them out has to be done again.

"We have to do a cleanup and go through files," she said. "We have to spot-check names and go through majors and minors. Once the cleanup is done, the analysts extract the data and use it for the re-orders."

Continued...

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