Awarding a Certificate

Stand Alone Certificate

The certificate review process begins when a student submits the online Certificate Completion Application form. Certificates are awarded on the first of each month when processed separately from a degree.

Once a student submits their Certificate Application, the following processes are triggered:

• Academic Audit - A review of the student academic record to confirm that all certificate requirements for completion have been met.
• Finance Audit - A review of the Student Account to ensure there is no outstanding balance.
• Library Audit - Ensures all books or materials reserved from the library have been returned to APUS and there are no outstanding fees.

For a student to be eligible for the award of their certificate program, they must have:

• Completed the Certificate Completion Application
• Fulfilled all course requirements in their program.
• A GPA of 2.0 in an undergraduate program, or 3.0 in a master's level program. If the passing courses do not meet the GPA requirement, students may take excessive courses to improve their GPA; however, these courses may not be covered by TA, FSA, or VA.
• Complete all program requirements within the published program deadline.
• Fulfill all course requirements within 150% of courses attempted vs. courses successfully passed.
• No outstanding balances.