Posted: May 5, 2017Written by: Lauren Milbourne

Tags: 2017, press release

Cuesta College’s graduating class of 2017 will graduate 910 students and award 1,196 degrees at the 52nd annual commencement ceremony on Friday, May 19. More than 100 of those graduates received their first year at Cuesta College fee-free.

A total of 470 associate of arts degrees, 225 associate of sciences degrees, and 501 transfer degrees are being awarded this year. The college offers 26 transfer degrees providing students with a clear pathway into the California State University system in areas like agriculture business, psychology, communication studies, early childhood education, and more.

Of this year’s graduating class, 418 students came from local high schools, 111 of which are Promise Scholarship recipients.

“This is our largest group of graduating Promise Scholarship recipients yet,” said Cuesta College Superintendent/President Dr. Gil Stork. The college launched the Promise Scholarship in the fall of 2014 and since then, nearly 2,000 students have received a fee-free first year at Cuesta College. “We are so proud to ease the financial burden of college for our local high school graduates, and thrilled that so many students have seized the opportunity to pursue their college education at Cuesta College with the Promise Scholarship.”

The graduates range in age from 17 to 71, and degrees will be bestowed upon 359 males and 544 females. Of the graduates, 249 earned honors or high honors by achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, including 19 who earned a perfect 4.0 GPA.

A total of 22 veterans will earn a degree this year, representing the branches of Air Force, Army, Marine, Navy and Coast Guard.

The graduating class includes students from four international countries (Korea, Morocco, Netherlands, and Spain) and five states (Colorado, Oregon, New Mexico, Nevada, and South Carolina).

Cuesta’s 52nd general commencement ceremony will start at 3:00 p.m. on May 19 in the Cuesta College gymnasium on the San Luis Obispo Campus. The graduate lineup will begin at 2:30 p.m., and doors open for seating at 2:00 p.m. Guest RSVP and tickets are not required. Also on May 19 in the gymnasium, graduates of the registered nursing program will be honored at a pinning ceremony at 11:00 a.m. 

The 2017 graduating class statistics are compiled by the Cuesta College Office of Institutional Research and reflect students who have completed degree requirements in fall 2016, spring 2017 and summer 2017 semesters.

For questions, please call the Cuesta College Evaluations Office at (805) 546-3100, ext. 2318.