Posted: May 14, 2018Written by: Lauren Milbourne

Tags: 2018, featured, press release

Cuesta College’s graduating class of 2018 will graduate 946 students and award 1,249 degrees at the 53rd annual commencement ceremony on Friday, May 18th. More than 150 of those graduates received their first year at Cuesta College fee-free via the Cuesta College Promise Scholarship.

A total of 485 associate of arts degrees, 247 associate of sciences degrees, and 517 transfer degrees are being awarded this year. The college offer 31 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, 440 students came from local high schools, 155 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 3,000 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 their families, 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 69, and degrees will be bestowed upon 373 males and 567 females. Of the graduates, 259 earned honors or high honors by achieving a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, including 15 who earned a perfect 4.0 GPA.

A total of 29 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 three international countries (Australia, Brazil, and Nicaragua) and four states (Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington).

Cuesta’s 53rd general commencement ceremony will start at 3:00 p.m. on May 18 in the Cuesta College gymnasium on the San Luis Obispo Campus. The graduate lineup will begin at 2:00 p.m., and doors open for seating also at 2:30 p.m. Guest RSVP and tickets are not required. Also on May 18 in the gymnasium, graduates of the Registered Nursing program will be honored at a pinning ceremony at 11:00 a.m. 

The 2018 graduating class statistics are compiled by the Cuesta College Office of Institutional Research and reflect students who have completed degree requirements in fall 2017, spring 2018 and summer 2018 semesters.

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