The Class of 2015 will receive 749 diplomas during Indiana University East’s 44th Commencement Ceremony at 6 p.m. today (May 15) at the Richmond High School Tiernan Center.

Of the degrees being conferred, 715 are bachelor’s degrees and 34 are master’s degrees. The awarding of the degrees this year marks the most awarded in IU East’s history.

The Commencement Ceremony will welcome friends and families of graduates from near and far. IU East’s online degree completion programs are a popular option for students in the region as well as across the United States and beyond. The online degree completion programs offer the high quality of an Indiana University degree and the flexibility to fit studying around work and family schedules.

The attraction of the online degree completion programs brings a growing number of these students to Richmond, Ind., each year to visit the campus and to attend the Commencement Ceremony. Of the total number of graduates, there are 53 Indiana counties represented, 30 states and 11 countries. IU East hosted a luncheon for the online students attending Commencement to welcome those traveling from a distance on Friday, May 15, in the Springwood Hall Graf Center.

The Class of 2015 has many characteristics. A brief glance at the statistics and figures provides a look at the graduates joining over 8,000 IU East alumni.

•    Indiana Resident: 561
•    Non-Resident: 181
•    Male: 252
•    Female: 490
•    The oldest student graduating is 67, the youngest is 20.
•    The most numerous degree to be granted is the B.S. in Business Administration (193).
•    The second most frequent degree to be granted is the B.S. in Nursing (142).
•    First generation students: 46.2 percent.

If sorting graduates by age, those who are 23 and younger compose 16.6 percent. Graduates ages 23-29 represent 39.7 percent of the class while those 30 and over compose 43.8 percent. Within the Class of 2015, 23 undergraduate students earned a 4.0 GPA.

For more information, visit iue.edu/commencement.