The Class of 2017 will receive 876 diplomas during Indiana University East’s 46th Commencement Ceremony at 6 p.m. today (May 12) at the Richmond High School Tiernan Center.

Of the degrees being conferred, 811 are bachelor’s degrees and 65 are master’s degrees.  The number of degrees is a significant increase for IU East and marks the university’s highest number of graduates in a given year. IU East will also present its 10,000th diploma during the ceremony.

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 66 Indiana counties represented, 35 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 12, at the Student Events and Activities Center. Graduates traveled from Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon and Utah. Graduates also attended from nearby states including Ohio, Michigan and Tennessee.

The Class of 2017 has many characteristics. A brief glance at the statistics and figures provides a look at the graduates joining over 10,000 IU East alumni.

• Indiana Resident: 643
• Non-Resident:228
• Male: 262
• Female: 609
• The oldest student graduating is 67, the youngest is 19.
• The most numerous degree to be granted is the B.S. in Business Administration (192).
• The second most frequent degree to be granted is the B.S. in Nursing (140).
• First generation students: 43.8 percent.

If sorting graduates by age, those who are 23 and younger compose 19.7 percent of the Class of 2017. Graduates ages 23-29 represent 40.1 percent of the class while those 30 and over compose 40.2 percent. Within the Class of 2017, 45 undergraduate students earned a 4.0 GPA.

For more information, visit iue.edu/commencement.