To the associate degree candidate, perhaps the most important element of academic regalia is the tassel.
Traditionally, it is worn on the right side of the mortarboard until the president, during the ceremony, formally confers degrees upon the recipients. The tassel is then moved from the right side to the left side of the mortarboard. This act symbolizes each recipient's new and well-earned status.
- Graduates with an overall grade point average of 3.40 or greater are eligible to wear gold honor tassels as part of their graduation regalia. The overall grade point average is determined by computing your cumulative course work from CCBC.
Commencement-day weather can range from rainy and cool to sunny and hot — sometimes all in the same morning! Students participating in the CCBC commencement ceremony are encouraged to wear occasion and weather-appropriate clothing beneath their regalia.
Lightweight fabrics are generally a good choice to help avoid becoming overheated. Students should consider wearing low-heeled shoes in order to more easily maneuver the stairs and grassy areas of the ceremony site.
Graduates who do not have proper academic regalia (cap and gown) will not be permitted to process and cross the stage.
Graduates may decorate their mortarboards for the commencement ceremony. Embellishments are limited to the graduation cap mortarboard (the square, flat top) only. The academic gown and hood cannot be altered or decorated.
Since commencement is an official academic ceremony, we ask that all decorations be in good taste, be a positive representation of CCBC’s academic programs and community, and be family-friendly. There may be no three-dimensional decorations (items extending up from or hanging down from the mortarboard).
Graduates with mortarboard decorations that do not meet these guidelines may be asked to remove their decorations prior to the ceremony.
