The University of North Florida had to reprint all of the diplomas given to  spring 2017 graduates due to a misprint.

The bottom line of the diplomas read: “This Twenty-Eigth Day of April, A.D., 2017.” The “h” which was left off of the word eighth prompted the mass reprint.

Brianna Patterson, who received her masters in counselor education did not initially notice the error on her diploma.

“My initial thought was I can’t believe I have a master’s degree from a school that cannot spell. The irony is actually funny to me,” Patterson said. “The typo is not that big of a deal because it is very small and if it wasn’t brought to my attention, I wouldn’t have noticed because the script is very small. I’m fine with keeping the original. I’m sure once it is hung no one will notice.”

Megan Kuehner of the University Registrar sent out a letter to student with their corrected diplomas.

“We regret to inform you the diplomas provided by the University contain an unfortunate error,”  Kuehner wrote. “We are disappointed in the error and corrected it immediately. Enclosed is a reprint and we apologize for any inconvenience.”

Kendall Griffey, who  earned her degree in communication, also did not notice the mistake on her diploma until she received the corrected version.

“I didn’t realize the misspelling until I was mailed the corrected diploma, I will be keeping the corrected version instead of the original,” said Griffey. “I can’t believe no one caught the typo, but since it’s been corrected it’s not that big of a deal.  I’m just glad someone found it.”

But alumni should look on the bright side, they technically received two degrees for the price of one.

Spinnaker reached out to university officials for comment on the typo but a response was not received by the time of publication. The story will be updated as new information becomes available.

Update: UNF issued a statement to WJXT about the incident:

“Due to a computer coding error, diplomas provided by the University of North Florida to 1,634 graduates during spring commencement April 28 contained an unfortunate error — the word “eighth” was misspelled on the diplomas. UNF regrets the mistake and apologizes to our recent graduates.  The error has been corrected and new diplomas have been mailed to all graduates. The university has addressed the issue and taken steps to prevent it from happening again.”

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