America Ferrera is graduating from university after 10 years.

The 'Ugly Betty' actress first enrolled at the University of Southern California in 2002, but her burgeoning acting career - including the lead role in the hit comedy show - forced her to put her academic ambitions on the backburner until now.

America is set to graduate with a bachelor's degree in international relations from USC Dornsife - the Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences - on May 17 and is ecstatic that she will finally get to don a graduation hat and gown.

She wrote on Twitter: ''I'm walking in my college graduation in 3 days from @USCDornsife! It's finally happening! Took me 10 years, but it feels great.''

Her university wrote back: ''@AmericaFerrera Congratulations! You've worked hard to get to this moment. Enjoy it! #fighton #TrojanFamily #uscgrad (sic)''

The 29-year-old star shot to fame as the titular character in 'Ugly Betty' - earning an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award for her performance - but America has previously admitted she nearly quit acting to follow her academic dream until one of her professors gave her some helpful encouragement.

She said: ''I always wanted to go to college and get my education although I always wanted to be an actor. I never knew how those two things would work with each other and this was revealed to me in my first year of college here.''

She sought advice from Professor David Andrus, who used America's 2002 movie 'Real Women Have Curves' - in which she plays a high school graduate torn between supporting her family and pursuing a university degree - to explain to her she could do both.

She said: ''What my professor really wanted me to understand was that my passion for acting and what I loved doing in the world had the power to be a tool. In that moment I realised that I didn't have to give up what I love. I could find a way to link it to other things that I cared about.''