BA BA doctorate, have you any rules?

The end of the term is the time we say a fond farewell to the students who have completed their studies at the U. Not only are they leaving with knowledge and experience, they are leaving with at least a couple of extra letters to their name...but how do we format those letters? The Chicago Manual of Style (the University's go-to reference) recommends omitting the periods in abbreviations of academic degrees (e.g., BA, MS, PhD). Additionally, just as terms that indicate student status should be lowercased (e.g., sophomore, senior), so should names of degrees (e.g., master's degree, a doctorate).