Convocations on both sides of commencement

Most universities on this site run a big ceremony and then send colleges off to smaller ones afterwards. BYU-Idaho puts them before and after, and the difference decides how long you are in Rexburg.

Here is the day as BYU-Idaho has published it for Thursday 17 December:

Time	What	Where
10:00 to 11:00 a.m.	Convocations: Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics; Health and Life Sciences	BYU-I Center; Hart Building
12:45 p.m.	Commencement (seated by 12:30, processional 12:45)	BYU-Idaho Center
3:00 to 4:00 p.m.	Convocations: Education and Human Development; Academic Success and Interdisciplinary Studies; Language and Letters	BYU-I Center; Hart; Taylor
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.	Convocations: Business and Communication; Performing and Visual Arts	BYU-I Center; Hart Building

The college order is not fixed. In July, STEM was the last convocation of the day and Education the first; in December it is the other way round.

One family is finished at eleven in the morning. Another is still on campus at six in the evening. Both attended the same graduation.

So the first thing to establish is not the date, it is which convocation your graduate is in. A STEM family and an Education family should book different trips.

The Wednesday is part of it

Two events sit on the day before, and guests are invited to the second.

Grad Kickoff, 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the University Store, where graduates collect the cap, gown, stole and tassel bundle.

Grad Night with the university president, 6:00 to 7:00 p.m., doors at 5:30, in the MC Ballroom. BYU-Idaho describes it as a reception for graduates and their guests.

Add a Wednesday evening reception to a Thursday that can run to six, and this is a two-night trip for most families rather than a one-night one. Rexburg has eight bookable properties, which the where to stay page covers.

Three graduations a year

Worth stating plainly, because it is genuinely unusual and it changes how the town behaves.

BYU-Idaho runs a three-track continuous-enrollment calendar, and graduates three times a year: Winter, Spring and Fall. Rexburg’s small hotel base is compressed three times annually rather than once, which is why local guidance treats commencement dates as a recurring rate spike rather than a single annual event.

The rounds on the calendar now:

• Fall 2026: Thursday 17 December 2026, confirmed on the academic calendar.
• Winter 2027: Friday 9 April 2027, from BYU-Idaho’s Winter 2027 Academic Dates PDF, which lists “Graduation Commencement & Convocation” on “Apr 9, Fri”.
• Spring 2027: Thursday 22 July 2027 and Fall 2027: Thursday 16 December 2027, both from the equivalent official PDFs.

A note on how those 2027 dates are sourced, because the obvious check misleads here. BYU-Idaho’s academic calendar publishes an event page per event, and those pages only exist for near-term events; every 2027 graduation URL returns a 404. That is a property of the calendar system, not evidence that the dates are unpublished. The dates come from the semester dates and deadlines PDFs, which are official and current.

Practical rules

No food or drink is allowed inside any event venue. On a day that can run from ten in the morning to six in the evening, that matters. Campus food venues in the Crossroads are open 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on graduation day.

Everything is livestreamed, commencement and each convocation separately, and the Business and Communication convocation carries an ASL live stream. Given how spread out the day is, that is a genuine option for relatives who cannot manage two ceremonies eight hours apart.

Apply in time to be named. BYU-Idaho sets a graduation application deadline for a graduate’s name to appear in the digital programme, and a separate early-bird deadline for the cap and gown bundle. Both fall well before the ceremony.

What is published, and what is not

The times and the convocation split on this page are BYU-Idaho’s own December programme. No tickets are required for any event. Not published for December: parking arrangements. For the 2027 rounds only the dates are out; the times and the college split for each will appear on the graduation page nearer the time.