Every campus we've fully verified

Amherst, MA

May 30, 2027

A regional tourism official told public radio there's "not a room to be found in the region" during the Pioneer Valley's stacked college commencement season, which includes Amherst College's own weekend.

San Angelo, TX

December 12, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

Nothing within eighty miles. Abilene is the nearest other hotel market, and it is 82 miles away.

Boone, NC

December 11, 2026 & May 6–8, 2027

General visitor guidance recommends booking Boone hotels 45-90 days ahead of major App State events, with downtown hotels often reaching full occupancy on campus weekends.

Tempe, AZ

December 14, 2026 & May 10, 2027

ASU's only on-campus hotel has 330 rooms for a graduating class in the tens of thousands, a structural mismatch, not a documented policy, that's the real source of the squeeze.

Jonesboro, AR

December 12, 2026

A-State's on-campus Embassy Suites, 203 rooms, stands next to the arena where commencement is held, and the university says it offers an A-State rate.

Auburn, AL

December 12, 2026 & April 30, 2027

Auburn's own on-campus hotel runs a dedicated text-alert waitlist just to notify families when graduation-weekend rooms go on sale.

Muncie, IN

December 12, 2026 & May 1, 2027

Ball State does not ticket commencement, so guest numbers are uncapped. A live check found twelve bookable properties in all of Muncie.

Waco, TX

December 19, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

Waco has real hotel depth, 79 properties on a live check. Its problem is collision: one downtown hotel filled all 182 rooms when a concert landed on a graduation weekend.

Vestal, NY

May 13–15, 2027

More than 22,000 guests against seven bookable properties in Binghamton and two in Vestal, checked nine months ahead.

Chestnut Hill, MA

May 24, 2027

The closest hotel to Boston College's campus has roughly 162 rooms against a university that awards over 5,000 degrees a year.

Boston, MA

May 13–16, 2027

Harvard, MIT, and BU commencement weekends collide with a Cambridge hotel market already selling out.

Brunswick, ME

May 29, 2027 & May 27, 2028 & May 26, 2029

Bowdoin graduates on the Saturday before Memorial Day every year, into coastal Maine's busiest tourism weekend, against seven bookable properties in Brunswick.

Bowling Green, OH

December 11–12, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027 & August 7, 2027

Five bookable hotels in the whole of Bowling Green, against a commencement that graduated 2,511 candidates last spring.

Provo, UT

April 22, 2027

Nearly 6,900 degrees in one ceremony, three guest tickets each, and 13 bookable hotels in Provo.

Laie, HI

December 11, 2026 & April 16, 2027

Two bookable properties in Laie and no university guest housing, with the nearest real supply twelve minutes north in Kahuku.

Providence, RI

May 29–30, 2027

Commencement always falls on Memorial Day weekend, graduation demand plus regional holiday travel, all at once.

Lewisburg, PA

May 16, 2027

Bucknell itself runs a free sign-up program for "insider access on when rooms will become available" at the hotel closest to campus during Commencement.

Rexburg, ID

December 17, 2026 & April 9, 2027 & July 22, 2027 & December 16, 2027

Three full graduation rounds a year, and eight bookable hotels in Rexburg to absorb each one.

Arcata, CA

December 18, 2026

Arcata sits roughly five hours from the nearest major metro on California's remote North Coast, local public radio told residents the town gets "extra busy with visitors" on Cal Poly Humboldt's own graduation weekend.

San Luis Obispo, CA

May 21–23, 2027

Hotel SLO's own director of guest services told local news, "We have almost every room sold to Poly parents this weekend", and a nearby Morro Bay hotel owner confirmed the same night was "sold out."

Pomona, CA

May 21–23, 2027

Last round every guest aged two and over needed a ticket, and bags had to be clear.

Chico, CA

May 19–23, 2027

A Hotel Katerina employee confirmed all 112 of the property's rooms were "completely sold out and have been for weeks" ahead of Chico State's graduation week, with even restaurant reservations booked out a month in advance.

Fullerton, CA

May 24–27, 2027

Eight free tickets per graduate, children over two included, and no extras sold.

Long Beach, CA

May 16–22, 2027

The ceremonies are at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, about 16 road miles from campus.

Sacramento, CA

May 21–23, 2027

Seven free tickets per graduate, and Golden 1 Center is bagless.

Northfield, MN

June 12, 2027

Carleton College's own visitor-lodging page lists seven overflow towns beyond Northfield itself, a formal admission that this small Minnesota river town's hotel base isn't built for two separate college commencement weekends each spring.

Pittsburgh, PA

May 16, 2027

Pitt and Carnegie Mellon share the same Oakland neighborhood hotel corridor, with real but genuinely absorbable citywide inventory beyond it.

Cleveland, OH

May 12–16, 2027

Guests cannot attend the Convocation; their event is the school diploma ceremony, Friday to Sunday.

Mount Pleasant, MI

December 19, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Local hospitality guidance says lodging demand around Central Michigan "typically spikes" during graduation ceremonies specifically, in a small mid-Michigan town with a genuinely limited hotel base.

Ellensburg, WA

June 12, 2027

Central Washington has already published 12 June 2027 with both sittings and the stadium. Ellensburg's largest named hotel has 76 rooms.

Atlanta, GA

May 15–16, 2027

Three HBCUs graduate within the same 48-hour stretch each May, with recent commencement speakers including an NBA All-Star and a national political commentator, a genuine national fly-in event, not just a local ceremony.

Potsdam, NY

December 12, 2026 & May 6–8, 2027

St. Lawrence's own overflow guest lodging closes during Commencement Weekend, real evidence of how thin the North Country's own hotel base runs.

Clemson, SC

December 16–17, 2026

Clemson's only on-campus hotel has 89 rooms in a town of roughly 17,000 people, with no room-count headroom for a graduating class this size.

Conway, SC

December 12, 2026

Coastal Carolina's own page names the Fairfield Inn as "the closest hotel to the university campus." Myrtle Beach is twenty minutes east.

Hamilton, NY

May 16, 2027

Hamilton's two village hotels add up to roughly 134 rooms combined for a graduating class of about 800, and even Colgate's own overflow campus housing runs first-come, first-served with a hard deadline.

Fort Collins, CO

May 14–15, 2027

Fort Collins's own destination-marketing guidance recommends booking hotels 4-8 weeks ahead for peak periods like graduation weekend, and flags Old Town's hotels as frequent sellouts.

New York, NY

May 20, 2026

Manhattan has effectively unlimited rooms, so the question here is which Columbia ceremony is yours and where in the city it puts you.

Bloomsburg, PA

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–9, 2027

Commonwealth University graduates on three campuses in three towns, each with one named chain hotel of 65 to 73 rooms. Bloomsburg alone had nearly 1,200 graduates in 2026.

New London, CT

May 23, 2027 & June 4, 2027

A Groton hotel director confirmed her property sold out the night before a past commencement in this market, and New London's two closer fallback towns do not even resolve on a booking map.

Ithaca, NY

May 29, 2027

Cornell's own commencement office confirms the on-campus hotel has zero vacancy.

Hanover, NH

June 13, 2027

The only hotel on campus doesn't just sell out — it's not open to the public for commencement at all.

Chicago, IL

June 12–13, 2027

Children under 32 inches tall need no ticket at Wintrust Arena if they sit on a lap.

Durham, NC

May 7–9, 2027

Duke's two campus hotels do not take graduation bookings at all. Both run a prepaid, non-refundable 2027 waitlist that guarantees no room, no date and no room type even if you are selected.

Greenville, NC

December 11, 2026 & May 7, 2027

Local news reported hotels already booked ahead of a recent ECU spring commencement that drew an anticipated 18,000-20,000 people, while a softball tournament and a baseball series ran simultaneously within a half-mile of the ceremony.

Johnson City, TN

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Degrees are conferred 10 December but the ceremony is 12 December. Book the ceremony, not the conferral.

Richmond, KY

December 10–11, 2026 & May 14, 2027

EKU's calendar prints one commencement date per term; the ceremonies run two days. Richmond's nearest hotel to the arena has 97 rooms.

Cheney, WA

April 30, 2027 & June 11–12, 2027

EWU graduates its colleges one at a time: five ceremonies over Friday and Saturday in June, all in Reese Court, with doors opening 75 minutes before each.

Atlanta, GA

May 10, 2027

Atlanta's own hotel market is large enough that this cluster earns on volume and search coverage rather than acute scarcity.

Fayetteville, NC

December 11, 2026

FSU shuts the doors at the processional: 9:45am on 11 December, and no guest is admitted once it has begun.

Big Rapids, MI

December 18, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Big Rapids' largest hotel has 118 rooms and is a mile from Wink Arena. About 1,500 Ferris graduates walked in Spring 2026.

Tallahassee, FL

December 11, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027

A Tallahassee hotel manager told local reporters their property was "sold out already for pretty much all of next week" ahead of the shared FAMU/Florida State graduation weekend.

Boca Raton, FL

December 17–18, 2026 & May 6–8, 2027

FAU's own spring calendar marks the third commencement day, Saturday 8 May 2027, as tentative, and says the calendar is subject to change.

Miami, FL

December 15–17, 2026 & May 3–7, 2027 & August 2–6, 2027

Guest tickets are $15 each, four at most, and babies need one too.

Tallahassee, FL

December 11, 2026

FSU and FAMU both graduate in Tallahassee on Friday 11 December 2026, the same day.

Bronx, NY

May 22, 2027

The nearest hotel Fordham itself recommends is three miles from the Rose Hill campus - and the rest of its list heads into Westchester.

Hays, KS

December 11, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

Sixteen hotels in Hays, ten more inside forty minutes, and then 101 miles of I-70 before the next real choice.

Washington, DC

May 14, 2027

A hotel inside the campus gates, and tickets by graduate invitation only.

Fairfax, VA

December 17, 2026 & May 13, 2027

Winter Graduation is one day, three ceremonies, and every name is read.

Washington, DC

May 13–16, 2027

GW's University Commencement is held on the National Mall - outdoors, off campus, on federal parkland.

Washington, DC

May 20–23, 2027

Georgetown's own on-campus hotel is brand new for 2027, a 146-room renovation that only started taking reservations in August 2026.

Milledgeville, GA

December 12, 2026 & May 12–13, 2027

Georgia College graduates midweek. Its spring 2027 calendar row reads "Wednesday, May 12-13", and 13 May is a Thursday; the pages say so.

Atlanta, GA

December 17–19, 2026

Atlanta's own hotel market is large enough that this cluster earns on volume and search coverage rather than acute scarcity.

Statesboro, GA

December 9–10, 2026

Georgia Southern holds three commencement ceremonies on three consecutive weekdays in two different cities, and one of them is an hour away in Savannah. Check which one your graduate is in first.

Atlanta, GA

December 14–17, 2026

Five to seven guest tickets per graduate, set after the RSVP deadline.

Ruston, LA

December 4, 2026 & May 7, 2027

Two universities five miles apart share one small North Louisiana hotel market across two separate spring commencement weekends about two weeks apart.

Phoenix, AZ

October 14–16, 2026 & December 17–18, 2026

GCU runs two separate commencement series and they are out of phase. The next round is the online and cohort one, six ceremonies across 14 to 16 October 2026 in a 6,500-seat arena on campus. The traditional winter round has no published dates, and neither series has announced spring 2027.

Allendale, MI

December 12, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027

Grand Valley State's own Commencement isn't held on its Allendale campus at all, it's three separate ceremony sessions across two days at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.

Clinton, NY

May 23, 2027

Hamilton College's own guest-room page says plainly that rooms "are not available during Commencement", the college's own lodging shuts down for the exact weekend families need it most.

Cambridge, MA

May 27, 2027

Harvard, MIT, and BU commencement weekends collide with a Cambridge hotel market already selling out.

Washington, DC

May 8, 2027

Howard publishes date, time and venue together - Saturday 8 May 2027, 10 a.m., outdoors on the Upper Quadrangle.

Pocatello, ID

December 19, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Idaho State's own travel page places the Days Inn "Across the street from ISU campus." The next-nearest cluster is at I-15 exit 69, five minutes away.

Normal, IL

December 12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

No tickets and no guest limit, but a Friday ceremony at 8 p.m.

Terre Haute, IN

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Indiana State's nearest overflow towns are more than an hour away, so the two hotels on Wabash Avenue near campus are the ones that matter.

Bloomington, IN

December 17, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

The only on-campus hotel's own graduation-weekend deposit policy vanished in a website migration, book direct and get it in writing.

Indiana, PA

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

IUP's commencement venue has a 128-room Hilton Garden Inn beside it. IUP honoured 1,452 graduates in May 2026.

Ames, IA

December 18–19, 2026 & May 13–15, 2027

The hotel built for Iowa State events has 187 rooms against roughly 7,800 degrees awarded a year.

Ithaca, NY

December 13, 2026 & May 16, 2027

Ithaca College's own event-weekend lodging page found nearly every major hotel chain in the city already sold out.

Harrisonburg, VA

December 19, 2026 & May 13–15, 2027

A Harrisonburg hotel general manager says graduation weekend books out a full 13 months in advance.

Manhattan, KS

December 11–12, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

K-State has reported awarding roughly 3,300 degrees at a single commencement, against a closest hotel with just over 100 rooms.

Kennesaw, GA

December 15–17, 2026 & May 4–8, 2027

Every guest over three needs a ticket, and seats can be saved until 15 minutes before.

Kent, OH

December 18–19, 2026 & May 13–16, 2027 & August 14, 2027

About 380 hotel rooms within three miles, for a university of Kent State's size.

Kutztown, PA

December 12, 2026

Kutztown's December commencement is one combined ceremony at 10:00am in the O'Pake Fieldhouse, with six guest tickets per graduate and no admission without one.

Bethlehem, PA

May 22–23, 2027

Lehigh's own alumni events office has directly reported a Bethlehem hotel sold out for a big campus weekend before, and lists named backup hotels when it happens.

Lynchburg, VA

May 13–15, 2027

Liberty expected over 70,000 people on campus for commencement. The closest hotel has 112 rooms.

Baton Rouge, LA

August 14, 2026 & December 17, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

LSU's own Law School tells guests outright that multiple colleges hold ceremonies the same week, and the only hotel actually on campus has 129 rooms.

Alexandria, LA

December 17, 2026 & May 13, 2027

LSUA graduates on a Thursday morning in a city arena eight miles from campus. Its spring 2027 date sits on a calendar the registrar says may change.

Ruston, LA

November 21, 2026

Two universities five miles apart share one small North Louisiana hotel market: Louisiana Tech graduates on Saturday 21 November 2026 at 9 a.m., and both hold separate spring commencement weekends about two weeks apart.

Chicago, IL

May 11–15, 2027

Five days of ceremonies, one slot per school, and one hotel you can walk from.

Poughkeepsie, NY

May 22, 2026

Vassar's own visitor page already lists named hotels and group codes specifically for "Commencement 2027", real evidence of how far ahead the college plans its own hotel blocks.

Huntington, WV

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Three states' hotel markets sit within thirty minutes of Marshall, Huntington's real constraint is which rooms are walkable to the arena, not whether rooms exist.

Cambridge, MA

May 26–28, 2027

Harvard, MIT, and BU commencement weekends collide with a Cambridge hotel market already selling out.

Lake Charles, LA

December 18, 2026

McNeese opens the doors ninety minutes before each ceremony and requires no tickets, so seating is decided by when families arrive.

Oxford, OH

December 11, 2026 & May 15–16, 2027

Miami's own on-campus hotel has just 55 rooms against a graduating class of more than 4,500 degree candidates, in a town with fewer than 10 hotels total.

East Lansing, MI

December 18–19, 2026 & May 7–9, 2027

Kellogg Center suspends its own discount rates during commencement weekend, real demand pricing, not a guess.

Houghton, MI

December 19, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027

The most remote campus on this site, Houghton is partway up the Keweenaw Peninsula, roughly 180 inches of snow a year, and its next commencement is in December.

Middlebury, VT

May 23, 2027

A local inn's own reservations policy names "Middlebury College Graduation" directly as a date requiring a minimum stay and a 120-day cancellation window.

Mankato, MN

December 12, 2026

One Saturday in December, but St. Peter is only 12 miles away, the real risk here is southern Minnesota weather, not a room shortage.

Starkville, MS

December 10–11, 2026 & May 11–14, 2027

Local guidance says graduation-weekend rates in Starkville can reach $300-$400 when rooms are available at all.

Rolla, MO

December 18–19, 2026

Three ceremonies across 18 and 19 December, in the pre-Christmas travel week, with the nearest other hotel market 52 miles off.

Bozeman, MT

December 18, 2026 & May 3–7, 2027

Bozeman's own Chamber of Commerce CEO says the city struggles to build enough hotel capacity for the 4.2 million visitors it draws every May-through-September season, the same window Commencement falls in.

Atlanta, GA

May 14–16, 2027

Three HBCUs graduate within the same 48-hour stretch each May, with recent commencement speakers including an NBA All-Star and a national political commentator, a genuine national fly-in event, not just a local ceremony.

Murray, KY

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Murray State's own travel page says: "Can't find a hotel room in Murray? Take a short drive and stay in Draffenville, Mayfield, Paducah or Paris."

Las Cruces, NM

December 11–12, 2026 & May 14, 2027

Two ceremonies on consecutive days makes this a two-night booking for most families, and El Paso's deep market is 45 minutes south in another state.

New York, NY

May 14, 2026

The All-University Commencement is at Yankee Stadium, ten miles from the Washington Square campus where the school ceremonies are.

Greensboro, NC

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

A university vice chancellor said NC A&T's own host hotel for its biggest weekend "sometimes reaches capacity within minutes," with attendance projected to surpass 200,000.

Raleigh, NC

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Two ceremonies, two buildings: December is indoors at the Lenovo Center, May is outdoors at Carter-Finley Stadium.

Fargo, ND

December 18, 2026 & May 15, 2027

NDSU and UND graduate on the same day twice, 18 December 2026 and 15 May 2027, which takes Grand Forks off the table as a fallback both times.

Boston, MA

May 8, 2027

The closest named hotel to Northeastern has 285 rooms against a 2026 graduating class of over 8,400.

Flagstaff, AZ

December 11, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Four spring ceremonies across two days, and NAU publishes which colleges attend each one, so the split decides your dates.

Marquette, MI

December 12, 2026 & May 1, 2027 & December 11, 2027 & April 29, 2028

Marquette is Michigan Tech's fallback market, and it holds its own commencement a week before Tech's, in the month ski season starts.

Natchitoches, LA

May 12–13, 2027

Northwestern State graduates on a Wednesday and Thursday. Its nearest hotel to campus has 74 rooms; 860 graduates walked in 2026.

Evanston, IL

June 11–14, 2027

Individual school convocations run for four full days on Northwestern's Evanston campus, concentrating real demand on the small number of hotels immediately by campus even though the single University-wide ceremony itself is held in downtown Chicago.

Columbus, OH

December 20, 2026 & May 9, 2027

The only hotel on campus doesn't take graduation-weekend reservations, it runs a random lottery instead.

Athens, OH

December 12, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 2, 2027 & May 8, 2027

Ohio University's own finance office confirms graduation weekend is a blackout date at both of its contracted hotels, when discounted rates stop applying.

Stillwater, OK

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

The only hotel on OSU's campus has 69 rooms against a university that awards nearly 7,000 degrees a year.

Corvallis, OR

June 12, 2027

Oregon State's graduating class has topped 8,700 students in recent years, set against a genuinely small host-city hotel base.

State College, PA

December 17–20, 2026 & May 6–9, 2027 & August 13–14, 2027

Epicenter hotels run 2-night minimums, full prepay, and roughly double normal rates.

Malibu, CA

April 17, 2027 & May 21, 2027

Four schools, four separate ceremonies, and only two have published a 2027 date. The undergraduate one has not.

Prairie View, TX

December 10–11, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Prairie View has no hotel. The nearest one, in Waller, has 75 rooms; PVAMU expected nearly 1,000 candidates at its Spring 2026 ceremonies.

Princeton, NJ

May 20–25, 2027

The Nassau Inn's graduation package is pre-paid and non-refundable, a stricter policy than any normal stay.

West Lafayette, IN

December 20, 2026 & May 14–16, 2027

Purdue's graduating class topped 10,000 for two straight years, one of the largest commencement crowds in the country, packed into a single weekend of ceremonies.

Radford, VA

December 11–12, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027

Radford's undergraduate ceremony is outdoors on Moffett Lawn with no ticket and no guest limit; severe weather splits it into three indoor ceremonies at 9 a.m., 1 p.m. and 5 p.m.

Henrietta, NY

May 7–8, 2027

RIT splits its 2027 commencement across four named buildings on one campus, and does not say which college is in which.

Glassboro, NJ

May 8–14, 2027

One hotel in town, a Saturday ceremony, and your graduate's name read on a weekday after it.

New Brunswick, NJ

May 16, 2027

General visitor guidance for major Rutgers events recommends booking 2-3 weeks ahead, with rates rising 20% or more within 10 days of high-demand dates like graduation weekend.

St. Louis, MO

December 12, 2026 & May 12–15, 2027

No tickets, no guest limit, and names read only at the school ceremony.

Huntsville, TX

December 11–12, 2026

Sam Houston State's spring commencement runs three full days across six separate ceremonies at one on-campus coliseum, all compressing into a genuinely small East Texas town's limited hotel base.

San Diego, CA

May 13–16, 2027

One commencement a year, and every guest aged one and over needs a ticket.

San José, CA

December 16–17, 2026 & May 26–28, 2027

Four free tickets per graduate; extras cost $20 and only the graduate can buy them.

Saratoga Springs, NY

May 6, 2027 & May 17–22, 2027

Many hotels near campus require a two-night minimum stay during Skidmore's graduation weekend, and at least one runs its own graduation-specific booking promotion.

Slippery Rock, PA

December 12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Slippery Rock's own accommodations page lists one chain hotel, a 12-room inn and a motel. More than 1,600 graduated in Spring 2026.

Brookings, SD

May 8, 2027

One Saturday, three ceremonies, and no fall commencement to spread the load. Nearest other hotel market is 43 miles.

Cape Girardeau, MO

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

SEMO publishes a standing time table by college, 10 a.m. or 2 p.m., so the college decides whether a family needs the Friday night.

Hammond, LA

December 12, 2026 & May 15, 2027

Southeastern's spring 2027 date sits on a calendar that says of itself "This calendar is subject to change." December is stated in full.

Carbondale, IL

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

SIU Carbondale graduated nearly 2,100 students across a two-day May commencement weekend, in a genuinely isolated Southern Illinois town with no larger metro nearby.

Manchester, NH

November 14–15, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 2, 2027

SNHU's commencement is 3.6 miles from its own campus, downtown at SNHU Arena. Fall 2026 runs four ceremonies over two days plus a virtual ceremony in December; spring 2027 runs six across three days.

Cedar City, UT

April 22–23, 2027

SUU reported 3,466 graduates in 2026. Cedar City's nearest hotel to campus has 81 rooms, and the next city is nearly an hour away.

Atlanta, GA

May 15–16, 2027

Three HBCUs graduate within the same 48-hour stretch each May, with recent commencement speakers including an NBA All-Star and a national political commentator, a genuine national fly-in event, not just a local ceremony.

St. Cloud, MN

December 10–11, 2026 & May 6–7, 2027

Graduate and undergraduate ceremonies are on different days here, so the degree decides the date.

Canton, NY

May 23, 2027

St. Lawrence's own overflow guest lodging closes during Commencement Weekend, real evidence of how thin the North Country's own hotel base runs.

Northfield, MN

May 23, 2026

Carleton College's own visitor-lodging page lists seven overflow towns beyond Northfield itself, a formal admission that this small Minnesota river town's hotel base isn't built for two separate college commencement weekends each spring.

Stanford, CA

June 10–13, 2027

The nearest hotel to campus requires two non-refundable payments months apart, one of the strictest deposit structures in this project.

Cortland, NY

May 14–15, 2027

SUNY Cortland expected more than 5,000 guests for one commencement weekend in 2026. Cortland has about 220 hotel rooms.

Nacogdoches, TX

December 18, 2026 & May 13–14, 2027

SFA names Johnson Coliseum for its 18 December ceremonies but marks the location, day and time subject to change, so confirm before booking anything non-refundable.

Stony Brook, NY

May 21, 2027

Stony Brook graduates on Friday 21 May 2027 - nearly two weeks after classes end, which catches families out.

Boston, MA

May 22–23, 2027

A tent on the harbour, not the campus: five big hotels within a mile of it.

New Paltz, NY

May 21–23, 2027

SUNY New Paltz graduates over three days, Friday evening to Sunday morning, all outdoors on the Old Main Quad in 2026, with seven guest tickets per undergraduate and lawn chairs welcome beyond the reserved seats.

Syracuse, NY

May 8–9, 2027

The university's own on-campus guest housing was already full when we checked, a real-time, not hypothetical, sellout.

Stephenville, TX

December 18–19, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

Stephenville's nearest hotel to Tarleton has 64 rooms, and the next town with real inventory is forty minutes away.

Philadelphia, PA

May 5, 2027

Exactly one hotel sits on Temple's campus, and it has twenty-two rooms.

Cookeville, TN

December 11, 2026 & May 7, 2027

Tennessee Tech's nearest chain hotel to campus has 102 rooms. Its Spring 2026 class was more than 1,600, the largest in the university's history.

College Station, TX

December 11–12, 2026 & May 12–15, 2027 & August 12, 2027

The on-campus hotel charges your card in full if you cancel inside 30 days of graduation weekend, no exceptions.

Fort Worth, TX

December 18, 2026 & May 14–16, 2027

TCU's spring Commencement Weekend opens on 14 May 2027, the same day its final examinations end.

San Marcos, TX

December 11–12, 2026 & May 13–15, 2027 & August 6, 2027

Texas State's own newsroom called spring 2026 a record-setting commencement, more than 5,200 candidates across eight ceremonies over three days, in a college town with a genuinely limited hotel corridor.

Lubbock, TX

December 11–12, 2026 & May 13–15, 2027 & August 6–7, 2027

A local tourism official says graduation alone brings 25,000-30,000 visitors to a city with about 7,000 total hotel rooms.

Hattiesburg, MS

December 10–11, 2026 & May 13–15, 2027

Three ceremonies across two December days, and the nearest separate hotel market is Laurel, 28 miles up the road.

Arlington, TX

December 2, 2026

Guest tickets live only in the MLB Ballpark app; the graduate needs a printed pass.

San Antonio, TX

December 9–10, 2026

No tickets: seating in the Alamodome is open, and every name is read.

Edinburg, TX

December 11–12, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

Last round each graduate got 10 guest tickets, and children cannot cross the stage.

Towson, MD

December 16–17, 2026

Every guest needs a mobile ticket, including an infant in a carrier.

Troy, AL

December 11, 2026 & May 14, 2027

Around ten hotels in the whole town, and nothing at all inside forty-five minutes.

Kirksville, MO

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Six to eight bookable properties in the whole town, so the percentage means nothing and the absolute number means everything.

Medford, MA

May 22–23, 2027

Tufts's own commencement site says plainly that "space is at a premium in May" for guest lodging near campus.

New Orleans, LA

May 15, 2027

Up to 20 guest tickets per graduate for the Superdome; school ceremonies need none.

Tuskegee, AL

May 1, 2027 & May 7–8, 2027

Tuskegee University's own hotel guidance for major campus weekends skips the town itself entirely, pointing families to Auburn-Opelika and Montgomery instead, a genuinely thin local hotel base.

Berkeley, CA

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

The Bay Area's own hotel market is large and expensive enough that this cluster earns on volume and rate rather than acute scarcity.

Buffalo, NY

May 14–16, 2027

UB has settled the weekend - 14 to 16 May 2027 - but not the venue, and it runs three separate campuses.

Tuscaloosa, AL

December 11, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027 & August 6, 2027

The only hotel actually on Alabama's campus has 150 rooms, and Visit Tuscaloosa's own guidance says area hotels "fill quickly" for commencement weekend.

Tucson, AZ

May 14, 2027

Arizona's commencement is not on campus. It is at Casino Del Sol Stadium, six miles west of the I-19, starting at 7:30 p.m.

Fayetteville, AR

December 12, 2026 & May 15, 2027

The University of Arkansas graduates more than 6,500 students at a single Commencement, and the only hotel genuinely on campus has just 49 rooms.

Davis, CA

December 12, 2026 & June 11–13, 2027

December's ceremony is in Davis, June's is in Sacramento. The next one is Saturday 12 December 2026.

Irvine, CA

June 11–14, 2027

UC Irvine ran twelve commencement ceremonies across four days in 2026, all through one arena, for more than 8,600 participating graduates.

Los Angeles, CA

June 11–13, 2027

Los Angeles's own hotel market is large enough that this cluster earns on volume and search coverage rather than acute scarcity.

Riverside, CA

June 11–14, 2027

UC Riverside graduates 11-14 June 2027 - the same four days as UC Irvine and UC Santa Cruz, because the quarter system puts them there.

La Jolla, CA

June 12–13, 2027

UC San Diego runs a standing 15% partner rate at eight San Diego hotels, open to family and friends as well as students, alumni and staff.

Goleta, CA

June 11, 2026

UCSB's own on-campus hotel opens Commencement 2027 bookings on a single first-come-first-served date and runs no waitlist once it's full.

Santa Cruz, CA

June 11–14, 2027

UC Santa Cruz's own registrar and commencement office disagree by a day about when commencement ends. Book to the Monday.

Conway, AR

December 10–11, 2026 & May 6–7, 2027

UCA's commencement page says only that "Overnight accommodations are located throughout the city." It names no hotel, so this page does.

Orlando, FL

December 11–12, 2026 & May 6–8, 2027

The only hotel directly on UCF's campus says on its own site that Commencement accommodations "will be filling up quickly."

Warrensburg, MO

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

UCM's own guest page lists Sedalia hotels alongside Warrensburg's. More than 2,000 were honoured in the Spring 2026 round.

Cincinnati, OH

December 11, 2026 & April 28, 2027 – May 1, 2027 & August 6–7, 2027

UC publishes three future ceremony rounds, further ahead than any university on this site, and there is a hotel on campus.

Boulder, CO

May 1, 2027

The longtime closest hotel to campus closed permanently in 2024 and is being demolished for student housing.

Storrs, CT

May 8–9, 2027

UConn's own commencement page says the only hotel in Storrs "always sells out during Commencement."

Newark, DE

May 29, 2027

The University of Delaware's own commencement schedule spans Doctoral Hooding and College Convocations across May 26-29, 2027, around the May 29 Commencement, more days of family travel than a single-day ceremony.

Gainesville, FL

December 11–13, 2026 & April 25, 2027 – May 3, 2027 & May 14–15, 2027

A downtown Gainesville hotel's rate jumps from $300 to $820 a night for graduation weekend.

Athens, GA

December 11, 2026 & May 6–7, 2027

The only on-campus hotel has just 200 rooms for a graduating class in the thousands.

Houston, TX

December 17–18, 2026 & May 12–15, 2027

Six free e-tickets per graduate, and each is valid only for its ceremony.

Moscow, ID

December 12, 2026 & May 15, 2027

Moscow's Best Western Plus has 173 rooms across the road from campus. Idaho's own visit page sends overflow to Pullman and Lewiston by name.

Chicago, IL

May 5–9, 2027

UIC graduates by college across five days, 5 to 9 May 2027 - a span that overlaps its own finals week.

Champaign-Urbana, IL

May 15–16, 2027

The closest hotel to campus has a special 60-day cancellation policy just for graduation weekend.

Iowa City, IA

May 13–16, 2027 & June 4, 2027

The University of Iowa's own commencement office doesn't hedge: "Book early, commencement weekend fills up quickly!"

Lawrence, KS

May 16, 2027

Hotel rates in Lawrence have been reported jumping as high as $219/night during major KU weekends.

Lexington, KY

December 18, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

The Hyatt Regency Lexington connects to Rupp Arena by a covered skywalk, the only hotel with that distinction, and the first guidance points visitors toward for commencement weekend.

College Park, MD

May 23–26, 2027

Maryland's main commencement is on a MONDAY, with college ceremonies running Sunday to Wednesday - midweek nights in the DC hotel market.

Amherst, MA

May 21–23, 2027

A regional tourism official told public radio there's "not a room to be found in the region" during the Pioneer Valley's stacked college commencement season.

Coral Gables, FL

May 6–10, 2027

Commencement spans four days and ten separate ceremonies, all at the same 245-room hotel across the street from campus.

Ann Arbor, MI

December 20, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Michigan Stadium seats 107,601, and the university itself warns hotels book up far in advance.

Duluth, MN

May 7–8, 2027

UMD graduates downtown at the DECC rather than on campus, beside Canal Park's hotels and the Aerial Lift Bridge, and holds no fall ceremony.

Minneapolis, MN

May 6, 2027 & May 14–15, 2027

Minnesota has no single graduation day. Confirmed 2027 college ceremonies already span Thursday 6 May to Saturday 15 May.

Oxford, MS

May 8, 2027

Some 6,000 graduates against a 146-room hotel on campus. The student paper logged one property going from $232 a night to $959.

Columbia, MO

December 18–19, 2026 & May 14–17, 2027

Columbia's own tourism bureau says outright that most hotels sell out for graduation weekend: only about 15% of the city's 3,300 rooms stay available.

Missoula, MT

December 11, 2026 & May 8, 2027

Two rounds now published, and the venue for neither: UM lists the dates on its provost calendar and names no building.

Lincoln, NE

December 18–19, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

UNL's 2026 commencement was the largest in school history, 3,762 graduates earning 3,885 degrees, all funneled through Pinnacle Bank Arena the same weekend.

Las Vegas, NV

December 15–16, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

No tickets: seating in the Thomas & Mack Center is first come, first served.

Durham, NH

May 20–22, 2027

UNH's own commencement site says plainly, "It's never too early to make reservations for dining and lodging for Commencement weekend."

Florence, AL

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

UNA's own calendar calls every commencement date "tentative and subject to change without prior notice", so this cluster carries a cancellable-only booking rule.

Chapel Hill, NC

December 13, 2026 & May 8, 2027

A local hotel's own director of sales says graduation rooms need to be booked a year in advance.

Charlotte, NC

December 11–12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Three ceremonies in two days, up to eight tickets each, and no strollers in the arena.

Wilmington, NC

December 12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Guest tickets are guaranteed only if claimed by the RSVP deadline, and there is no waitlist.

Grand Forks, ND

December 18, 2026 & May 8, 2027 & May 15, 2027 & August 6, 2027

UND and NDSU hold winter commencement on the same Friday, 75 miles apart on I-29, so the fallback market is running its own graduation.

Denton, TX

December 10–12, 2026 & May 7–11, 2027

No tickets, no seat saving, and no balloons, gift bags or vases inside.

Cedar Falls, IA

December 19, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

UNI's own lodging page gives the room counts: Country Inn 65, AmericInn 58, Holiday Inn & Suites 130. Spring 2027 is already timed, college by college.

Notre Dame, IN

May 14–16, 2027

The only on-campus hotel has 150 rooms for a Commencement Weekend that confers thousands of degrees.

Norman, OK

December 20, 2026 & May 14–16, 2027

Local coverage names the only hotel on OU's Campus Corner as "the first to sell out on any big OU weekend."

Eugene, OR

June 14, 2027

Downtown Eugene's two 4-star hotels have sold out months ahead of Commencement in past years, with one hotel's guest-services staff confirming a sellout roughly two weeks out.

Philadelphia, PA

May 24, 2027

Penn's own graduation hotel-block page says plainly, "Book early! Many hotel room blocks will sell out before their published closing date."

Philadelphia, PA

November 20–21, 2026

The University of Phoenix holds no ceremony in Phoenix. Its last 2026 round is in Philadelphia, on 20 and 21 November, at Temple University's Liacouras Center. Registration closes 13 September, and the previous round closed early after filling.

Pittsburgh, PA

December 13, 2026 & May 2, 2027

Pitt and Carnegie Mellon share the same Oakland neighborhood hotel corridor, with real but genuinely absorbable citywide inventory beyond it.

Kingston, RI

December 12, 2026 & May 21–23, 2027

Three chain hotels within four miles, on the weekend before Memorial Day.

Columbia, SC

December 14, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

A Columbia hotel general manager has publicly ranked graduation among the city's biggest hotel-demand drivers, right behind SEC football and the Masters Tournament.

Tampa, FL

December 11–13, 2026 & May 6–9, 2027 & August 7–8, 2027

No tickets and no seat saving, so seats go to whoever arrives first.

Los Angeles, CA

May 12–15, 2027

Los Angeles's own hotel market is large enough that this cluster earns on volume and search coverage rather than acute scarcity.

Knoxville, TN

December 10–11, 2026 & May 13–16, 2027

A family's dated account of a past Tennessee graduation weekend put the closest hotel to campus at over $500 a night, for a property with just 112 rooms total.

Austin, TX

May 8, 2027

Residence halls close four days before the ceremony, so graduates need paid rooms too.

Williamsburg, KY

December 15, 2026

Cumberlands honoured more than 3,170 students at Spring 2026 commencement. Williamsburg's largest hotel has 95 rooms.

Salt Lake City, UT

May 6–7, 2027 & May 14, 2027 & May 21, 2027

The Thursday-night ceremony reads no names. The college convocation does.

Burlington, VT

May 22–23, 2027

UVM expected over 20,000 family and friends for 3,703 graduates from 45 states and 36 countries. Nearly all of them need a bed in Burlington.

Charlottesville, VA

May 21–23, 2027

Charlottesville's population grows by ~35,500 for the weekend; hotels book a year out at nearly double normal rates.

Seattle, WA

June 12, 2027

More than 100 department celebrations, and a light-rail stop at the stadium.

Pensacola, FL

December 12, 2026 & May 1, 2027

UWF graduates downtown at the Pensacola Bay Center, twelve miles from campus. Its spring 2027 date is on a calendar the registrar marks subject to change.

Eau Claire, WI

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

UW-Eau Claire requires a ticket for every guest, "including infants and children", up to six per graduate. The SpringHill Suites is a minute from the venue.

La Crosse, WI

December 20, 2026 & May 16, 2027

UW-La Crosse graduates downtown at the La Crosse Center on a Sunday, with three hotels within a block. Tickets are not necessary.

Madison, WI

December 13, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Three of Madison's best-known near-campus hotels are already fully booked or waitlisted, ten months out.

Oshkosh, WI

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

UW Oshkosh issues eight guest tickets per graduate through Eventbrite and opens Kolf Sports Center two hours before each ceremony.

Platteville, WI

December 12, 2026 & May 15, 2027

UW-Platteville has published 15 May 2027 down to the hour, three sittings by college. Platteville has about 190 hotel rooms; 1,037 graduated in 2026.

Stevens Point, WI

December 12, 2026 & May 22, 2027

UW-Stevens Point graduates on 22 May 2027, a week after the rest of Wisconsin. Four hotels sit within a mile of the fieldhouse.

Menomonie, WI

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

Menomonie has 205 hotel rooms in three named properties. UW-Stout graduated 1,067 in Spring 2026.

Whitewater, WI

December 19, 2026 & May 15, 2027

Whitewater has 173 hotel rooms in three properties. More than 1,730 graduated from the campus in 2026.

Laramie, WY

December 19, 2026 & May 15–17, 2027

The only four-year public university in Wyoming, graduating in December on a stretch of I-80 that Laramie's own tourism bureau publishes a storm-closure hotel guide for.

Logan, UT

May 5–7, 2027

No December ceremony at all, and the May one is on a Wednesday night.

Valdosta, GA

December 11–12, 2026

Graduate ceremony Friday, undergraduate Saturday, and the nearest other hotel market is 41 miles away.

Nashville, TN

May 14, 2027

Vanderbilt's own Families office tells visitors outright that campus-adjacent hotels "book quickly" and steers them toward suburbs a 15-minute drive away instead.

Poughkeepsie, NY

May 23, 2027

Vassar's own visitor page already lists named hotels and group codes specifically for "Commencement 2027", real evidence of how far ahead the college plans its own hotel blocks.

Johnson, VT

May 15–16, 2027

No tickets, a tent on the hill, and the hotels are in the next valley.

Villanova, PA

May 13–15, 2027

A hotel near campus names "Villanova Graduation Weekend" directly in its own reservations policy, with non-refundable prepayment required.

Richmond, VA

December 12, 2026 & May 13–16, 2027

VCU's December 2026 round is published in full - Saturday 12 December, 10 a.m., Stuart C. Siegel Center - date, time and venue together.

Blacksburg, VA

December 18, 2026 & May 14, 2027

Local news documented nearly 30 families who paid a year in advance for a Blacksburg bed-and-breakfast room, then had it cancelled days before graduation because the inn had also sold the same rooms to other families.

Winston-Salem, NC

May 17, 2027

Wake Forest's own hotels page says the conference-center hotel by campus is "often difficult to reserve" during Commencement.

Lexington, VA

May 14, 2027 & May 26–27, 2027

Washington and Lee holds two commencements a fortnight apart, law in mid-May and undergraduate in late May, in a Shenandoah Valley town whose nearest ring option is 35 minutes away.

Pullman, WA

December 12, 2026 & May 8, 2027

General travel guidance for major WSU events recommends booking Pullman hotels 2-3 months ahead, with rates rising 30-50% when demand surges.

St. Louis, MO

December 12, 2026 & May 18–21, 2027

Names are read Tuesday to Thursday; the Friday ceremony reads none.

West Chester, PA

December 10–12, 2026

West Chester publishes its December round in full - five ceremonies across three days, with the college assigned to each.

Canyon, TX

December 11–12, 2026 & May 14–15, 2027

WT's calendar already lists eight ceremony slots across December 2026 and May 2027, every one marked "Colleges [to be determined]".

Morgantown, WV

December 12, 2026 & May 14–16, 2027

WVU's own housing department runs a commencement-weekend lodging program in a campus dorm because the surrounding hotel market compresses hard that weekend.

Cullowhee, NC

December 12, 2026 & May 7–8, 2027

Cullowhee has no hotel. Sylva's nearest has 77 rooms; WCU counted 1,275 graduates in 2026.

Duluth, GA

October 10, 2026 & November 6–7, 2026

WGU holds no ceremony at its own headquarters. Its two remaining 2026 rounds are Atlanta on 10 October, at an arena in Duluth 22 miles from the city, and Anaheim on 6 and 7 November at Angel Stadium. The host cities change every year, and no 2027 dates have been published.

Bowling Green, KY

December 11, 2026 & May 6–7, 2027

A Bowling Green hotel sales manager told local news that WKU graduation is "a definite sellout." WKU has since converted that hotel into student housing.

Williamsburg, VA

May 20–22, 2027

A local lodging guide says Commencement is "consistently the most competitive weekend for Williamsburg lodging," recommending 8-12 months' notice for walkable hotels near campus.

Williamstown, MA

June 5–6, 2027

Williams College itself runs overflow guest housing in vacated dorms for Commencement weekend, letting each senior reserve up to four rooms real evidence of how tight the village's own hotel base runs.

New Haven, CT

May 22–24, 2027

Yale's own commencement office says it plainly, "New Haven hotels sell out early."

Youngstown, OH

December 11–12, 2026 & April 30, 2027 – May 1, 2027

YSU's registrar marks the spring 2027 dates "(tentative)" and the graduation page says TBA, while the catalog prints 30 April and 1 May. Cancellable bookings only.