The University of Central Arkansas graduates on weekdays, graduate school on a Thursday and undergraduates on a Friday, in both December and May: 10 and 11 December 2026 on the university's important-dates page, and 6 and 7 May 2027 on the registrar's academic calendar, all weekdays cross-checked. The ceremonies are in the Farris Center on Bruce Street. UCA's commencement page says of lodging only that "Overnight accommodations are located throughout the city" and names no hotel, so this page does: the Fairfield Inn & Suites, Comfort Suites and Home2 Suites at I-40 exits 125 and 127, 2.3 to 2.5 miles from the Farris Center by a hotel-distance directory, none with a confirmed room count. Undergraduate families need the Thursday night. Conway is a city of 65,000 and Little Rock, 41 minutes down I-40, is the overflow with depth; Maumelle and North Little Rock are closer.
Get the alert when University of Central Arkansas’s booking window opens
We email you once, when rooms near campus start selling out (often 6–12 months ahead). No spam, unsubscribe anytime.
“Throughout the city”
UCA’s commencement page, on lodging: “Overnight accommodations are located throughout the city.” That is the university’s entire statement. No hotel is named. So this page names the three chain properties nearest the Farris Center, the commencement venue on Bruce Street, using a hotel-distance directory for that building.
Fairfield Inn & Suites Conway, 2260 Sanders Road, I-40 exit 125. 2.3 miles from the Farris Center per the directory. No room count confirmed in an English-language directory, so none stated.
Comfort Suites Conway, 705 Museum Road, I-40 exit 127. 2.3 miles. No count stated.
Home2 Suites by Hilton Conway, 820 Bill Dean Drive, I-40 exit 127. 2.5 miles. No count stated.
About seven minutes by road to any of them. No matched-window availability series has been run for Conway, so this page publishes no count of what remains, and the size of the graduating class was not verified in the research.
Thursday for graduate degrees, Friday for undergraduates
UCA runs the same shape every round. Spring 2027, per the registrar’s academic calendar: “May 6, Thursday Spring Commencement: Graduate Ceremony” and “May 7, Friday Spring Commencement: Undergraduate Ceremonies.” Winter 2026, per the important-dates page: “Dec 10 | Graduate School Commencement Ceremony” and “Dec 11 | Undergraduate Commencement Ceremonies.” All four weekdays check out.
An undergraduate family needs the Thursday night. A graduate-degree family needs the Wednesday night, or the Thursday after December’s 5 p.m. ceremony. Both are working days; the weekend is free. December’s schedule is on the commencement page: 5 p.m. Thursday for all graduate degrees; 9 a.m. Friday for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Business; 12 p.m. Friday for Education, Health and Behavioral Sciences, and Science and Engineering. Spring times were not published at this check.
Down I-40 to the capital
Maumelle, 27 minutes south, a Little Rock suburb with interstate chains. North Little Rock, 35 minutes, the metro’s north bank. Little Rock, 41 minutes, the state capital, with the deepest inventory in the ring and the airport. Cabot, 50 minutes southeast, a commuter town with lodging.
Little Rock is why Conway’s unconfirmed room counts are less alarming than they would be elsewhere. Drive times are off-peak road routes computed on 14 September 2026, not measured journeys.
No wrapped gifts
One rule from the commencement page worth knowing before the drive: “no wrapped gifts be brought into the ceremony.” Tickets for December go online from mid-November through the Reynolds Box Office; the ceremony weekend logistics page has the detail.
Not claimed here
No availability count, no graduate count, no room counts. No university-endorsed hotel; UCA names none. The Farris Center’s own coordinate is not the map anchor because it did not register on the map provider’s endpoint; the campus coordinate a few hundred metres away is used instead.
Verified hotel rules
| Hotel | Min. stay | Prepayment | Cancellation / forfeit | Typical rate | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairfield Inn & Suites Conwaysourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Home2 Suites by Hilton Conwaysourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Comfort Suites Conwaysourcecheck rates | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
- Fairfield Inn & Suites Conway: 2260 Sanders Road at I-40 exit 125, 2.3 miles from the Farris Center per a hotel-distance directory for the venue. A room count was not confirmed in an English-language directory, so none is stated. No commencement-specific minimum stay, prepayment or cancellation policy was found, and none is claimed.
- Home2 Suites by Hilton Conway: 820 Bill Dean Drive at I-40 exit 127, 2.5 miles from the Farris Center per the same directory, about seven minutes by road. Room count not confirmed; none stated. No commencement-specific policy was found.
- Comfort Suites Conway: 705 Museum Road at I-40 exit 127, 2.3 miles from the Farris Center per the same directory, about seven minutes by road. Room count not confirmed; none stated. No commencement-specific policy was found.
Opens live availability around campus via our partner Stay22. Several of the properties above take graduation bookings only by phone, mail-in form, or lottery, so treat this as a price check against the rules in the table, not a replacement for them. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
The ring
| Town | Drive time | Typical availability | Rate vs. epicenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maumelle, ARCheck rooms in Maumelle, AR → | 27 min | Not measured for this cluster. A Little Rock suburb with interstate chain lodging. | Not measured. |
| North Little Rock, ARCheck rooms in North Little Rock, AR → | 35 min | Not measured for this cluster. A metro hotel market on the north bank of the Arkansas River. | Not measured. Metro pricing. |
| Little Rock, ARCheck rooms in Little Rock, AR → | 41 min | Not measured for this cluster. The state capital, with deep hotel inventory and the airport. | Not measured. Full range. |
| Cabot, ARCheck rooms in Cabot, AR → | 50 min | Not measured for this cluster. A US 67 commuter town with lodging. | Not measured. |
Drive times are off-peak road routes to campus computed with OSRM on 2026-09-14, not measured journeys. No matched-window availability series has been run for any town in this ring.
“Check rooms” are partner links (Stay22), and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Live availability near campus
Map and booking links are provided by our partner Stay22. We may earn a commission on bookings made through this map at no extra cost to you.
Frequently asked questions
Which hotel is closest to the Farris Center?
The Fairfield Inn & Suites at 2260 Sanders Road, I-40 exit 125, and the Comfort Suites at 705 Museum Road, exit 127, both 2.3 miles per the HotelGuides Farris Center listing; the Home2 Suites at 820 Bill Dean Drive is 2.5 miles. About seven minutes by road. No room counts were confirmed, so none is stated.
Will Conway sell out?
No matched-window availability series has been run for Conway, so this page publishes no count. A city of 65,000 with an interstate hotel cluster, a class whose size was not verified, and demand spread over a Thursday and a Friday is the structure. Little Rock's inventory is the safety net.
Which night do we need?
Undergraduate ceremonies are on the Friday, 7 May 2027 and 11 December 2026, so the Thursday night; December's are at 9 a.m. for Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and Business, and 12 p.m. for Education, Health and Behavioral Sciences, and Science and Engineering. The Graduate School ceremony is the Thursday, at 5 p.m. in December, so the Wednesday night or the Thursday after it. Spring times were not published.
Where is the overflow?
Maumelle, 27 minutes south on I-40, with interstate chains; North Little Rock at 35; Little Rock at 41, the state capital with deep inventory and the airport; Cabot at 50 to the southeast.
Does UCA publish a hotel list?
No. The commencement page says "Overnight accommodations are located throughout the city" and stops there. The three hotels here are from a hotel-distance directory for the Farris Center.
Do we need tickets?
Yes for December. The commencement page states "Graduation tickets will be available online only, starting mid-November", sent to graduates by personalised link through the Reynolds Box Office. The page also asks that "no wrapped gifts be brought into the ceremony."
What about December?
Thursday 10 December 2026 at 5 p.m. for the Graduate School and Friday 11 December at 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. for undergraduates by college, all in the Farris Center and livestreamed, per UCA's commencement page. Same hotels, the Wednesday or Thursday night.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- UCA Registrar, academic calendar ("May 6, Thursday Spring Commencement: Graduate Ceremony"; "May 7, Friday Spring Commencement: Undergraduate Ceremonies")
- UCA, important dates ("Dec 10 | Graduate School Commencement Ceremony"; "Dec 11 | Undergraduate Commencement Ceremonies")
- UCA, Commencement ("All ceremonies will be held at the Farris Center and will be livestreamed."; December schedule by college; "Graduation tickets will be available online only, starting mid-November."; "Overnight accommodations are located throughout the city"; "no wrapped gifts be brought into the ceremony")
- HotelGuides, hotels near the Farris Center (Fairfield Inn & Suites 2.3 miles; Comfort Suites 2.3 miles; Home2 Suites 2.5 miles)
This page is verified in two stages. Every fact is checked against the primary sources listed above, then the page is reviewed and signed off by our editor, A. Hassan. Corrections and enquiries: hello@graduationstay.com