Cal State Long Beach holds its main commencement ceremonies at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, not on campus. Commencement Week is Sunday, May 16 to Saturday, May 22, 2027 on the university's academic calendar. CSULB will publish which ceremony falls on which day, and how guest tickets work, in January. The stadium is about 16 road miles and 25 minutes from campus with no traffic, so book a hotel near the stadium, in Orange or Anaheim, rather than in Long Beach.
CSULB commencement dates
| Ceremony | Date | Time | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commencement Week (ceremony schedule due from CSULB in January)CSULB will publish the ceremony-by-ceremony schedule and guest ticket details in January. | to | Not yet published | Angel Stadium, Anaheim |
Source: CSULB Commencement ("Commencement 2027 will return to Angel Stadium in Anaheim"; "scheduled for the week of May 16"; schedule and guest tickets "will be shared in January"), read on September 25, 2026. Times and venues are the university's own words; where a cell says not yet published, it has not been.
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The ceremony is twenty-five minutes from campus
Families searching for Long Beach hotels are looking in the wrong city. Cal State Long Beach holds its main commencement ceremonies at Angel Stadium in Anaheim, home of the Los Angeles Angels, and not on its own campus.
The university used the stadium for several years in a row, spent one round on campus when the baseball calendar left no room, and has now confirmed it is going back. Its reason is scale: in its own words, commencement celebrates thousands of graduates before tens of thousands of family members and friends, and few venues can hold that.
The stadium is about 16 road miles from campus, twenty-five minutes on the freeways with empty roads. At busy times on those freeways, that number means little. For the day of the ceremony, sleep near the stadium, not near the campus.
A week on the calendar, and the rest in January
What is fixed so far is the week. CSULB’s academic calendar marks Commencement Week in May, shown in the table above, and it lists no other commencement in the year, so students finishing in December wait for May.
What is not fixed is everything inside the week: which colleges are on which day, the start times, and how guest tickets work. CSULB says it will publish the schedule and the ticket details in January. Until then, two sensible moves. First, hold a refundable room for the whole week rather than guessing a day. Second, do not promise stadium seats to the extended family until the ticket rules are out.
When the details appear, we will add them here: each ceremony with its date and time, the ticket allocation, and the stadium’s parking and bag rules.
Where to sleep
The stadium sits where Anaheim meets the city of Orange, with the I-5 and SR-57 freeways close by, and there are real hotels within walking or a short drive.
- Under a mile by road: the TownePlace Suites on South State College Boulevard, about four minutes away, with 139 studio to two-bedroom suites.
- About five minutes: a cluster on The City Drive and West Chapman Avenue in Orange. The Hotel Fera, a DoubleTree, is the big one at 457 rooms; the Ayres Hotel Orange and the ALO Hotel by Ayres add about 260 more.
- Also close: the Embassy Suites on North State College Boulevard in Orange, 230 suites, which HotelGuides lists as the Angel Stadium Embassy Suites.
- About ten minutes: the Anaheim Resort around Disneyland, with a very large choice of hotels, and a natural base for a family turning the trip into a holiday.
None of the hotels near the stadium publishes a graduation-week minimum stay or deposit rule that we could find. Irvine and John Wayne Airport are under twenty minutes south, the coast at Huntington Beach under half an hour, and Long Beach itself about thirty-five minutes back the other way.
We grade the pressure as elevated. Tens of thousands of guests arrive in one week, and no family yet knows its day, which pushes everyone to book the whole week. On the other side, the stadium’s neighbourhood and the Anaheim Resort together hold a lot of rooms. That balance is our reading of the supply and the schedule; we have not counted free rooms for Commencement Week in Orange County.
Around the stadium, in Orange and Anaheim
| Hotel | Min. stay | Prepayment | Cancellation / forfeit | Typical rate | How to book |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TownePlace Suites Anaheim near Angel Stadiumsource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Ayres Hotel Orangesource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| ALO Hotel by Ayres Orangesource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Hotel Fera Anaheim, a DoubleTree by Hiltonsource | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
| Embassy Suites Anaheim Orange (Angel Stadium)source | Not published | Not published | Not published | Not published | Online, hotel’s own site |
- TownePlace Suites Anaheim near Angel Stadium: 1730 S State College Blvd, Anaheim, about 4 minutes and 0.7 road miles from the stadium. 4 floors, 139 studio to two-bedroom suites (HotelGuides). No graduation rule published. No map pin (404 twice).
- Ayres Hotel Orange: 200 N The City Drive, Orange, about 5 minutes and 1.2 road miles. 4 floors, 138 rooms and suites (HotelGuides). No graduation rule published. No map pin (404 twice).
- ALO Hotel by Ayres Orange: 3737 W Chapman Ave, Orange, about 5 minutes and 1.4 road miles. 6 floors, 128 rooms (HotelGuides). No graduation rule published. No map pin (404 twice).
- Hotel Fera Anaheim, a DoubleTree by Hilton: 100 The City Drive, Orange, about 6 minutes and 1.5 road miles. 20 floors, 457 rooms and suites (HotelGuides). No graduation rule published. No map pin (404 twice).
- Embassy Suites Anaheim Orange (Angel Stadium): 400 N State College Blvd, Orange. 10 floors, 230 suites (HotelGuides, which lists it as the Angel Stadium Embassy Suites). We could not geocode the address reliably, so there is no drive time or map pin. No graduation rule published.
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.
Orange County and Long Beach, by drive time from Angel Stadium
| Town | Drive time | Typical availability | Rate vs. epicenter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anaheim Resort (Disneyland area)Check rooms in Anaheim Resort (Disneyland area) → | 10 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| Garden Grove, CACheck rooms in Garden Grove, CA → | 12 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| Fullerton, CACheck rooms in Fullerton, CA → | 17 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| Irvine, CACheck rooms in Irvine, CA → | 18 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| John Wayne Airport (SNA)Check rooms in John Wayne Airport (SNA) → | 18 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| Huntington Beach, CACheck rooms in Huntington Beach, CA → | 27 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
| Downtown Long Beach, CACheck rooms in Downtown Long Beach, CA → | 35 min | Not measured by us for Commencement Week. | Not rate-compared. |
Drive times are road-network durations from Angel Stadium with no traffic, computed on the OSRM public router on 25 September 2026; freeway traffic at peak hours adds a lot. We have not measured Commencement Week availability in Orange County.
“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
When is CSULB graduation 2027?
CSULB's Commencement Week is Sunday, May 16 to Saturday, May 22, 2027, according to the university's academic calendar. The schedule of individual ceremonies within that week is due from CSULB in January.
Where is Cal State Long Beach commencement held?
At Angel Stadium in Anaheim, the baseball stadium that hosted CSULB's main ceremonies for several years before one round was held on campus because of a conflict with the baseball schedule. It is about 16 road miles from campus.
Do you need tickets for CSULB commencement?
CSULB has said it will share guest ticket information in January, together with the ceremony schedule. Until then the number of guests per graduate is not published, so wait before promising seats to the wider family.
Does CSULB have a December graduation?
Its academic calendar lists one Commencement Week a year, in May, and no winter commencement.
How far is Angel Stadium from CSULB?
About 16 road miles, 25 minutes with no traffic, mostly on freeways. At rush hour it can take far longer, which is why a hotel near the stadium is the safer choice on the day of the ceremony.
Where should we stay for CSULB graduation?
Near the stadium. The TownePlace Suites on State College Boulevard is under a mile away by road, and the hotels on The City Drive in Orange, including the 457-room Hotel Fera, are about five minutes' drive. The Anaheim Resort around Disneyland is ten minutes west.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- CSULB Commencement
- CSULB Academic Affairs Calendar, 2026-2027
- HotelGuides, hotels near Chapman University in Orange, used for the hotels around Angel Stadium
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