GVSU's next ceremony is SATURDAY 12 DECEMBER 2026 AT 4 P.M. at VAN ANDEL ARENA in downtown Grand Rapids. The Winter 2027 round then runs Friday 30 April at 7 p.m. and Saturday 1 May at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., at the same venue. Nothing happens on the Allendale campus, so plan your travel around downtown. Tickets are not required, but GVSU asks graduates to limit guests to about ten, and seating is general admission, which makes arrival time the thing that actually decides where you sit.
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Saturday 12 December 2026, 4 p.m.
Van Andel Arena, 130 W. Fulton Street, downtown Grand Rapids.
That is the next GVSU ceremony, and it is a single session covering the Fall round.
The Winter 2027 round is bigger and spread over two days:
| Date | Time |
|---|---|
| Friday 30 April 2027 | 7 p.m. |
| Saturday 1 May 2027 | 10 a.m. |
| Saturday 1 May 2027 | 3 p.m. |
Same arena for all of them. GVSU’s own naming calls the spring round “Winter 2027”, which is a semester label rather than an error.
Nothing happens in Allendale
GVSU’s campus is in Allendale, twenty minutes west. No part of commencement takes place there.
This matters for more than hotels. It means no campus parking lots, no shuttle from a student union, and no walking from a dorm. You are attending an event in a city centre, and it behaves like one: paid parking ramps, downtown traffic, and restaurants that take bookings.
If your graduate is still living in Allendale, work out in advance whether they are travelling in with you or separately, because the two of you leaving from different places to a 4 p.m. downtown start is how people miss the processional.
No tickets, which makes arrival time the real deadline
GVSU is unusually relaxed on admission:
“Tickets are not required, but we kindly ask that graduates limit their guests to 10 people to ensure adequate seating for all.”
Note the wording. It is a request, not an enforced allocation, and no one is going to turn your aunt away at the door.
The trade-off is that seating is general admission, first come first served, with ADA seating available. Nobody has a reserved seat, so the group that arrives an hour early sits together near the front and the group that arrives ten minutes before the start does not sit together at all.
Treat doors, not the ceremony start, as the time you are working towards.
April: which session, and when you will know
The Winter 2027 round splits GVSU’s colleges across three sessions, and which college goes in which session had not been announced when we checked on 12 August 2026. GVSU listed the assignments as to be announced.
That is a real planning problem for anyone booking flights, because a Friday 7 p.m. ceremony and a Saturday 3 p.m. ceremony are two different trips. The saving grace is that Grand Rapids hotel availability is steady, so holding flexible dates costs you very little here. The detail is on where to stay.
Absent rather than estimated
College-to-session assignments for April and May 2027: to be announced.
Doors-open times, parking guidance and shuttle arrangements: not published for these ceremonies.
Accessibility beyond the mention of ADA seating: not detailed.
Nothing on this page is carried forward from a previous year. Where GVSU has published something it is quoted; where it has not, this page says so.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the full schedule?
Fall 2026 is a single ceremony, Saturday 12 December at 4 p.m. Winter 2027 is three sessions: Friday 30 April at 7 p.m., then Saturday 1 May at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. All at Van Andel Arena in downtown Grand Rapids.
Where exactly is Van Andel Arena?
130 W. Fulton Street, downtown Grand Rapids, roughly twenty minutes from GVSU's Allendale campus. It is a city-centre arena, so parking is paid ramps and street parking rather than a campus lot.
Do we need tickets?
No. GVSU states that "Tickets are not required, but we kindly ask that graduates limit their guests to 10 people to ensure adequate seating for all." That is a request rather than an enforced cap.
If there are no tickets, how does seating work?
General admission, first come first served, with ADA seating available. With no tickets and no reserved seats, arrival time is what determines where you sit, so treat it as the real deadline of the day rather than the ceremony start.
Which session will my graduate be in for April?
Not yet assigned. GVSU listed the college-to-session mapping for the April and May ceremonies as to be announced when we checked on 12 August 2026. If you are booking for that round, book flexible dates until it appears.
How early should we arrive?
Earlier than the drive suggests, though not because of hotel pressure, which is minimal here. A 4 p.m. Saturday ceremony in a city centre means competing with ordinary downtown Saturday traffic and paying for a ramp, and general admission seating rewards whoever turns up first.
How we verified this
Last verified:
- Grand Valley State University, Future Commencement Dates ("Saturday, December 12, 2026" at "4 p.m."; "Friday, April 30, 2027" 7 p.m.; "Saturday, May 1, 2027" 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.; all "Van Andel Arena - 130 W. Fulton, Grand Rapids, MI"; April college assignments "To be announced")
- Grand Valley State University Commencement ("Tickets are not required, but we kindly ask that graduates limit their guests to 10 people to ensure adequate seating for all."; general admission seating with ADA seating available)
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