The ticket rules decide who comes

SJSU gives every graduate four guest tickets for free. More are available at $20 each, but only the graduate can buy them, through the same ticketing portal, and then pass them on by email. A parent cannot buy extra seats directly, however willing. So the conversation about who is coming has to happen with the graduate, early.

The windows matter. For the fall round, free tickets are claimed first, and extra tickets are on sale for several weeks after that, closing a few days before the ceremonies; the exact dates are in the table above. After that, SJSU sells a limited number of tickets on the day, and only if the Event Center has seats left. Anyone aged three or older needs a ticket.

One building, a slot for each college

Every SJSU ceremony is in the Provident Credit Union Event Center, the arena on the downtown campus, and each college has its own. In the fall round there are four a day across two days, at 9:30 in the morning, and at 1, 4 and 7 in the afternoon and evening. The spring round runs over three days; SJSU has fixed the dates, and the times follow later.

For a 9:30 start, a hotel downtown turns the morning into a short walk or a three-minute drive, and for a 7 p.m. start it means no late drive afterwards.

Parking: pay ahead and save half

Commencement parking costs $5.40 if you pay in advance and $10.40 on the day, through the ParkMobile app or the pay stations. SJSU points guests to the North Garage, at Tenth and San Fernando Streets, and the West Garage, at Fourth and San Salvador Streets; the Event Center sits between them. The South Garage, at Seventh and San Salvador, has limited space and likely congestion, and SJSU asks that it be left for guests who need accessible parking.

The city’s own garages at Fourth and San Fernando and at Second and San Carlos are a block from campus, and the first ninety minutes are free, which will not cover a whole ceremony but softens the bill. Downtown San José is also on light rail, Caltrain and bus routes, which SJSU lists as alternatives to driving.

Where to sleep

SJSU is downtown, so the hotels are close. The Signia by Hilton on Market Street, with 805 rooms, and the Westin further along Market Street are both about three minutes by car from the Event Center, and the Hyatt Place on Almaden Boulevard about five. All three are within walking distance of campus for most families.

Further out, Santana Row and the airport hotels are about ten minutes away, Santa Clara thirteen, and the Peninsula towns of Mountain View and Palo Alto twenty to thirty minutes with clear roads. San Francisco is an hour or more.

We grade the pressure as low. Each family comes for one ceremony, the rounds are spread over several days, and downtown has hundreds of rooms within a few blocks. That grade is our reading of the schedule and the supply; we have not counted free rooms in San José on ceremony days.