The whole schedule is already out

UH publishes every ceremony months ahead: the college, the day, the start time and the venue, for the fall round and the spring round alike. They are all in the table above, so the first job is simply to find your graduate’s line.

A few things in that table are worth reading twice. Ceremonies start at 9 a.m., 2 p.m. or 7 p.m. The largest colleges are split into two ceremonies, marked I and II; if your graduate’s college is split, their college commencement coordinator, listed on UH’s commencement site, can say which half they are in. And two venues are used at once: the Fertitta Center, the basketball arena, and Cullen Performance Hall, about half a mile away across campus. Two ceremonies often begin at the same hour, one in each building, so check the venue as well as the time.

Six tickets, each for one ceremony

Every ceremony needs a ticket. Each graduate is emailed a link to download six electronic tickets before their ceremony; the graduate walks in without one, and children aged two and under need none. That makes six the planning number for adults and older children.

The tickets are free and tied to one ceremony, the one printed on the ticket, so a guest cannot use one to get into a different college’s slot. UH asks graduates to hand back tickets they will not use, so they can go to other families, and warns that selling them may breach the Student Code of Conduct. If a transfer to a guest does not work, the Grad Tickets Office can help on 832-842-4723, weekdays from 9 to 5, or at gradtickets@uh.edu.

Two venues, two garages

Parking is free, but the right garage depends on the venue, and UH calls commencement an extremely busy time on campus and around it.

• Fertitta Center: guests park in the Stadium Garage at 3875 Holman Street, off Scott Street. Graduates are asked to use Lot 16B instead.
• Cullen Performance Hall: guests park in the Welcome Center North Garage at 4400 University Drive. A free shuttle runs from the garage to the hall, picking up at University Drive and Cougar Village Drive, or you can walk the marked route.

UH encourages carpooling and ride-share to cut the traffic. Both venues enforce a clear bag policy; at the Fertitta Center a clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag may be up to 12 by 6 by 12 inches. Every ceremony is also livestreamed, and the recording stays online afterwards for anyone who could not travel.

Where to sleep

There is one hotel on campus: the Hilton University of Houston, with 86 rooms, close to Cullen Performance Hall and about half a mile from the Fertitta Center. It heads UH’s own list of suggested hotels, and it is small, so book it early if you want it.

After that, the city does the work. Downtown Houston is about three road miles away, eight minutes with no traffic, and most of UH’s suggested hotels are there: the Hilton Americas, the Embassy Suites, the Holiday Inn Express on Bell Street and others. Midtown and the Museum District are just as close, the Texas Medical Center ten minutes away, and Hobby Airport about seventeen.

We grade the pressure as low. Each family attends a single ceremony, the rounds are spread over two days in December and four in May, and downtown alone has thousands of rooms. For an evening ceremony, stay the night after it rather than driving on. That grade is our reading of the supply and the schedule; we have not measured free rooms on ceremony nights in Houston.