UVa has a detailed “final exercises” website that lists parking locations, shuttle buses, handicapped facilities, tickets, etc.
Can anyone offer any advice for parents for getting around on graduation day?
How about advice for next year? Do you need to book hotels or B&Bs a year in advance?
My two cents from past experience (two graduations):
1).Walking is the best mode of transport on graduation day;
2)If you want to get a “good” seat on the Lawn, send someone in your party early to hold seats (early is probably 7:30);
3)Bring snacks
4)Call hotels directly to make reservations (not online);
5)Be prepared for a 3 night minimum stay requirement;
6)Make dinner reservations at the same time;
7)Relax and enjoy the experience;
8)Pray for good weather (2014 was PERFECT)
My mom thought the lawn was a waste of time since there were too many people to see me, but liked my individual graduation ceremony where I got to walk up and get my degree.
Ask your kid about their plans (parties etc) – don’t assume they’re spending every minute with you. They’ll want some time with their friends also. I did like that I got driven in on graduation morning/shuttled since then I didn’t have to worry about my own parking (one less thing to worry about) but then I spent the morning with my friends so I didn’t see my family again until lunch/dinner.
I had my frames pre-ordered so I could pop both of my degrees right in. The degrees are expensive if you lose/damage them. I ordered through the bookstore which just meant I had to transport 2 large frames from the bookstore to the bus to my car. That was before the bookstore validated parking so in hindsight I would have just paid the dollar or two to pull my car up to the bookstore instead of trying to drag those heavy frames all the way to JPJ where my car was…
How do you handle lunch that day?
Do you just grab a quick bite from a fast food place & save the sit down dinner for another time?
I wasn’t able to convince my youngest kid to get up early & go to the Lawn to save some seats for us.
Definitely not a sit down lunch. Ceremonies are at all random times. My dorm Brown College gave us lunch which was nice.
Depending on the time and size of your individual degree ceremony, lunch could be late. There is no food available during the Lawn ceremonies, so bring snacks to hold you over until lunch. The Corner is likely to be a zoo after the ceremonies, so be prepared.
Also, I personally thought the Lawn ceremony is great. It does make a difference if the weather is nice. The best part is watching the students walk by…it’s basically an organized party. It’s a big day for them and it shows on their faces as they walk by.
Be prepared not to see your graduate walk the Lawn unless you snag a seat on the aisle next to the procession. About 80 percent of the audience last year stood on their seats to watch the graduates walk in, which was fairly obnoxious, as it meant that you could choose to do the same and block the 20 percent who were too old, too frail, or too uncoordinated to balance on a folding chair on grass - or choose not to see the processional at all. We chose the latter. It’s just wrong to stand on your seat and block someone else’s view.
We did get to see an interesting parade of balloons over the heads of our fellow audience members.
I’d probably feel differently if I were the parent of a UVA undergrad or an alum myself. But if I could do it over again, we wouldn’t have gone to the Lawn ceremony at all. The Law School graduation was done perfectly, and it was enough celebration for us.
Thanks.
My own UVa graduation ceremony many years ago was one of the many ones with torrential downpours.
I usually stay in Waynesboro off of I64. You get much more for your money, and the smooth drive on I64 often doesn’t take much more time than sitting in traffic on 29. There also is not a minimum number of nights stay.
If you want to stay in Cville, you probably should make reservations a year in advance. The U. also rents out student housing for families for graduation.
A few notes…
-Remember that this is the first year that Final Exercises are split up between two days. The College of Arts & Sciences crowd will be on the Lawn on Saturday. All of the smaller schools will be on the Lawn on Sunday (Engineering, Architecture, Nursing, Curry, McIntire, Batten, SCPS, and the grad schools).
-There are several companies that facilitate renting private houses, carriage houses, and condos in the area. Many of them will be snapped up by now, but it’s definitely an option.
-If you have relatives who might not be able to handle the Lawn, the entire thing is streamed live on the UVa website, so they could watch from a hotel room or graduate’s apartment.
- Do not miss Valedictory Exercises on Friday. This might be the day with the BIG crowds since it is for all schools. We'll see...
http://www.virginia.edu/finals/
ETA: I can’t believe it’s only a month away…
I understand that there is an option of renting dorm rooms. Has anyone done that for graduation? Despite the obvious compromises associated with living in a dorm, it seems like it would be very convenient and also give extended families not able to be on the Lawn a good on Grounds experience. Any feedback would be welcome.
The on-Grounds rooms are on Alderman Road (air conditioned), but I believe all the rooms are booked for this year.
We stayed in the dorms when D graduated and it was a good option for us. It was convenient, clean and quiet. We live close enough we could have easily driven if the weather was good - fog on Afton is never fun to go through - glad we decided to stay on Grounds that year.
I was just informed there will be no standing room on the Lawn this year (the Rotunda area is under construction). Apparently you will not be able to enter the Lawn if you don’t have a ticket. The students can pick up 4 tickets. If there is a thunderstorm or lightning, and the ceremony is moved to Jones Arena, each student is limited to 3 tickets. There are places on-grounds where people can watch live in auditoriums.
planning ahead for next year. Do you only get 4 tix total for the lawn ceremony. What about engineering graduation? is that also limited? WE had a lot of family wanting to come form CA, but then not the same if they can’t get tix and watch on a monitor plus pay travel/hotel. With parents and siblings, we use 4 of the tic already.
@Charliesch, any particular hotel you recommend in Waynesboro? was it a 30 min drive? I will check that area
Also, if people are arriving 730am at the lawn, when does it fill up? and what time did that ceremony start? IF we stay in centerville, then there is a 3 night stay Fri thru Sun. If I want to stay, thursday night, then thats 4 nights as the hotel is only requiring that wkend as mandatory and won’t let me do three days consisting of thur-sat. CRAZY! So right now it looks like an early drive from Dulles to get to centerville early morning. anyone know what the traffic situation is like getting into uva that friday morning?
Thanks for any replies!
I think you need someone from this year to chime in since the two-day format is new.
Make sure you are searching for Charlottesville hotels and not Centerville. We have a Centreville, VA (which is near Dulles).
Also look at the websites where you can rent a home, condo, or cottage. A lot of Charlottesville folks rent out their homes for graduation weekends if they live within walking distance of the University or Downtown. 
ok thanks… yes that was a typo on the city.
We stayed at the Comfort Inn in Waynesboro, which was fine. There are a couple older chain hotels in town that are also fine. I’m not fussy about hotels, because I rarely spend much time in them, except to sleep.
We arrived at the Stadium parking lot at 7:30, and it was empty. Most people come from the north. People who arrived on the Lawn after 9:30 faced crowded conditions moving around to find a seat, but it seemed OK if you got onto the Lawn before 9 am. They had asked everyone to get there in time to find a seat before 9:15.
My son was in Batten - we could get 4 seats to the Lawn and 4 seats to the Batten ceremony. Friends traded extra tickets among each other. If there are extra relatives, they can also watch from one of the auditoriums, which will be listed online, and which are air conditioned. Some of those older auditoriums have steep steps, but I assume they have some places that are accessible. Old Cabel is used for some ceremonies - they have an elevator and handicapped seating, but the elevator is somewhat hidden - you have to ask.
We had a daughter just graduate from the college.I was a little nervous about the logistics but all went smoothly. Four of us (parents and grandparents) watched on the Lawn and siblings watched in Newcomb Hall. We got to the Lawn about 8:30 but I think it was too early. We got a seat close to the stage but were in the sun for the whole morning so we were hot and uncomfortable and still could not really see the stage. I have another daughter graduating from UVA in a couple of years and next time we won’t get there until after 9:00 and will be happy to sit father back where it is more shaded.
We only live an hour away from Charlottesville so at first thought we would drive over for the day but ended up getting a couple of rooms at the Excel Inn and Suites for Friday night. The hotel is pretty basic but it is within walking distance of the Lawn. They were very nice about letting us keep our car parked there until mid afternoon after our daughters diploma ceremony.
The highlight of the weekend for us (aside from seeing our daughter graduate!) was the valedictory exercises Friday afternoon with Ed Helms. He was great!