<p>Believe it or not, just received a card from S's college, reminding us when graduation is this May and urging us to make accommodations ASAP. We are about 2 hours away and could conceivably drive up and back down the same day (ceremony starts at 10 on a Sunday.) There are, however, a number of events the day before-- various receptions and so on. For those of you who have already had children graduate, did you attend these and were they worthwhile or dull? I have asked our son whether he wants us to attend-- haven't heard back yet (he is out of the country.)</p>
<p>Also, I notice on the school calendar that he is required to move out the next day after the graduation by 9 am! Since it seems fairly likely this last night for him will be an all night affair of various revelries , I am wondering just how this will work, practically speaking. Anyone have experience with this? He will have a car this coming year, which means he will have to drive it back home... after a sleepless and probably fairly drunken night. Just beginning to obsess about logistics (it is never to early for that!) Ideas? Suggestions?</p>
<p>Not a parent but did graduate in May and had to deal with the moving-out-day-after-commencement process, except my schol had a 5 pm deadline (and even that was tight for some people). Since your home is near your son’s school, he might want to consider moving out several days before the deadline, perhaps as early as finals week (after he’s done, of course). I thought that was the smartest choice for people whose families lived nearby, even if it did involve a lot more driving. It certainly made for a less stressful commencement week for them.</p>
<p>Also want to add that if you plan on arriving on the day of commencement, parking would be another issue to consider.</p>
<p>From what I know, hotels near universities get booked solid months in advance of around graduation dates. It may be a good idea to make hotel reservations for all the possible days you might need. You can cacel it later if you don’t need it. Usually there is no penalty if you cancel within a certain time (in lots of hotels it is just 24 hour notice).</p>
<p>We lived two hours away from DS’s university. We drove UP the day of the graduation and back the same day…no overnight. He didn’t want to attend the large university graduation so we went only to the departmental one. We didn’t attend any other “events” of the weekend.</p>
<p>DD lived across country. Her school had only one graduation ceremony so that is what we went to. There were some departmental awards events the day before the graduation but we were on a plane traveling during them…so we didn’t go to those either (some other relatives attended an honors thing with DD that day). Since it was cross country, we made a five day vacation out of it and stayed at a B and B. It was wonderful but most of what we did had NOTHING to do with graduation from the college.</p>
<p>I moved out a few days before commencement, we were required to be out within 24 hours of our last final-- which was a pain because who wants to be packing when you’re supposed to be studying.</p>
<p>We didn’t go to any of the extra events, and we only lived 20 minutes away so it wouldn’t have been a big deal for us. By the end of finals my last semester I was burnt out on my school and ready to get away, I wasn’t interested in any of that stuff anymore. YMMV.</p>
<p>Some good suggestions here-- particularly moving stuff out before the actual date when they are required to vacate. You would think the college administration would be a little more forgiving and give us an evening deadline, rather than a 9 am one. Seems a little sadistic to me…</p>
<p>It is just so hard to believe that we are in this phase now-- seems like yesterday when we were obsessing over applications and then freshman move-in.</p>
<p>I think I will make hotel reservations just in case. No downside, as I can always cancel if we end up not needing them.</p>
<p>Most colleges will allow an extension of the move out date (from the dorms) if there is a good reason for it. DD got it EVERY term because she had to wait a day to fly home…it was not a problem. Both of my kids’ schools allowed seniors to stay until 24 hours AFTER graduation day.</p>
<p>You are lucky. My oldest had to be out of her dorm within a couple of hours after graduation. We packed everything up a couple of weeks earlier, except for what she needed for student teaching, and then took all that was left other than a suitcase the night before graduation. Because of that, and because my parents were coming down from out of state, we got rooms near the college even though we live about 3 hours away.</p>
<p>My youngest graduates in May, but will be staying on at school for another year for her masters. She has asked us to come up the day before (we live 2 hours from her school) because she’d like us to come to the baccalaureate service and honors presentations the day before graduation. I think part of the religious service involves a blessing of the hands for those who are in her PA program, as they will begin their residencies immediately after graduation.</p>
<p>Idiot me forgot to save the date and scheduled a wedding the day of her graduation. I keep forgetting that she’s getting her BS that day, since she will be continuing her education. Dumb!!</p>
<p>My D had to move out the day after graduation (by noon–but an extension was possible). IMO, if your student can get most of his/her stuffed packed up before graduation that would be optimal. D2 wasn’t able to do that, so we ended up doing a good bit of packing on the day she moved out.</p>
<p>I would definitely make a hotel reservation early. I had trouble and my D was near a major urban area–I waited until January. I ended up doing a house swap with friends of friends.</p>
<p>Just made reservations just in case-- no cancellation fee unless it is last minute. I was surprised that my first choice was already fully booked for the 2 designated nights.</p>
<p>We made our reservations for our daughter’s college graduation stay a full year before her graduation. In fact we had emailed the B and B where we wanted to say in March of her junior year…it was REALLY our first choice (and we needed three or four rooms). The good choices book VERY quickly.</p>
<p>When we went for DS’s ORIENTATION…one of the speakers suggested making graduation reservations THAT weekend (yes…before freshman year started) and even provided the date. Of course…the hotels don’t take reservations four years in advance. (we didn’t need them…but it was an interesting thing to hear).</p>
<p>There was another thread that touched on this. It started about making reservations early for family weekend and moved into the issue with reserving hotels for graduation. When I called for graduation reservations at that time, the hotels right in town were already booked. </p>
<p>I wasn’t sure about the events before and after, so I made the reservation a little longer knowing that I could always cancel. </p>
<p>I don’t know how to link to an old thread, but if you search First time College Parent?? Time to book your hotels! you should be able to see it.</p>
<p>I booked our hotel in Jan for DS’s late May grad; when the desk clerk heard the dates, her reaction was “For *** graduation? Yeah, we’re filling up for that.” (And the hotel across the street from S’s U was already completely booked).</p>
<p>When I booked for D2’s graduation in May 2012 as soon as the option opened up, the rooms on hotels.com were already disappearing fast. My assumption is that we will load up the car in advance and just pick her and a few things up in the morning afterwards.</p>
<p>We made our hotel reservations 11 1/2 months out so we could get the hotel we wanted at the lowest price they were offering (it only went up after that). We only live 1 1/2 hours away, but we were attending the President’s reception the night before graduation so then stayed over. </p>
<p>After graduation we were invited to S’s friend’s house for a picnic type event. After that, we went back to S’s apt., loaded our SUV with what would fit and took that home and emptied the car. We returned the next day to finish cleaning out and making the house presentable so they would get their security payments back. So that included wiping down walls and quickly cleaning the carpets as well as loading the rest of his stuff. We must have done a good job as S got all his security back. We accomplished all that in about 5-6 hours and that was a whole house that five guys lived in and really hadn’t started cleaning out yet!</p>
<p>There really didn’t seem to be any wild graduation parties that night. It’s not like high school where everyone lives locally.</p>
<p>^^We also booked rooms for D2’s May 2012 graduation as soon as the option opened up a few months ago. And it was tough finding a place. We settled on a motel 15-20 miles away because we had stayed there before and knew they would be less well known and would have rooms. I bet it would be very difficult to find a room with/in 50 -60 miles at this point.</p>
<p>I would book as soon as you can regardless of the location. Even big city rooms fill (at least most desirable) if there are conventions, etc.</p>
<p>Thanks for the heads up. My family lives within an hour so hotels are not necessary, but I’ll remember to share this advice with my friends whose families are farther away.</p>
<p>You might have gotten lucky. There was another thread recently, in which numerous parents said that if you don’t book a year in advance, you’re in trouble.</p>