Daughter unable to attend her graduation ceremony as it is full. Advice please

[mildlyfried]

My daughter has just finished a three year Bsc (hons) at a major University. She has been advised that she cannot attend her graduation ceremony as it is full and she is on a waiting list. All the other ceremonies are at capacity too. She has been told that if a place does not become available then she can either try to graduate in November without her friends or have her certificate posted to her for a £10 fee.

To say we are upset and disappointed is an understatement. Has anyone ever heard of this before? I did not think a University would do this and would make sure they had enough graduation days/dates for all their students. The students have paid tens of thousands in fees and slogged for three years to be denied the chance to get their degree in a ceremony with their family watching.

Is there anyone out there with any advice? maybe someone who works at a University? I'm tempted to go to the local paper and tell the story so other students know what to expect at this University. Students should be told when they are choosing the University that they are not guaranteed a graduation.

Thanks for reading

If you read the thread, you’ll see that she applied within the deadline. But there is a silly first come first serve basis, so there was always going to be some student disadvantaged by the stupid process.

They were told that they would hear back by mid May. They were also specifically told it was important to check their emails They had at least four emails about it. . The OPs was told she was wait listed at very end of May. When the OP posted on the parents group she said the daughter was late applying. I sympathise since my own children are crap as that sort of thing and would have needed multiple reminders from
me.

It is very likely that there will be space to graduate with her college anyway. There will be people who don’t pass their degree, there will be people who drop out because they have internships/jobs starting etc. Lancaster degree results aren’t out for another few weeks yet. She can also potentially graduate with a different college where there will also be people from her course. Lancaster is running multiple ceremonies throughout the whole of graduation week. Space in the Great hall is limited and ceremonies can’t last too long because everyone would die of boredom. There are around 600 in each year group in each college so the larger. Colleges get split anyway.

it is rubbish for the OPs DD. Nobody is denying that - but the university did make it very clear what the process was.

“First come first served” is a ridiculous concept for a graduation ceremony. I understand they need to have a cut off to prepare everything for the day. But the way this system is, even if everyone responded immediately, there isn’t enough spaces. That’s the problem, not when OP’s daughter sent off her form.

Are people not able to read? The OP has been clear that the student applied within the deadline. The OP cannot answer the same questions over and over again.

I agree that the OP's dd may well still get a place from the waiting list, there must be a certain number of students who will soon find out that they need to resit or resubmit dissertations before they can graduate. She just needs one of them to be a fellow STEM student in her college and for her to be near the top of the list.

She could contact the student union helpdesk? They act as a link between students and the uni and may have experience. https://lancastersu.co.uk/contact-us

presuming she didn’t miss sending in paperwork why have her class mates got graduation places and she hasn’t.
if nothing can be done to get a place for july
id be tempted to hire robes, turn up on the day, take photos with friends and have lunch.
and get certificate in the post.

walking across the stage in what sounds like a very impersonal graduation ceremony is t going to be a great loss.

at mine my class were instructed to put a hand on our class mates shoulder and we stood in a line, and then the professor put his hand on the shoulder of the first person, so that his knowledge could be passed down through us. hahahahhahah

This is poxy. Can’t believe some are defending the university.

I’d email the press office myself and ask if they are aware not all students get a place at the graduation ceremony and feign innocence about whether the local press is aware 🫣

I think that’s so unfair to charge such high tuition fees if students aren’t even guaranteed a space at their own graduation. That’s ridiculous. They should all be given priority for tickets before any guests.

And the press office would respond ”there will be a ceremony in November”

Erm, yes they are allowed to attend A graduation ceremony - there are multiple dates due to most unis have several thousand graduates a year and there being very few locations outside football stadia to accommodate ALL of them on the same day plus 2+guests?

If you want to go to the graduation date that your close friends are attending, then you have to respond to the flipping email inviting you to book the date, request guest passes and order your graduation gown. And do so asap if you need a specific date.

This is NOT the university’s fault. It is the lack of organisation of the student concerned. I’d feel this way if it was my own child and if it was my own graduation [my Phd graduation is next year and I shall bloomin’ well respond to the email the second it arrives in my student email in-box for precisely this reason.]

This happened at Uni of south wales last year as the uni asked for other students to return tickets for family and guests last January and if any student couldn't attend to return the ticket so different students could go .

Apparently she didn’t according to the uni of Lancaster Facebook group. There are usually university admins on there giving advice.

Of course it's the uni's fault. They know how many students they have. They know that nearly all will graduate. They should have space for everyone, on the occasion of their graduation (July or whenever), not several months later.

there being very few locations outside football stadia to accommodate ALL of them on the same day plus 2+guests?

You do know that universities have several days of graduations at a time (perhaps a full week of them), not a single day? And that during each day there will be a number of different graduations, that each student is not in the graduation hall all day?

Yes, precisely - they have several graduation dates - I graduated recently. My Dc will graduate next year. FYI, they can also have multiple graduations on the same day - AM and PM.

If the OP’s daughter wanted to graduate on the same day/time as her friends, knowing there would likely be a limited number of places (as students you KNOW full well whether this will be the case unless you have lived under a rock for 3 years), she ought to have replied to the email and booked her place asap after it hit her inbox. It’s not difficult.

The OP was told by the university that they would attempt to accommodate by wait listing her or looking at options for graduating with a different college/ group or waiting for another graduation week. They can’t have a separate ceremony for the few people who apply late when the spare capacity has already been offered out to people applying for extra tickets. Just to complete the picture, in most ceremonies there are people with extra tickets so the initial capacity is there IF people apply in time.

That’s awful!!

Hi - not trying to make things worse but I had to defer my graduation as a relative passed away. This meant I graduated with non of my friends and it was pretty rubbish.

Is your dd really that bothered? Or is it mostly you?

Either way, try to accept it and let it go quickly. I skipped my graduation by choice and my mother STILL whines about it (it's been 27 years). Don't get bitter over something that's really quite trivial. Your dd will end up feeling guilty that she didn't book earlier etc. Let it go.

If you can't change a situation, change your attitude to it. Dressing up in a cloak and a silly hat to be handed a rolled-up piece of paper? It's medieval. It's silly.

If you can afford it, why not help DD and friends celebrate with something more fun than a dull ceremony? Fund a nice lunch for them or something. Or a weekend trip, if your pockets are deep enough. Something they'll actually remember. The actual ceremony, for those who were there, will soon just be a blur. It's mad that universities still go on with the whole daft business at all.

So, did the OP’s dd have a good reason, or any reason, for not just applying at the same time as the friends she wants to graduate with? It appears, after all, that she is the only one in the group not to get the graduation date and the OP has admitted she applied after all her friends had already done so. It certainly can’t be argued the university was not explicit in advance that places at a particular ceremony were not guaranteed and could only be offered on a first come, first served basis. If you take an unnecessary risk, you have to own that, imvho.

That’s nonsense! I’ve graduated 3 times, I’ve never once thought that if I didn’t reply within seconds I wouldn’t get a space. I’m gobsmacked that people think this is ok!

You would have thought that you needed to apply promptly though had you received four emails about it and then been told you’d be notified with the details of your ceremony by mid May and then you not applies until after others already had their ceremony details..

Well, in order for me to graduate just two years ago, yes, we needed to reply within a day or two at most to guarantee the slot we wanted - graduations were held over 3 days AM and PM in the local cathedral. We ALL knew that if we ‘left it’ that we would likely end up on the waiting list because we would not get our first choice for date or time - or guest passes.

It was not like this when I graduated the first time, either, as that was in the 90’s but in the last 10 years, yes, if I wanted my first choice slot and to be top of the wait list for a 3rd guest ticket (I have 2 children and DH) I would have to be amongst the first wave of applicants. I have also graduated 3 times and next year will be my 4th. The process has changed in recent decades simply due to the significant numbers of students - I also missed graduating with my cohort for my second degree as a result of not responding quickly enough. My fault. No-one else’s.

I have no idea why this is so incomprehensible to so many on this thread. Other than the desire to blame everyone else rather than take ownership of the simple fact that if OP’s daughter wanted specifically to graduate with a particular cohort of students on a particular day… then she should have replied promptly.

It isnt silly when there are fire regs etc. But hey what's silly about overcrowding and causing it to be a risk to lives if an emergency happens