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

OP says her dd replied by the deadline. How do you know otherwise?

All graduates can attend a ceremony either in July or November (or the following July on request). There are potentially spaces for the vast majority of those who will graduate/wish to attend a summer ceremony. Universities know roughly from experience what percentage of the graduates tend to want to attend a ceremony. Nobody knows precise numbers graduating until after results are released. The University is currently looking at waitlists for certain ceremonies and extra ticket allocation for those July ceremonies where there are still spaces.

I am not failing to understand anything. I just think it poor to not offer all students the chance to attend the July ceremonies if they reply by a certain deadline. Most universities manage it and it doesn't reflect well on lancaster if they don't. If you think it is fine why are you so worried about op discussing it?

You wrote the words
"And given they were in their twenties, it seems really weird that they knew exactly when they received emails and what the deadlines were, and can recite them years later. "

To me that makes me think you were aware of emails having been sent.

In your world, I don't know what that means.

I now think you are just trying to be awkward.

I meant it is weird to me that some posters seems to know what was in their children's e mails. I wasn't talking about my children. I certainly don't read their e mails.

I am not talking specifically about OPs child though. If she got a space someone else wouldn't. I think it bad that they don't have enough space for everyone in the July ceremonies full stop. If they apply by the deadline they should be able to attend a ceremony in July.

So does a response by the deadline in February (I assume that there is a deadline for that step) guarantee a place at an appropriate July ceremony? One of the questions is whether being "milliseconds" too late, but before the deadline, can cause a student to miss out on a place.

I amazed how hard you try to pretend to not understand what people are saying.

The emails you are talking about are the emails describing the process that happens.
You make it clear you know about these emails but at the same time claim no one has explained the process.

I don’t understand how they can both be true at the same time.

What are you talking about? I know about the e mails because posters on this thread have said their DC have received e mails from lancaster university explaining the process.

I would have honestly thought the first come first served would be for the guest tickets only.

We didn’t pay for tickets several years ago but I should think third parties (photographers, gown hire etc) pay the university to have a presence?

I don’t know how anyone could stand over this. Even the employees.

Where I live, everyone is invited to their own graduation. Closer to the date, people RSVP whether they are definitely going or not.

@GellerYeller Contracts are made with gown hire and photography companies for which the university receives a commission which often, along with the cost of ticket sales, has to try and balance the books. I would say most of the time losses are made which which comes out of the department budget that runs the ceremonies. All contracts have to go out to a tender process.

Someone else was asking about assistance funds for students who may not be able to cover the cost of a gown and tickets. Most universities have these or can also get it written into the contract that the gown company will provide X number of gowns FOC to provide to these students.

I've been a Graduation Manager for over 20 years and costs for everything just keep on rising but the cost for tickets normally stays the same. In my last role we'd put up the cost of guest tickets by £5 over 15 years, in the same time the venue alone had more than doubled in price. We employed students to help with allocating tickets, rolling scrolls and helping out on the day as you just couldn't get enough staff to do it (even worse now as loads were made redundant). That cost alone was about £50k for the week. Or they would say they would be there and then their own work took priority so they just wouldn't turn up. The ticket sales and commission didn't even cover the cost of the venue in the end.

I disagree that just because students are told about something in their final year it is automatically okay. I bet they weren't told about it when visiting lancaster on open days before signing up to be a student there. And they can't all rush to get a place in a graduation ceremony if there aren't enough spaces for everyone. Someone is going to be left out and I don't think thst reflects well on the university.

@Pikachu150 I totally agree.

Everyone gets a place at graduation. It is either in the summer or in November but everyone gets to go to a graduation ceremony.

You seem particularly wound up about Lancaster (when this is common at many universities) when you apparently have no skin in the game..

Same here. I’ve been Graduation Manager same length of time as you and It’s so hard trying to balance the books. Graduation is so expensive for universities to run, even though some people on here think it’s a 5 minute job to just set up a spreadsheet and run a few numbers get a few gowns for staff and off you go. I wouldn’t be surprised to see some universities following the European model and just doing away with graduation ceremonies in future.

I am not wound up. Surely noone on this thread has any skin in the game apart from OP. I just disagree that it is fine to not let everyone who replies by the deadline attend a graduation ceremony in July. I don't think it is common in many universities at all as it is the kind of thing that annoys students which universities prefer to avoid.

This does happen sometimes. It is not great but sometimes cohorts are very big and there is just not the space for every graduate who wants to, to attend the ceremony . It is just a matter of logistics . It is not a new thing though it has not been common in the past.

But even if we all accept that the process is unfair…. The process wasn’t an undercover secret. The students were made acutely aware that responding wasn’t something to hang around on, and if you miss out - the alternative isn’t until November.

Most took it seriously. Some ie DD didn’t.

These students are leaving the uni

and I point blank refuse to believe that a single 18 year old on the planet would decide not to go to the first choice uni because they discovered that graduation ceremony tickets for the first ceremony was on a first come first served basis.

We are going around in circles here. I keep repeating that the fact that they have apparently told the students in their final year that they won't all be able to attend graduation in July doesn't mean it is okay.

I agree and they also should tell them before they start at the university.

But these students KNEW the process. So even if it is unfair they KNEW that it was first come first serve. They KNEW it was limited capacity. They KNEW the only alternative would be November.

So the housemates all read the email and responded. This DD didn’t. And they received multiple reminders