Daughter unable to attend her graduation as no tickets left (second thread)

[mildlyfried]

My daughter cannot attend her graduation as major Uni only offers tickets on a 'first come first served' basis. We are very upset and think the Uni should have ensured there were enough ceremonies/capacity for every graduate. This is the second thread.

So she applied late when she knew it was first come first served, so it’s her fault.

A first come, first served is a nonsense approach - they should have enough seats for every student plus 2 guests as standard, and thereafter first come, first served for additional seats. Sympathies OP, this sounds really shoddy.

I’m am sure the university would love to have a Great Hall big enough to accommodate that

So they choose another venue or do graduation ceremonies over more days. Durham uses Durham Cathedral and York uses York Minster.

DD was at Newcastle and they used a hall on the campus. It wasn't very big (which meant that the ceremonies are only 45 minutes long), but every student had a chance to graduate that summer because they had several ceremonies back to back. DD's was the fifth and last that day.

I agree with @SirChenjins that every student should have the opportunity to attend their graduation ceremony when they graduate and not several months later.

You seem to have an axe to grind over this. You have been very unpleasant towards the OP. Is this triggering for you?

Why is there another thread? The outcome isn’t going to change.

This is a 'part 2' - the first thread filled up.

Eta - 'almost', since it says '979 posts, I think.

Towards the end, a poster tried to take things into their own hands and spammed the thread to push it to 1000 posts quickly, which it did get to. It looks like Mumsnet managed to fully delete those posts rather than just mark them as violating the TOCs.

Other universities manage just fine by hiring venues if needed. Or they could cut back on the number of tickets offered to families and friends if absolutely necessary. Better solutions are available.

And this one has managed just fine, in fact thrived to one of the top 10 universities in the Uk, by having one week of back to back ceremonies in the great hall for many many years if not decades.

With a ceremony in November for the tiny minority that didnt take “first come first serve” seriously OR actually would prefer November

why should they move it from the grand hall which very much is a defining feature of the uni for the few wanted would have preferred July but not to the extent that they replied soon after receiving the invite (issues in March)

When was the cut off date for the application for the July graduation?

No idea

OP?

Capacity in the Great Hall is limited to abide by health, safety and fire regulations. We strongly advise all graduands to register as early as possible after receiving their invitation to attend a graduation ceremony. Graduand seats are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis until the capacity in the Great Hall has been reached.

the uni is quite explicit tbf

That would be helpful to know @mildlyfried - and by how many days/weeks/months did your DD miss that cut off date by?

First come, first served? So no - 'applications must be submitted by x date, thereafter available seats will be allocated on a first come, first served basis'? If so, that seems quite arbitrary - certainly not my experience or that of the DCs when they graduated.

There was a deadline date however the dead line date was only relevant because as long as you applied before the deadline date but don’t get a ticket however you later get a ticket on the waiting list you will be guaranteed 2 guest passes

whereas if you don’t apply before the deadline and don’t get a ticket but then get one on the waitlist… you are NOT guaranteed 2 guest tickets

On the I view there was a clear deadline

So this means that there will always be students who miss out. It does seem rather unfair.

The university could, of course, either use a larger venue or add on some more graduation ceremony days. Newcastle has a small hall, but everyone who wants to attend still gets to do so because they arrange enough ceremonies. There were 340 students in DD's cohort. Those who wanted to attend did so. I think they had 5 sessions to cover everyone.

Sorry, I don't follow that (blame the heat) - are you saying there was a clear deadline for students to graduate in July with 2 guests present, but the OPs daughter missed it?

No.

ok so….

invited issued. First come first served up until great hall capacity.

there was a deadline. So you could have responded before the deadline but still not get a seat. The deadline was relevant because if you later get a ticket on the waitlist and had applied BEFORE the deadline you are guaranteed 2’guest tickets as well

but if you get a ticket on the wait list but had
NOT replied before the deadline you are not guaranteed two guest passes as well

clear?

As mud. Not the best system - it means that students who apply before the deadline still run the risk of not graduating with their class (or getting their guest tickets) because they aren't running sufficient numbers of graduations or using a large enough hall. If the OP's daughter just missed the deadline then fair enough though.

Here we go again…..

I was reluctant to post because the answers to all questions being asked are in the previous thread and didn’t want to give this one any further traction.

However in the vain hope I can shed some light on the situation…..(for clarity my son attended this university but I’m not in any way affiliated with them).

The university contact students due to graduate in the summer at the end of Feb/early march to ask them to register their intention to attend a graduation ceremony (and when ie Summer or in November).

They send multiple reminders and make clear that this because space in the Great Hall is limited, expressing your intention to attend early is important.

They also tell students that they will be informed around mid-May with the dates of the ceremony they have been allocated to.

This initial request to confirm helps the uni understand how many ceremonies they need to put on to cope with demand. This year I believe another poster confirmed it was 15.

It’s also worth noting this is a collegiate university, so you don’t attend a ceremony with your “friends” unless they happen to have been in the same college even if they were on the same course.

The OP’s DD only requested a slot at the ceremony in mid/late May - after realising all friends had been given (as per the clearly communicated info to students by the Uni) their places at the now scheduled ceremonies.

She was advised (not unsurprisingly) that no places for summer graduation were available but they could put her on a wait list - but this would rely on someone else (who has booked in a timely fashion) dropping out and this may also not be for the exact ceremony (out of 15) that the OP thinks her child has a right to attend. The alternative is to attend one of the ceremonies in Nov.

The OP expressed their upset on the Parents Uni FB page (run by parents and not affiliated with the Uni). There was initially swell of sympathy. I think most (all?) can understand wanting to attend this event and being sad about their child not getting the date they wanted.

But let’s just say as the timeline became clear, the fact her daughter had not registered her intention to attend in line with requests to do so from the university and the OP became more - I’ll use the term - “enthusiastic” in their determination to “campaign” against the university, that initial sympathy wained. Eventually the FB group admins (again nothing to do with the uni - though the OP claimed this was the actions of Uni Admins scared of bad PR in the previous thread) banned her from the group.

The previous thread went in circles as posters read the OP’s opening post which (as is the case again) missed out some pretty important information, rather than any posts from parents of children who had attended and explained the process/timeline.

This then got framed as “uni parents” ganging up against the OP as some sort of mob collective.

The question - that I would have thought anyone with a modicum of critical thinking skills would have asked is - if the graduation system was so awful/unfair etc why were parents of past and current students defending the university on the previous thread?

Surely they would all be supporting the OP and joining her “campaign” (of which this and the previous thread - possibly other SM forums? are part of) to address this unjust policy?

So in summary:

The OP’s child failed to respond to multiple emails over several months to register their intention to attend the ceremony.

The University makes the process clear and despite the capacity limitations of the Hall, endeavours to ensure all students who want to attend summer graduation can do so by asking for numbers to plan for the required number of ceremonies to meet demand in advance.

Despite the above the OP thinks the university should “do the right thing” and put on more ceremonies for students who couldn’t be arsed to read or respond to multiple emails (something all their friends managed to do and that should be well with in the remit of someone graduating from a top 10 UK university).

Thank you for explaining that @BreadInCaptivity - that all makes complete sense, and I absolutely agree that the university was not at fault here.

@BreadInCaptivity so there would have been space if the student had expressed an interest to attend in a timely manner?

So why is the OP saying that her DC applied before the deadline but was then refused? Why have a deadline at all?

The university does not state they guarantee you a place in the summer if you apply in Feb/march but are clear if you don’t then they won’t have planned the numbers to meet a demand they cannot have anticipated.

I don’t know of anyone in my child’s cohort or on the FB parents group whose child did give notice to attend as requested in Feb/march who did not get a summer graduation place if that’s what they requested.

Essentially this early request is part of the university capacity planning to ensure they put on enough ceremonies so students are not disappointed.

I obviously can’t be certain this has never happened but I would suspect if it had there would have been quite a lot of - imho legitimate - noise about it.

The deadlines the OP is referring to are around guest tickets and a poster below explains this.

The process is clearly explained to students as are the deadlines. Another poster on the previous thread check with her child (currently at the uni) who described their inbox being rammed with explanations and reminders.

My own DC was clear about the process and speaking to his father and myself (we don’t live locally so attending took planning for hotels etc) that we needed to commit in asap at the end of Feb from memory the year he graduated.

Excellent summary. Can I also add that the OP was banned from the facebook page not because she was posting negatively about the University but because she was rude and abusive to the admins. It was sufficiently serious that the admins on the group had to put on a post reminding people that that sort of behaviour would result in removal from the group.