San Jose State University appears to be the victim of its own success, with the university scrambling to accommodate every graduate and their families.
Enrollment hit a record 41,000 students this fall, which means up to 12,000 of them qualify for graduation.
The on-campus events center is the only venue the university can use this year for commencement, but it can only accommodate roughly 3,500 people.
“Capacity is an issue, and that’s why we did the phased approach to the ticket distribution,” SJSU spokesperson Guisselle Nuñez said.
As a result, the university is spacing out commencement ceremonies to 11 over the span of three days, with family tickets limited to four free ones with an option to buy more.
“They’ve known that the population has gone up since August,” one graduate’s mother said. “[It] went up to 40,000 people, so they should have known back early in the semester approximately how many graduates they were going to have.”
The mother suggests the university space out graduations over more days to accommodate more people.
“We’re confident that we’re going to be able to accommodate all graduates with their complimentary four tickets just as we have in the past,” Nuñez said.
San Jose State, ranked the fifth-best public university in the nation by The Wall Street Journal, is trying to adapt to its growing clout.
Commencement ceremonies are currently scheduled for late May.