Ceremony Information

Graduate Information

Two USF grads, wearing regalia, shown from the back.

PARKING AND BUILDING ENTRY 

  • Parking permits are not required for Commencement and parking is free on campus for our ceremonies. Follow all road directional signs and University Police officers—they will get you where you need to be!

  • Ceremonies are held at the Yuengling Center on the Tampa campus. Doors open 60 minutes prior to the start of each undergraduate and master's ceremony and 90 minutes prior to the start of each doctoral ceremony.

  • Graduates and guests will not be allowed to congregate outside before or after the ceremony. If you arrive early please wait in your vehicle until the doors are open and you are able to enter the building.

  • Due to heightened security, all persons entering the Yuengling Center, including graduates, are subject to bag check and metal detector screening.

  • All graduates must enter through the Corral which is located near Gate A at the southwest corner of the Yuengling Center. Once inside the Corral, students will be directed to the appropriate check-in table to pick up their reader card. Please see map, below for additional information.

    • Bachelor’s and master’s students will then proceed down to the arena floor. Students will be seated with their college (not alphabetically by name) so you may sit with your friends who are in the same college as you as long as you arrive to the arena floor together.

      • Bachelor’s and master’s students must arrive no later than 45 minutes prior to the start of their ceremony. Failure to do so may result in you being delayed from participating in the ceremony and missing your name being announced.

    • Doctoral students will join their hooding faculty and receive hooding and processional instructions.
      • Doctoral students must arrive no later than 60 minutes prior to the start of their ceremony. Failure to do so may result in you being delayed from participating in the ceremony and missing being part of the processional and having your name announced while you are hooded on stage.

parking map

GUEST TICKETS AND SEATING INFORMATION

  • No tickets are required for your family/friends and you can invite as many people as you want.
  • Accessible seating is available in the Yuengling Center for those with mobility devices and those with limited mobility. This seating is available on a first come, first served basis and cannot be reserved in advance.
  • Guests who are deaf or hard of hearing that require an ASL interpreter may sit in section 113—this section contains reserved seats close to the ASL interpreting team.
  • The suggested dress code for guests is business casual. 

CEREMONY INFORMATION

  • Only graduates and Commencement staff/volunteers are permitted on the arena floor and in graduate areas.
  • The national anthem will be performed at the beginning of the ceremony—we ask that all graduates who are able please remove your cap for the duration of the song.
  • Graduates will have formal photos taken after they cross the stage by GradImages; you will be emailed proofs a few days after Commencement which are available for you to purchase if you wish.
  • Each ceremony will last approximately 90 minutes (Doctoral ceremony approximately 2 hours). Students are not allowed to leave early and for the consideration of others, we ask that guests stay the entire duration, as well. 
  • Once the ceremony has concluded all graduates will be directed out of the Yuengling Center through the Corral the same way they entered the building—inform your family/friends of this to make for an easier reunification process.
  • Academic regalia is required to participate in Commencement. Formal military uniforms may be worn in lieu of academic regalia.
  • Every graduate and guest will be able to access the online commencement brochure via QR codes throughout the venue. Regardless of whether or not your name appears in the online program, if you attend a ceremony your name will be announced.
  • Our ceremonies will be livestreamed from the university’s YouTube channel. Students must attend the ceremony in order for their name to be announced.
  • Diplomas are not handed out at Commencement—students will be mailed their diplomas approximately six to eight weeks after the end of the semester. Questions about diplomas should be directed to the Registrar’s Office.