If you have a student at DePaul who soon will be graduating, here is some need-to-know information for attending DePaul’s commencement.
This site serves as the main information hub for DePaul’s commencement ceremonies and will be updated continually with the latest information.
Use it to find date and time information about the ceremonies and other events, cap and gown reservations, ticketing, accommodations at the ceremony for guests with special needs, our new commencement venues—the McCormick Place Grand Ballroom for College of Law graduates and Wintrust Arena for June graduates—and much more.
Friday, April 6 is the deadline for students to reserve their free cap and gown. By making this reservation, a student is indicating his or her plans to attend commencement.
When DePaul moved its June commencement ceremonies to Wintrust Arena, the university realized that benefits of Wintrust’s city location and new amenities would also require some adjustments to the way we stage commencement, including instituting a ticketing system.
Free general admission tickets are required for all commencement ceremonies with the exception of the College of Law, School of Music and The Theatre School ceremonies. The university based the number of tickets allotted to each student on the number of graduates expected at each school or college’s ceremony.
If you have more guests than tickets, several options are available:
- Students are encouraged to share tickets with other graduates within their college. (Tickets will be specific to each ceremony.)
- A ticket lottery will be available in April. By early May, University Events will share the results with those who entered. The university will share instructions later via email to students and on the DePaul Commencement website.
- A live stream of the ceremonies will be available online once each ceremony begins.
Students have two opportunities to pick up tickets.
University Events will hold Early Ticket Pickup on the Lincoln Park Campus (April 16) and Loop Campus (April 17) for students to obtain their allotted tickets and, if they so choose, to release any tickets they know they will not use. If you don’t think your student will use all of his or her tickets, please encourage him or her to release tickets and help fellow students! All students are welcome to attend either pick up event.
Tickets also will be available for pick up at the Commencement Kick Off Event on June 4-7. Cap and gown pick up occurs exclusively at the Commencement Kick Off Event.
Once students have their tickets in hand, they are highly encouraged to keep close track of them. Lost tickets cannot be replaced.
Much like NFL stadiums and other large venues, Wintrust Arena adheres to strict safety procedures that the Wintrust staff enforces without exception. Everyone entering the arena will pass through a metal detector and security check.
At the Commencement Kick Off Event on June 4-7, students will receive one free approved bag. Approved bags will also be available for sale for students to purchase for their families and guests to help them prepare in advance of commencement weekend.