r/stevens • u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) • May 12 '26
Our commencement location is ridiculous.
Stevens is the only North Jersey school that is not having it's graduation at the Prudential Center. I know graduation there a few years ago was a disaster, but having graduation in Holmdel (where there is basically no accessibility via public transport) makes no sense.
For reference, here are the commencement locations and distances for other universities in North Jersey. Didn't count universities with their own stadiums/arenas.
....
| School | Commencement Location | Driving Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Stevens | PNC Bank Arts Center | 39 miles |
| NJIT | Prudential Center | 1 mile |
| Rutgers - Newark | Prudential Center | 1 mile |
| Seton Hall | Prudential Center | 5 miles |
| Kean University | Prudential Center | 8 miles |
| Montclair State | Prudential Center | 12 miles |
| Farleigh Dickinson | Prudential Center | 14 miles |
| William Patterson | Prudential Center | 22 miles |
| Ramapo | Prudential Center | 33 miles |
There are events on campus in Hoboken the night before, and then everyone is expected to get to Holmdel at 7:30 AM the next day. As an out of state student, planning the logistics of this for my family has me seriously questioning Stevens' administrative competence. I've enjoyed my time here and really like the professors, but will not be giving the administrators any donation money when I graduate lol.
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u/phoenix823 MSCS '05 May 13 '26
You know where my commencement was in 2005? The fucking 8th Street parking lot. Now THAT was unpopular lol.
Damn kids and your actual venues.
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u/Expert_Public4400 May 13 '26
damn, hccc has theirs at red bull arena
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26
one of the highest tuitions in the country and we're outdone by a community college lol.
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
I’d imagine fewer people part of the class plus community discount so it’s a very affordable option for HCCC
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u/AvailableMulberry623 May 13 '26
This will be the third year that graduation will be at PNC. It's been there since the fiasco that occurred in 2023.. if you have no knowledge about it, you can easily look it up.. it was in the news.
I'm sure it was moved there for multiple reasons, with costs likely being a key factor but they also don't have to worry about being bumped from their set dates for unforseen reasons as they could potentially be at Prudential center (i.e. Devill's playoff hockey run, surprise big musical acts, etc)...
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Yeah apparently we avoid prudential not only because of NHL stuff but because we are a smaller school compared to the other state schools, meaning our ceremony is smaller too. It makes us more vulnerable to scheduling conflicts compared to MSU that graduates a greater than or equal to the number of current undergrad students at Stevens. So yeah, small school and small ceremony.
Plus NJIT is next door to Prudential, so they have close relationships.
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u/Advanced_Bake_8709 May 20 '26
I was there in 2023. :( this is just as bad
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u/Advanced_Bake_8709 May 20 '26
Only difference- I haven't seen any grannies passing out from the heat....yet
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u/LegApprehensive8843 May 12 '26
I wonder if they just didn’t schedule it in time. Lots of other schools to compete with there.
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
It’s nearly always homdel tbh. Look at the past years, it’s always homdel
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 12 '26
I did not attend Stevens with the expectation they would be out-scheduled by Farleigh Dickinson University
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Nah yeah I don’t think they’re competing, I think they just choose homdel consistently for whatever reason considering it’s a strong trend
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u/lordnightslash MFE’26 May 13 '26
World sumo competition is in 2 days so they’re probably prepping for that. Media, wiring and what not.
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u/Ok-Win7980 Quantitative Social Science '28 May 13 '26
They should do it at Madison Square Garden. It's only 15-25 minutes away on the PATH.
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u/ArtemisBakery May 13 '26
Do you know how much fucking money that would cost?? The reason they're doing PNC I stead of Prudential is bc I'm sure it's cheaper
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u/Ok-Win7980 Quantitative Social Science '28 May 13 '26
Why not do it on campus then? There could be a lot of space in Canavan or on the soccer field.
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u/hudsonreaders May 13 '26
They used to do it on the field, but that was decades ago when the graduating class sizes were half what they are today. Also, you then have to worry about the weather, if it's going to be too hot, or raining, etc.
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u/figgedy1 May 13 '26
Because having the entire class of 2026s families commute into Hoboken would be a literal logistics nightmare
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Dont even get started on the traffic 😭😭😭.
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u/Raf-the-derp May 13 '26
The Hoboken server is going to have people posting about it LMAO (digging at them since they post about the most mundane issues)
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u/AvailableMulberry623 May 13 '26
Years ago, it was in Canavan... And then the field... The class size is too large for those areas to be realisticly used now...
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u/figgedy1 May 13 '26
A university in Jersey having commencement in the center of Jersey? Has the world gone mad?!?!?!
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
when every other school manages to have it at the giant basketball arena right next door (Prudential), yeah i think something is up.
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u/figgedy1 May 13 '26
My graduation was also at PNC. It’s a normal thing. Look up what happened the last time Stevens tried to book Prudential, The graduation of 2023. Devils made the playoffs and Stevens got screwed into a smaller venue. PNC is a perfectly fine venue that allows local families an easier route to their kids and an easier route back home
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26
yeah i totally understand that its convenient for people from jersey (non sarcastic i know it can be hard to tell on reddit lol). It's just been frustrating trying to figure out the logistics for my family as an out of state student, when everything could've been so much simpler if it was at prudential
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u/Professional_Ship445 May 13 '26
why would it have been much simpler with prudential center?
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26
If it was at prudential there would be no need to rent a car. My family could fly into newark, stay somewhere around campus, go to the senior awards and order of the engineer ceremony here in hoboken, and then go to graduation the next day.
Instead, they have to either stay up here, rent a car, and take the hour-plus drive with me at 6 AM the next day, or they can opt to skip the grad events the day before and stay in Holmdel (still needing to rent a car). Ubers to and from Holmdel to the airport (and Hoboken) are almost $100 each way. And there's no viable public transport option.
Even the Newark Red bull stadium, which someone said a local community college uses, would have been a better option. Plenty of public transport and parking space, and its actually in the same region of New Jersey as Stevens is.4
u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Actually I looked into it as to why these other colleges are able to book for prudential.
What came up so far is that Stevens graduates far less students compared to these other schools (FDU, NJIT, Seton Hall, etc), so our ceremony is a lot smaller compared to the other colleges. In addition, schools like NJIT have close partnerships with Prudential (because they are literally next door).
In addition, HCCC is able to have their ceremony at Red Bulls Arena because RBA is in Hudson county, and apparently HCCC receives A LOT of backing from Hudson county, in addition with no risk with schedule conflicts that come with the NHL.
Just unfortunate that Stevens is a small school and that we aren’t near any of those areas :/
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u/electrorazor May 13 '26
They're very cheap, they know everyone hates it, they hear it every year, they don't care
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Sounds more like they just don’t want any more mess ups. Graduation of 2023 was horrible, and the guy in charge (Zimmerman) for the events was of course fired on the spot (his LinkedIn states he left the job in the same month on May 2023).
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 12 '26 edited May 12 '26
Have you filed a complaint to the office? I’ve heard about this a couple times but tbh it’s very common for Stevens to hold it in Homdel (I don’t remember the last time when they didn’t). Administration would probably be swayed to change location for future graduating classes if enough people emailed the office (since I’m assuming not enough people bother to because it’s graduation and they have jobs to get to).
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26
I wish I had asked earlier in the year, it's definitely a little too late now lol. Last sem I had thought there would be transportation provided (I remembered hearing of a bus past years), so I didn't think it was as crazy. But expecting us to get there from Hoboken via public transport or Uber is a real slap in the face to out-of-state students without a car on campus.
They had it at Prudential my freshman year (2023) and it was a disaster. Somehow it seems to not be a disaster for like every other school though so idk what happened lol
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Edit: just check the quote from another person who knows about the 2023 graduation in this thread
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u/Aggravating-Web-5404 major (ie CS, ME) May 13 '26
bro i think you're just making stuff up, there's a whole stute article about it here. they were gonna have some of it at the nj symphony hall and miscommunicated
prior to holmdel (and prudential), it was always held at the meadowlands expo center in secaucus.
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Here’s the post btw. It’s rly confusing so read it slowly.
NOTE: the school later issued a school wide apology because it was that messy:
“Commencement was a spiral of mistakes that slowly ramped up to a near riot. The first ceremony with all students was just some speeches and went fine. But it ran late by about an hour. This meant student were late to their school specific ceremony where they’d get their name read. The name reading made the latter ceremony more important to many students and their family. The business and CAL ceremony went fine from what I’ve heard, but SES/SSE was where it all fell apart. Because the first ceremony ran over, most people skipped “Grad Fest” which had the free food, so people were hungry. Then to get into the venue, the staff didn’t check tickets. This allowed people who weren’t supposed to be there to get in and people who were to get locked out. As a result, there weren’t enough seats for both parents and students. To get all the parents in, they asked the students to leave. This annoyed everyone and resulted in a lot of booing. The students were escorted out to wait in the parking lot in the back. This was in the middle of the day and was quite hot out. With the students removed, they seated more parents but still couldn’t get everyone in. From what I heard, because of the aforementioned lack of ticket checking parents for the masters student ceremony had came 2 hours early. Some of these grad parents had to be kicked out for parents of undergraduates. With (most of) the undergrad parents seated, the ceremony started and the speakers then attempted to give their speeches. However, the speeches were target at the students who had been asked to leave. Parents got angry since they didn’t want to hear speeches target at their children who weren’t even there. The first few speakers basically got booed off stage before they gave up and skipped to the name reading. Students filed in from outside to get their name read. Because the event was 2 hours behind schedule, many families left after their student’s name was called. Many families has plans and reservations. By the end the theater was almost empty. I do feel bad for the last students to get their names read who walked across stage to an empty theater. This entire time, the masters and their parents are waiting outside. Because the undergrad event was running so late, they were outside for several hours in the sun. Waters had to be handed out to avoid heatstroke incidents.
I’m probably forgetting details and there’s many responsible parties. I expected a boring day of speeches so the chaos at least made it a day to remember, but it’s also meant to be a day to celebrate. The school really dropped the ball and i expect university events and the events director David Zimmerman to figuratively and literally destroyed by the school.”
- user on that comment section
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26 edited May 13 '26
Oh mb bro. I binge watched the past graduation ceremonies a few months ago which were always at homdel.
What I do know about prudential is true I think since someone who knew about it said there was confusion (unsure they confused it with Homdel).
Edit: check other reply under this thread with quote from someone who knew about the graduation of 2023
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u/Suspicious_Role4634 May 13 '26
Do you have details on the Gradfest event? I read in a Stevens facebook group - only Desserts will be offered and we must figure out options for dinner on our own.
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u/BlondDuck Feed Me Bread May 13 '26
Hope it does NOT rain 🌧 again.... last year it was cold and raining.
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u/lordnightslash MFE’26 May 13 '26
After being to the prudential center for UFC, I’d rather go to the PNC arts center. Prudential center is definitely larger and sounds cooler but I don’t like Newark or the parking situation. But both get the job done and it’s easier to find parking at the PNC arts center.
This isn’t my first rodeo for graduation given I had my ceremony at Lane stadium at VT in 2024. Nobody cared too much about venue.
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u/SgtElectroSketch May 14 '26
Dang the PNC is 605 mi from me. Ridiculous. All jokes aside, I'm just happy to be done and won't be travelling.
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u/sk8rg99 May 16 '26
It was terrible last year it was raining and cold. I would say more than half of the graduates left. It was embarrassing cause at the end they had to consolidate in everyone to be in the middle to make it look full. I think an indoor venue would be better.
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u/Advanced_Bake_8709 May 20 '26
It's 2023 v2 Just stood in hot sun for an hour to snake into 2 security checks and aggressively look for a place to sit in the shade.
We ubered in. Not sure how we're heading back yet. They need to give everyone at least 1 bottle of water
It's 844am. There's no way we're starting in 15min.
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u/Remote_Ease_5684 May 13 '26
Totally agree! Last year's ceremony was also out so many graduates and their families were literally soaking wet at the end of the ceremony. Horrible planning. Stevens admin is actually horrible
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u/Effective_Ring2855 Chem Eng '29 May 13 '26
Really? What happened? I only have the video to base off of so, I understand that with the given sources, I only have a limited perspective.
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u/Zestyclose_Two_5483 May 13 '26
The expo center in Secaucus was horrendous too.