Maria Mantini ’26

by Maria Mantini ’26 on April 16, 2026

Graduating from college is a major achievement. An undergraduate degree takes a large investment of time, money, and effort, and not just on the part of the students. Families have helped move students in and out of dorm rooms, worked long hours to help cover expenses, and gave encouraging words to help them feel less homesick or make the final push to get through midterm exams. This effort began long before the student’s attendance at Providence College: walking students to elementary school, coordinating drop offs for after-school activities, and helping with math homework late at night. Some students are the first to graduate in their family, some have been through serious trials to get to graduation day, and some have relatives that have traveled hours to be with them to celebrate this special milestone in their lives. When a student walks across the stage on graduation day, their diploma is not just a representation of their hard work, but also the sacrifices their family made to get them there.

However, many family members are being excluded from the graduation ceremony at PC. Members of the class of 2026 were surprised to learn that this year they would only get five tickets to their graduation ceremony, not six as there have been in previous years. The reasoning for this may be that we were the largest class to enter PC at the start of our freshmen year. I think that it is fair that all available seats are split evenly amongst the graduates; everyone deserves to have people there on their graduation day. With the classes below us being even bigger though, students are left to wonder if the number of tickets will continue to decrease.

The Amica Mutual Pavilion has hosted the PC graduation ceremony for decades, but could the increasing class sizes be outgrowing it? Already, the five tickets given to the 2026 graduates are leaving them with some difficult decisions to make. Typically people come in pairs, and I have heard from many students who are having to choose between grandparents, siblings, or aunts and uncles to attend the ceremony. One of my friends can’t even have all of her immediate family in attendance. The vast majority of students have been left scrambling to see if they can acquire extra tickets from those who are not using all of theirs after already inviting guests back in the fall.

I would like to reiterate that ticket limits for graduation are fair, necessary, and reasonable, but at some point, it becomes unfair to require students to choose so few people to witness this major moment in their lives. Watching on a live stream just isn’t the same. Moving forward, I think it is time for PC to find a new and larger location to host the graduation ceremony, one that can accommodate the ever growing classes of graduates. College graduations are once in a lifetime achievements, and students and their families deserve to be able to celebrate this milestone together, when the culmination of their hard work is recognized.