Editor’s note: This story updates previous reporting on Delta College’s commencement ticket changes, including the shift from five to three tickets and the subsequent increase to four, along with additional student and administrative responses.
A sudden reduction in commencement tickets at Delta College — followed by a partial reversal days later — has left students scrambling to adjust plans, raising questions about planning, capacity and whether the college was prepared for a surge in graduates.
The college announced April 21 that ticket allotments would be reduced from five to three per graduate for the May 14 ceremony at Adventist Health Arena, citing limited seating and a 144 percent increase in graduates planning to participate.
Two days later, after what officials described as a site walk-through and coordination with the venue, Delta increased the number to four tickets per graduate.
The rapid shift — from five tickets to three, then to four in less than a week — has drawn criticism from students who say the changes came too late to fairly accommodate their families.
“I told my husband I refuse to bother walking now if I have to choose which of my kids can go,” said Eileen Aschwanden, an arts, humanities and social sciences major who decided not to participate in the ceremony. “How can I choose between which of my children can go to celebrate their mom’s huge accomplishments?”
For Aschwanden, walking at commencement carried meaning far beyond the ceremony itself. A returning student who re-enrolled in 2025 after more than a decade away from school, she said graduating represents overcoming years of hardship.
She entered Delta College straight out of high school after emancipating from the foster system, but dropped out around 2014 while raising two young children without family support. Now a mother of four working full time in retail management, she returned to complete her degree while balancing school, work and parenting.
“I’ll be the first in my family to get any kind of a degree,” she said. “Walking is more than just going across the stage. It means breaking statistics, pushing through and showing my kids that anything is possible.”
Aschwanden said the initial five-ticket allotment would have allowed her husband and children to attend, but the sudden reduction to three forced her to reconsider entirely.
“It seemed pointless for me to walk if I couldn’t have them all there,” she said.
The dispute reflects what commencement can represent at a community college, where many students balance school with work, caregiving and financial pressure. In 2022–23, 35 percent of California Community Colleges students identified as first-generation, according to the Chancellor’s Office. A 2025 Public Policy Institute of California analysis found 52 percent of community college students work while enrolled.
College officials say the changes were driven by an unexpected spike in participation
According to Delta, more than 1,020 students had confirmed plans to walk as of earlier this week, compared to 419 students at the same point last year. With the RSVP survey still open until May 1, the college now estimates between 1,200 and 1,400 graduates could participate this year.
Initial planning assumed roughly 1,200 graduates could be accommodated on the arena floor, where students are seated before walking across the stage, creating a logistical constraint that contributed to the decision to reduce tickets earlier this week
During Delta’s ceremony, graduates are seated on the arena floor before walking across the stage, while family members and guests are seated in the arena’s stands. Changes to floor layout, staging areas and seating configuration can influence how space is allocated between graduates and attendees.
Delta officials said the initial five-ticket estimate was based on the arena’s capacity and the number of graduates who typically choose to participate. Because the graduation application deadline falls in late March, the college sends an RSVP survey afterward to determine how many students intend to walk. As responses came in, officials said participation quickly exceeded expectations.
“It really is mostly a capacity issue,” said Alex Breitler, Delta College’s director of marketing and communications.
Delta has held commencement ceremonies at Stockton Arena for at least a decade, with archived college records showing the 2016 ceremony was held there. The ceremony returned to the arena in 2022 after pandemic-era disruptions.
Adventist Health Arena has a maximum capacity of about 12,000 for large events, though capacity varies depending on event configuration.
According to district records, Delta College contracted with SMG, which manages the arena, for $37,750 to rent the facility for the May 14 commencement, with additional dates scheduled for setup and rehearsal on May 12–13.
The arena did not respond to requests for comment by press time.
Breitler said the college worked with arena staff to reconfigure the ceremony layout in order to create additional space. That included tightening the seating arrangement on the arena floor, relocating staging areas where students typically gather before the ceremony, and opening sections of the venue that historically have not been used for guest seating.
The adjustments also included using club-level seating and areas behind the stage, as well as seating faculty on the arena floor, a change that frees additional space in the stands for guests.
Those changes allowed the college to increase the ticket limit from three to four. Still, demand continues to outpace supply.
As of Thursday afternoon, more than 3,095 tickets had already been claimed at the campus bookstore, with the college anticipating distributing between 4,500 and 5,000 additional tickets under the new four-ticket limit. Officials noted the final number could increase depending on how many graduates ultimately choose to participate. Even at four tickets per graduate, total demand could approach or exceed available seating.
The situation has spilled onto social media, where students have flooded Delta-related Facebook groups requesting extra tickets, offering exchanges or attempting to purchase them despite warnings from the college.
A petition posted on Change.org the same night the three-ticket limit was announced had gathered more than 250 verified signatures as of publication time. The petition urges Delta College to reconsider the ticket reduction and proposes alternatives, including splitting the ceremony into multiple events to better accommodate graduates and their families.
Delta officials said they have observed an increase in scams in recent years, including posts from individuals claiming to sell tickets they do not possess. The college discourages buying or selling tickets but acknowledged it has no formal enforcement mechanism in place.
“There’s been suspicious activity … from individuals who are clearly not students offering to sell tickets that they clearly do not have,” Breitler said.
The college said additional tickets may be distributed at rehearsal if extras are available, though officials cautioned that students should not rely on that possibility. For those unable to attend in person, a livestream of the ceremony will be provided and posted afterward on the college’s commencement webpage.
For some students, the increase to four tickets has helped alleviate concerns, but not entirely.
Joe DeMasi, a journalism major and former Collegian sports editor, said he initially hoped to bring four family members, including one traveling from out of state.
“Now that it’s four, it really hasn’t affected my plans,” DeMasi said. “But I feel the decision really isn’t fair, especially to people who have bigger families.”
DeMasi questioned whether a venue the size of Adventist Health Arena should require such limitations.
“If capacity is an issue, have two separate ceremonies,” he said.
Nearby Modesto Junior College, located about 30 miles southeast of Stockton, holds its commencement at Pirates Stadium on its East Campus and issued six tickets per graduate for its 2026 ceremony after hosting nearly 900 graduates and about 7,000 guests last year, according to their website.
Delta officials said a range of alternatives were considered, but with the ceremony just weeks away, expanding ticket availability within the existing structure was the most feasible option.
“After this year’s ceremony, we will evaluate what we might be able to do differently in 2027,” Breitler said.
For students like Aschwanden, that evaluation may come too late.
“Walking was supposed to be for my kids,” she said. “If they can’t all be there, it doesn’t feel the same.”
