With or without a spring 2020 Boston area college graduation in your family, you'll likely need to coordinate your dining and travel plans around the commencement ceremonies. We have set up this page as a permanent resource and update it as we find new information.

Our list also helps visitors to Boston understand why hotel rooms are so expensive and restaurant reservations so scarce on some dates in May. The local destination experts on travel websites are busy answering questions about the cost of visits to our city.

Reservations at area restaurants will be harder to find May 9th, 10th and 11th with Mother's Day and 5 commencements, and scarce May 15th through 18th when 17 schools – including Boston University, Tufts University, and Boston College – will hold ceremonies. Harvard commencement is May 28th and MIT May 29th – each of these schools is large enough to have an impact on its own. Harvard can also interfere with traffic as they move busloads of people from one place to another around event time.

To help you plan your dining options in May and early June, here are the dates of the major commencement ceremonies for your 2020 calendar.

If you know of a Boston area college or university graduation date that we've missed, send us a comment.

April 25, 2020

May 1, 2020 - May 3, 2020

May 8, 2020 - May 11, 2020

May 15, 2020 - May 18, 2020

May 21, 2020 - May 24, 2020

May 28, 2020 - May 31, 2020

June 12, 2020 - June 14, 2020

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Words: Penny & Ed Cherubino

Photo: iStockphoto.com