Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Virginia will not hold its May graduation ceremony this year.

University of Virginia President Jim Ryan announced on Tuesday that, based on state and federal guidance that the virus is unlikely to have abated by the ed of April, the university decided to go ahead and make a final decision on classes for the remainder of the semester rather than waiting for the initial date of April 5 they set to reevaluate the situation.

In light of the fact that cases are expected to rise, and considering that faculty, staff, and students need to be able to plan, UVA chose to no longer hold any classes on-campus for the rest of the spring semester.

All classes will instead be held online.

For students without the technology needed for online classes, the school has a

.

Their regular grading system may have some changes made as well.

Based on the recommendation by the White House and the order by Governor Ralph Northam to limit non-essential gatherings to no more than 10 people, the university has canceled all on-campus events until at least May 15, including conferences, social gatherings, etc. – any events, whether university-sponsored or not.

And the university will not hold its "Final Exercises," which is UVA's name for graduation.

According to President Ryan, they have a team "focused on developing creative alternatives to mark this important occasion, and we will communicate updates as we have them."

You can find more details about the changes at UVA

.