Spring Commencement Parking Information (2025)

Spring 2025 Commencement Ceremonies for baccalaureate, graduate, and professional students will take place at McDougald-McLendon Arena on Friday, May 9, 2025, and Saturday, May 10, 2025.

We expect high traffic volume and congestion in and around the NCCU campus. Expect parking to be extremely limited for on-campus availability, and Friday parking will be especially difficult due to it being a workday.

The main parking facilities are:

The Latham Parking Deck and Surface Lot (705 Lawson St.; entrances on Lawson and Dupree streets)

• Please access the Latham Parking Deck via the Lincoln Street entrance.
• All attendees are encouraged to use Dupree Street to approach the parking deck, as Lawson Street will be closed in the area fronting the McDougald-McLendon Arena (between Merrick Street and Lincoln Street).

NCCU Student Center Lot (500 Nelson St.; entrances on Nelson and Cecil Street)

Albert N. Whiting Criminal Justice Lot (608 Nelson St.; entrance on Lincoln St.)

A.E. Student Union Lot (2115 Fayetteville St.)

Miller-Morgan Health Sciences Lot (directly across from Julius L. Chambers Biomedical and Biotechnology Research Institute [JLC-BBRI], 535 Nelson St.)

O’Kelly-Riddick Lot (617 Nelson Street)

The above parking facilities offer several ADA parking spots to ensure accessibility. Guests will need to present a valid ADA/handicap decal in order to park in ADA-specific spots.

The NCCU Transit Circulator Shuttle will begin its campus route at 7:30 a.m., running every 15–20 minutes between the parking lots and the McDougald-McLendon Arena.

All guests parking in other areas should abide by signage and posted information. Please note that vehicles parked in unapproved areas or university reserved spaces may be ticketed and/or towed. Be sure to pay attention to all parking signage to avoid any inconvenience.

NCCU strongly encourages all guests without designated parking passes to carpool and/or use ride-sharing services (e.g., Uber, Lyft) as much as possible. Doing so will help alleviate congestion and make parking more manageable for everyone.

Ride-share drop-off locations are: 

• The corner of Dupree and Lincoln streets
• Cecil Street (at the NCCU Student Center driveway, 517 Cecil St.)
• The corner of Lincoln and Martha streets (side entrance to H.M. Michaux Jr. School of Education)

For those who wish to ride public transit, Go Durham operates two routes that connect to the NCCU campus: routes 5 and 8. There is no charge to ride Go Durham or any connecting transit company in the Greater Triangle region.

• Maps and Schedules: Go Durham (godurhamtransit.org) Route 5
• Maps and Schedules: GoDurham (godurhamtransit.org) Route 8

City street parking is welcomed at Lincoln, Martha, Dupree and Merrick streets, or Formosa Pekoe avenues. Please do not block residential or business driveways to avoid ticketing or towing by the City of Durham Parking Enforcement.

Both ceremonies will stream live on the university’s website, Facebook page, and YouTube channel, as well as at select campus locations:

• NCCU Student Center (500 Nelson St.)
• Nursing Building Auditorium (1402 S. Alston Ave.) 
• Miller-Morgan Health Sciences Building Auditorium (530 Nelson St.)
• H.M. Michaux Jr. School of Education Building Auditorium (700 Cecil St.)
• Albert L. Turner Law Building, Room 100 (640 Nelson St.)