Rentals
The thing to understand about Ottawa University's Kansas commencement is that the venue has genuinely moved between years, and the weather can move it on the day.
For May 2026, the published location was AdventHealth Field, outdoors, with this contingency: "The ceremony is planned to be held outside. Should inclement weather become a factor, the ceremony will be moved inside to the Fredrikson Chapel and tickets will be required."
For May 2025, the ceremony was indoors in Fredrikson Chapel from the start, ticketed at three tickets per graduate.
So: outdoors one year, indoors the next, and an outdoor year can still become an indoor one that morning. Do not assume 2027 repeats either format. Confirm the venue with the university before you travel, and have a plan that works for both.
Why this matters more than it sounds
If the ceremony is outdoors on the field, you are on grass. That is a different proposition from a paved concourse:
- Small-wheeled transport chairs and rollators struggle on soft turf, particularly after spring rain.
- A mobility scooter with larger wheels handles grass far better than a lightweight travel chair.
- There is usually less shade, and May in Kansas can be hot.
If it moves indoors to the chapel, the constraints flip: tickets become required, seating is limited, and the chapel is a smaller room than a field.
When you book with us, say "it might be outdoors on grass." That single sentence changes which machine we send. It is the most useful thing you can tell us about this particular ceremony, and it is the kind of detail that is easy to leave out until it is too late.
Timing
Early May, spring only, 10:00 a.m.: May 2, 2026 and May 3, 2025 both at 10 a.m. There is no December ceremony; the university's deadlines are written around "participation in the May ceremony."
There is a second ceremony the same day at the Ottawa, Kansas campus: the Kansas City / Online / Phoenix / Wisconsin ceremony at 2:00 p.m. in Fredrikson Chapel, no tickets, doors an hour prior, with limited seating and a livestream. Check which one you are attending. Two ceremonies on one campus in one day means two sets of arrivals.
As of September 2026, no 2027 date is published. The date on this page is our estimate from the pattern.
What Ottawa does not publish
Being straight with you: there is no guest-accommodation section on the commencement page. No ADA seating information, no accessible parking detail, no drop-off point, no shuttle. The only accessibility-adjacent item on the page is a shoe rule for graduates.
Parking guidance and a parking map are published only for the university's Arizona campus, not for Ottawa, Kansas. The general Kansas parking page says only: "There are a variety of locations within various University parking lots that are designated for guests. No permits are required for parking in those spaces."
For access questions, the ADA/504 Coordinator for the Ottawa, Kansas campus is Carrie Stevens, carrie.stevens@ottawa.edu, 785-248-2326. That page is framed around students rather than commencement guests, so explain you are asking about a guest at the May ceremony. Ask specifically where accessible parking is and whether the field route is paved.
One warning: the three hotels named on Ottawa's commencement page (Hilton Garden Inn, Holiday Inn Express & Suites, Residence Inn) are all in Surprise, Arizona, for the Arizona campus ceremony. They are not in Ottawa, Kansas. It is an easy and expensive mistake to make.
Delivery to Ottawa, Kansas
Ottawa is about an hour southwest of Kansas City, outside our usual metro run. We do deliver there for events like this, but it needs more notice and delivery is quoted separately. Call us early, and tell us whether the ceremony is on the field or in the chapel, because as above, it changes what we bring.
KC Mobility Scooter Rentals is an independent rental company. We are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or speaking on behalf of any college or university, and we do not control any campus or venue policy. Details here were read from each school's own published pages in September 2026. Always confirm the current year's arrangements with the school before you travel.