When it comes to graduation, students don't only need to make the grades -- they also need to search for a hotel for their families to stay in during graduation weekend.

Bill Gordon's (senior-accounting) family will have to stay outside of State College "because of prices and they just didn't feel like calling all around," he said.

Other graduates may have the same hassle because 15 hotels in the area are fully booked for Spring Semester graduation, which falls on the weekend of May 14-15. Only one area hotel still has openings.

At most hotels, the rooms were booked months ago for graduation weekend. The Atherton Hilton, 125 S. Atherton St., has no vacancies, director of sales Stuart MacNeil said.

"We usually sell out almost a year in advance," MacNeil said.

The Holiday Inn Penn State, 1450 S. Atherton St., has been sold out since late last summer, said Linda McCartney, director of sales.

"People start reserving 50 weeks in advance, that's as soon as we can get them into our computer," McCartney said.

Only one hotel, Bestway in Milesburg, has room. As of Monday, 10 of its 50 rooms were still vacant, front desk clerk Nancy Park said.

Gateway Center, 646 E. College Ave., is renting apartments for graduation weekend as it did for football weekends last semester, Property Manager Sharon Veits said.

But even Gateway is full, Veits added. For $300, six people can stay in a Gateway Center apartment from Friday until Sunday of graduation weekend, Veits said.

Gateway Center rented out between 10 and 15 apartments for graduation weekend, nine less than on football weekends because members of Pi Lambda Phi, 321 Fraternity Row, leased at Gateway Center after a fire damaged their house earlier this semester, Veits said.

There is some hope for reservations, however. The Penn State Scanticon Conference Center Hotel, 215 Innovation Blvd., is opening the week before May graduation. The hotel still has vacancies, but is only accepting reservations by mail because a full-size staff is unavailable for making reservations, said Sam Glasgow, general manager of the Penn State Scanticon.

Glasgow said that anyone wishing to make reservations must do so in writing and not by telephone. Glasgow also said that preference will be shown to those who will stay for two nights of the weekend.

Mike Conti, manager of operations at The Nittany Lion Inn, had a unique solution to the lack of available hotel rooms during graduation.

"It's the one time of year we wish we could blow up our hotel like a balloon and add rooms," Conti said.

Tom McPhillips (senior-labor and industrial relations) said that his family had no problem getting reservations for graduation weekend, considering that they called The Nittany Lion Inn in December.

Students can take comfort in the fact that January graduation isn't already booked at all hotels. Carolyn Malmrose, general manager of the Hampton Inn Hotel, 1101 E. College Ave., said that although more than 100 people are on the waiting list for May graduation, the hotel is not full yet for January graduation.

"May is by far the most sought after," Malmrose said.