To think graduation fees are outrageous

[Storm4star]

So my son got his results yesterday, with an email link to book graduation. Deadline is Sunday so 48 hours. 2 guest tickets and gown hire £105!! Luckily I can afford it. But there are probably many families who wouldn’t be able to just come up with over £100 in 48 hours! Given how much degrees cost nowadays I think that’s outrageous.

Which uni is it? My DC have all paid c.£30 for the gown hire and £15 each for lunch with the graduand going free and no charge for the ceremony itself. Months and months of notice. I do think your costs sound steep and short notice. Most DC book ahead - should your DS have done so and the link was for those few who'd not wanted to book ahead of results?

Yes it's ridiculous to charge proud family members 30 odd quid to watch a ceremony which lasts minutes. Especially when you consider the ENORMOUS salaries of the average Vice Chancellor. The high ups at universities have no idea of the financial pressures on ordinary students and their families.

I couldnt afford to graduate from my ma. The uni paid for me (the school where i studied) as a one off

YANBU, I couldn't afford to go to my graduation as it would have cost nearly £200. I've got another bite at the cherry as I'm doing my masters but I think it's going to be equally unaffordable.

I’m a first year but my friend who graduates this year from the same uni told me it’s £45 gown hire, two free tickets and additional tickets are charged at £10 on a first come first served basis

He didn’t work damn hard for this day. He worked hard for his degree, and the opportunities that’ll afford him in the future, which he’ll have whether or not he attends the graduation ceremony.
I always think graduation ceremonies are far more for the parents than the graduands anyway, and yes it is an optional extra. Like it or not putting on a ceremony does incur costs, the alternative would be that the costs come from elsewhere - teaching budgets or facilities etc. Why should people who don’t want to attend an optional graduation ceremony have to subsidise those who do?

DO you have to have the fancy dress?

Ours lasts much much much much longer than a few minutes..................zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. I perk up occasionally though and they very kindly provide a (free) programme with a translation from latin to help people like me.

I really don't recall in detail how much my DD1's graduation cost.

I think gown and hat hire was around £80. Tickets were free (and we managed to get hold of 4).

We did have to put 4 of us up in a hotel for a couple of nights though (two rooms in a Premier Inn) in order to do it though, plus the requisite family celebratory meal in a restaurant afterwards. Those were the costs we really noticed to be honest. We aren't on the poverty line, but aren't wealthy either. More asset rich and very much cash poor.

Thankfully it is the sort of expense only needed once in a blue moon, and I wouldn't have missed it for the world (it was last summer, and she had just graduated with a first from Warwick University).

Tickets for my graduation were £30 each as well which is crazy. No free tickets apart from mine.
Is your son graduating in London?

My sister at a London university had to pay for all tickets. The rest of us in the provinces didn't have to, unless we wanted more than two. I think some universities, especially London ones hire venues.

Midgebabe, it is pretty much the dress code for the ceremony, whether officially stated or not.

Thousands (so it seemed) were graduating on the same day as my DD over several ceremonies on the campus. Every single one wore the gown and mortar board hat.

Of course, I guess it may not be compulsory to go to the ceremony, but the vast majority of people do, and the dress code (including gown and mortar board hat hire) is adhered to.

I think it means more when you know your child’s worked so hard to get there. My DS has ASD, went to a special needs school where GCSEs weren’t offered and came out with basic English and maths certificates, that was it. Over the years he’s got his basic qualifications, did an access course, got into a prestigious uni (which is maybe why they’re charging) failed some things, worked really hard on retakes. So it’s been a long old road. I don’t know about other students but I know he wants to go to his graduation and yes, it will be a very proud moment for me. Of course i’m already proud, ceremony or not but it is a nice way to mark the acheievement.

Ah yes, we are in London so that’s probably why then.

Ive been to 3 graduations & never had to pay for tickets. Gown hire & photos were charged though.

DS2 is graduating from Newcastle next week, & to make up (a bit...) for the lecturers' strike this year, gown hire & photos are free. Which is a more significant financial gesture than I had realised, reading what some places are charging

We are staying in an airbnb the night before, to avoid missing it by being stuck in traffic on the A1M (missed a wedding like that once) but at least paying that is our choice.

Your son might only have received his formal invitation to his graduation ceremony yesterday confirming the details but I can guarantee that had he bothered to check, the basic information would be published on the university website somewhere. Also, there will be a department responsible for organising degree ceremonies he could have spoken to at any point during his 3 years of study.
He just couldn't be bothered like so many of his peers.

DS1 is hoping to come too - not sure if we can even get an extra ticket at this stage (or if it would be charged) but they always have a live screening outside the auditorium

Our Son graduates on Thurs. Very expensive city. We will have to pay travel costs £70 petrol approx. £630 for 2 rooms for 2 nights, gown hire £60, photos £65, 4 reception tickets £60, restaurant meal and bubbly on grad night est £200, parking, outfits etc. and so it goes on.... Luckily I started saving after our daughters grad 3 years ago as that took us by surprise.

I went to my first one. I didnt realise that you dont have to wear the gown! Didnt go to second one as i was working as a temp and would rather have the days pay.

It's not exactly a hidden cost, and if your dc goes off to university, then you get three years notice.

Do you need to do that? I’m not British, studied in Europe. My degree came in the mail, there is no ceremony whatsoever. Sounds quite strange to me (i’ve seen graduation ceremonies, but don’t get them - a bit like dressing up parties)

It's hardly extortionate...say you've paid 9k for 4 years. The cost of graduation is 0.3% of the cost of the degree. It's not a surprise either so people can save for it.

And if you really, really can't afford it, don't go...you still get your degree regardless and the ceremony itself is just a long, boring waste of time.

DS graduated last week (from a Scottish uni). I can't tell you what the gown hire cost, but the fee included a photograph. However, I was surprised that our tickets cost £11 each and if we'd gone to the reception that was extra too (he didn't want to).

When I graduated the ceremony was held on campus and tickets were free.

You can always graduate in absentia, but I do agree it's a shame if anyone has to do that just because they can't afford all the costs.

As for the short notice, I wonder if it was really that short? My DS had to pay extra to hire his gown on the morning of the ceremony because although he was aware there was a deadline to book the gown (about 3 weeks earlier) it was before he got his results and he said to me "well, I hadn't got my results by then so didn't know that I was definitely graduating!"

Anyway, congratulations to your DS on his awesome achievement.

Its one of those milestone moments so of course there's a price tag attached.

Do you need to do that?

No, it's entirely optional. I didn't go to mine for my first degree.