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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think graduation fees are outrageous

112 replies

Storm4star · 07/07/2018 12:37

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.

OP posts:
ICouldBeSomebodyYouKnow · 07/07/2018 13:48

It's definitely a British (and USA) thing. DD did a post-grad in a European country. There was a ceremony but only the academics wore robes, not the students. Most local students didn't attend anyway, just the foreigners and their parents.

Original poster
Storm4star · 07/07/2018 13:49

@ICouldBeSomebodyYouKnow

Thank you 😊

OP posts:
ICouldBeSomebodyYouKnow · 07/07/2018 13:52

Where I studied, many years ago, it was almost a crime not to graduate in person. You had to be dead, hospitalised, or, as one of my friends was, emigrating to Australia with her family, to be allowed to graduate in absentia. Now is seems much more common.
Other unis were less strict. A friend graduating the same year as me watched her own graduation as an audience member, she just didn't parade across the stage in a gown.

Clearly practices vary.

Note to parents with children at uni: have a rummage round the uni website in May or June well before your sprog graduates to get a feel for what to expect!

Original poster
Storm4star · 07/07/2018 13:53

To everyone who’s saying people can save up. Well you don’t save up for something if you don’t think it’s going to cost a lot of money! People have confirmed that most unis don’t charge for the initial 2 guests so this was a surprise cost. And, as I said, I am not complaining my self, just pointing out that it would hit a lot of families hard to get landed with these costs.

OP posts:
CatchingBabies · 07/07/2018 13:55

Mine cost me a fortune. £25 per guest ticket, only I got in free. £55 for gown, robe, hat hire, £60 for a basic photo package (4 photos plus some tiny ones). Plus we paid food and drinks following the ceremony and travel to the venue. Spent over £300 in the end but don’t regret any of it as it was a fantastic day.

KatyMac · 07/07/2018 13:57

Ours is £42 for the gown (I think) & £23 for each ticket

Tomorrow & so proud I could burst

LightAsTheBreeze · 07/07/2018 13:58

We didn't pay for tickets to DS's graduation just gown hire, he didn't have a mortarboard, that was quite a bit extra, when he had his photo took there was one there which was stuck on his head for the picture. There is the photos to think of though, iirc they were getting on for £100.

BoxsetsAndPopcorn · 07/07/2018 14:00

I just think when you are paying 9k a year for tuition it is really sad to miss graduation

But people graduate with or without a ceremony, it's an optional extra for those that need the validation of wearing the gown.

Given how many don't pay back their student loans, most aren't even paying for the tuiton in the first place.

CasperGutman · 07/07/2018 14:01

My first graduation was free - no charge for gown hire, ceremony tickets or even for a three-course sit-down lunch with wine afterwards. That's what a prestigious institution should look like!

I'm graduating again on Monday, and although I have to pay £50 for gown hire the ceremony (in a big swanky off-campus venue) is free.

In both cases the free tickets were initially two per graduand with the option to apply for more. Additional tickets were free of you were lucky enough to get any!

Sundance65 · 07/07/2018 14:06

It never occurred to me to attend my graduation and neither of my kids were interested and bothered with theirs. So I had no idea there even was a cost so when I saw the title of the thread I was expecting it to be in the high hundreds if not thousands of pounds.

£100 for a major one of event you knew was coming??? Seems cheap as chips to me.

CSISaraSidle · 07/07/2018 14:19

Just out of curiosity, do you have to hire or can you buy? You could make a killing undercutting the market!

MissConductUS · 07/07/2018 14:27

It's definitely a British (and USA) thing

I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I've never known a uni or secondary school in the US charge for graduation tickets. There may be a limit on the number each student is allowed, but I've never heard of a charge.

Here everyone goes to the graduation ceremony and the cap and gown is universal. It's become a thing for the secondary school students to decorate the tops of their caps, usually with something related to the uni they're going to, so the cap and gown are purchased, not rented. For my son we paid $40 for them.

Ethylred · 07/07/2018 14:31

So this graduation thing came as a surprise did it?

Furx · 07/07/2018 14:42

I agree with a PP, he might be being stung for late booking fees. (And neglecting to mention the full story)

My uni had 2 free places if you booked when you were told to in April. (Still £50 for the bloody robes though) but if you left the booking till after your results you did get a whopping late booking fee. We received several emails warning us to book AHEAD of getting our results.

If you booked and then failed the course, I think they let you use the gown hire for a resit ceremony later in the year.

Heartbrokengirl14 · 07/07/2018 15:07

You lucky mine was just under 200 then photos on top! It is a nightmare, I sort of wished I’d saved it but it was the end of the the hard three years I wanted something that I could remember

xoguineas · 07/07/2018 15:10

YANBU. I have just graduated and had to pay £100 for my gown and photos as well as £40 to actually attend the ceremony! Even if you don't attend the ceremony and graduate in absentia you still have to pay £25 for your degree certificate.

ClarkWGriswold · 07/07/2018 15:11

Is it a London university OP? I work at one and we do charge for tickets because the cost of the venue hire is astronomical. Also the gowns are from Ede and Ravenscroft so pretty expensive to hire.

NeverTwerkNaked · 07/07/2018 15:16

He sounds impressive!!
I had to fight a lot of battles in my personal life (bereavements etc) to get my degree and I am proud I did it every day. I have my certificate on the wall in my bedroom (to remind me how strong I am) . But I didn’t go to graduation and it hasn’t made a jot of difference to my life.

SunburstsOrMarbleHalls · 07/07/2018 15:26

DD graduated last week. She already had a gown so she only had to hire the hood which was £15. We got 2 free tickets to her graduation and 2 free tickets for a garden party lunch afterwards. I think extra tickets were charged at £25 each. Her graduation was held within the university as was the lunch so I would imagine that makes a big difference to the cost.

dancingthroughthedark · 07/07/2018 16:34

Ds graduates in a couple of weeks . It was £45 cap and gown hire,. We got 3 tickets free and put in the ballot for me so I have 6 in total! We could have payed £15 a head for a reception afterwards but ds would prefer we spent that on a family meal afterwards.
Google the Uni and Graduation and you will find if there's been details up for a while. Ds booked everything weeks ago.

ItscominghomeItscominghome · 07/07/2018 16:38

My DDS was about £50. The photos were really good value.

SpottedOnMN · 07/07/2018 16:40

Mine with the OU cost £250 with tickets for kids, parents and my best friend, plus gown hire and photos. Was a great experience though, and I'm glad I did it.

DarthLipgloss · 07/07/2018 18:33

My eldest went to Leeds and there was a fund to apply for if you couldn't afford graduation.

user546425732 · 07/07/2018 19:08

Mine with the OU cost £250 with tickets for kids, parents and my best friend, plus gown hire and photos. Was a great experience though, and I'm glad I did it.

It must have been the best part of £500 by the time you'd finished? For a supposedly inclusive university that's appalling?

guessmyusername · 07/07/2018 20:36

DD graduated yesterday. She (I) paid £45 to uni for graduation. You still had to pay that even if you don't go as they claim it is for certificates etc. Surely the ludicrous fees should cover that!! She also paid £45 to hire the gown etc and a further amount to order professional photos but that was not an essential, we chose to get them. We also chose to go out for lunch. And delicious it was. We didn't pay for tickets.