Graduation
fees vary by each campus
Fees:
Ceremony costs cover ceremony, diploma printing.
By
Sean Orfila
Online
Forty-Niner
Waiting
in long lines became a frustrating experience
last week for many graduating seniors who
hurried to make the filing deadline. Filing
a $37 graduation check, a tedious hoop that
every prospective graduate jumps though,
is something of a mystery to some Cal State
Long Beach.
"You
never know where all these fees go,"
said student Jayln Wang, "I'd feel
better if I knew where my $37 is going."
Student
John Crossly said he "just shelled
out a grand" after paying tuition and
thought the fees were "a little ridiculous."
Both students agreed that paying fees were
not anything that any student wanted to
do.
Altough
the graduation fee is enough to feed most
college students for a week, the cost at
CSULB is significantly less than the fees
at neighboring Cal State Fullerton. According
to that school's Web site, CSU Fullerton
students pay $90 for a graduation-filing
fee. Those that pay late at CSU Fullerton
are subject to a $25 dollar late fee, as
opposed to the $10 late fee at CSULB.
Grauation
fees at Cal State Dominguez Hills add up
to about $35 and CSU Los Angeles students
pay around $30.
"The
fee covers the commencement and the diploma,"
said Lola Cumiford, lead graduation evaluator
at CSULB.
Barbara
Hall, fiscal and logistical coordinator
for commencement at CSULB, said the graduation
fee covers the cost of the graduation ceremony
as well as printing diplomas. Diploma printing,
which is done by an off-campus business,
costs about $7,000, said Hall.
She
also approximated the costs of commencement
to be at total of about $160,000. Hall said
the rest of the graduation fee is used to
pay the salaries of the people like herself
who organize commencement and diploma printing.
Students
who do not attend commencement are still
subject to pay the $37 fee. Graduating students
do not have to sign up for or attend commencement.
Commencement is comprised of ceremonies
that span over three days, said Hall. Each
college has its own ceremony and some colleges
are so large that they spill over into two
ceremonies. Each ceremony has food and decoration
costs, stage setup, chair rental and free
photographs for each student.
Hall
also said that they "try to keep the
speaker costs down by not having any,"
and that the differences in graduation costs
from campus to campus could be due to paying
for guest speakers.
Meanwhile,
during crunch-time in Brotman Hall, long
lines continue to frustrate students at
CSULB while the campus makes a transition
to a new system of student records. In the
near future students may have the option
of paying their fees online.
"Everything
you do at this school you're paying fees,"
said Wang.
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