By Nate West
News Editor
At the Student Government Association (SGA) meeting on Tuesday, April 16, it was announced that starting with the class of 2014, graduate and undergraduate students will be required to pay a $100 graduation fee.
The decision to impose a fee was made to help offset the increasing costs of commencement week, according to Rick Trietley, vice provost for student life.
“Our commencement week activities are expensive and costs rise each year due to increases in supplies, services and food costs,” Trietley said.
However, the fee has several students upset. Daulton Sherwin, a junior journalism and mass communication major, believes it’s a sign of problems within the university.
“It’s a low-blow move by the school because apparently our tuition and hard work to complete our degree audit isn’t enough to let us graduate,” Sherwin said. “The fact that it is required is what irks me the most. If $100 is the only reason I can’t graduate, then this school has major leadership and faculty problems.”
Sherwin said many of his friends are upset, too.
“Their main priority is ‘Where is the money going?’” he said.
There are a number of events during commencement week, which add to the cost, Trietley said. The events include Faculty and Staff reception with the senior class, the Candlelight Ceremony, the Commissioning Ceremony for Army ROTC Cadets, the Honors and Awards Ceremony, the Baccalaureate Mass, the Honorary Degree Recipient Dinner and the Commencement Ceremony.
“Some of the costs involved with these events include equipment rentals, sound, program printing, diplomas, diploma covers, postage, contract personnel for sign language services, stage set ups, flowers, flag rentals, musicians and singers, catering costs, overtime costs for hourly employees, photography and numerous others,” he said.
Sherwin said he would opt for a less flashy graduation ceremony if it would mean he didn’t have to pay the fee, and he’s not alone. Joey Mullin, a junior journalism and mass communication major, agrees with Sherwin.
“I don’t care how glamorous my graduation is. Graduation is a symbolic ceremony of moving on. We have passed our education,” Mullin said. “I honestly don’t know how to make a graduation ceremony flashy. We’re not getting Aerosmith to play a song while we process in, so what is the need for this fee on top of our cap and gown fee and also on top of the fee we pay for senior week on top of our activity fee?”
Trietley said graduation is an important event to the university which they try to make something that graduates and students alike can be proud of.
“It is extremely important for St. Bonaventure University to provide all of our graduates and their families with a professional, classy and memorable commencement week,” Trietley said. “Without the approval of this new graduation fee, aspects of commencement week would eventually have to be either significantly reduced or eliminated. The benefit of this fee is a sustained funding source that provides the required resources to ensure a commencement experience that we can all be proud of.”
While walking at graduation is important to Mullin and his family, he says it’s not worth the extra $100 he would have to pay, partly because his family doesn’t have an additional $100.
“At this time I am not planning on paying the fee and honestly it is because my family and I are not well-off, so a fee like this is actually a very dramatic fee,” Mullin said. “We do not have extra money to throw around, so I can’t say we would be able to pay it, which should be some kind of wakeup call for a school that strives so hard to provide higher education to families that normally wouldn’t be able to afford it.”
The decision to make the fee wasn’t made by Trietley alone, although he did originally propose it to the St. Bonaventure Cabinet as part of his job as executive in charge for commencement week activities.
“After much discussion and analysis, the Cabinet voted to initiate the mandatory graduation fee just a few weeks ago,” he said.
The St. Bonaventure Cabinet is comprised of Sister Margaret Carney, O.S.F., Michael Fischer, Brenda McGee, Brother Ed Coughlin, Mary Driscoll, Kate Dillon Hogan, and Emily Sinsabaugh along with Trietley.
Trietley said the cabinet, in its analysis into charging a fee, researched numerous universities to determine if they charged a graduation fee.
“We found that it is not an uncommon practice with schools such as Siena College, Mercyhurst College and D’Youville College already charging a graduation fee,” he said. “The fee amount that was approved by Cabinet for all undergraduate and graduate students is a one-time mandatory fee of $100. This compares to D’Youville’s $80 fee, Siena’s $125 fee and Mercyhurst’s $160 fee.”
Sherwin has attended college graduations before and said if he has to pay $100, he’ll walk, but it won’t be at graduation.
“I’d walk away. I was at my sister’s commencement at Slippery Rock and it was nothing special. My expectations for Bonaventure are the same or less,” Sherwin said. “Unless Vitamin Water does their ‘Boring to Brilliant’ ad at commencement, I’m just sitting on a chair boring myself with speeches and getting a piece of paper to substitute with the real diploma I’ll be getting in the mail.”
