It’s April, and with a little over one month away from graduation, I have everything ready. My family has booked flights and hotel rooms and got extra masks and vaccination appointments. I even have my outfit picked out for the ceremony, but there is one problem, though. I have no cap and gown— and of course, the fancy golden tassel.
On April 8, graduating students received a formal invitation from NSU with the first detailed information about how to purchase graduation regalia, reserve guest tickets and RSVPing to the ceremony itself.
Like most seniors, I submitted my graduation fee and processed my degree during winter break on Dec. 28, 2020. For the roughly 101 days following, I didn’t have any information as to our caps and gowns. It was such a weight off my shoulders to finally receive this important information, but after being in the dark for so long, I wonder, why was it so hard to give us this information?
I am not the only member of NSU’s class of 2021 that struggled with finding out information about this important day in our lives. Until now, there had been no information or NSU communication to any of us about where to purchase our cap and gowns or who we need to contact to find out that information. I spoke to my academic advisor about this months ago and was told that my college, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences, would reach out to me.
I have heard countless other seniors voicing the same opinions in daily conversations and over messages in group chats. We were all contacting NSU representatives, but all we got back was “soon,” directed to contact another department or a simple “I’m not sure.” I get it. We’ve all had a tough year, but you have to keep students in the loop about these things — it’s important. I know it may just seem like a navy polyester smock to you, but to us, it means we’ve made it through the past four years of all-nighters, finals weeks, quarantine, social isolation and the COVID-19 pandemic. It means we made it to graduation despite it all.
I understand that certain circumstances of this particular graduation ceremony are different from other ceremonies. It is a week or so later than usual, it is going to be held in the Hard Rock Stadium instead of the Rick Case Arena and we still won’t have a definitive answer on how many guests can attend until April 15. All of this is based on CDC guidance and is dependent on COVID-19 infection rates. As a class, we understand that and appreciate the university’s efforts to hold in-person graduation, but even with all of those specifics still up in the air, I should still have had access to information as to when I will be able to make those final arrangements for the ceremony.
Even though we now have this pivotal information, I believe the university failed to consider the price point of the graduation regalia being a struggle for students. I can only speak for the undergraduate experience, but $70 ($55 with taxes and shipping cost) is a steep price for a gown with an obsolete NSU logo — considering we already gave the university tuition the past four years and paid the $100 graduation fee. I thought that was what the graduation fee went towards. Students have a deadline of April 26 to purchase this for graduation and if you are out of work or in between paychecks, I guess you can’t attend graduation. You’d think with the unprecedented times we are in and the financial stress we are all under, students would be cut a break. I guess that’s where we get the saying, “The tassel is worth the hassle.”
