How Much for Your Child's HS Cap and Gown?

[Hikergirl]

I paid $40 for my dd's 2 years ago so not sure how much ds's will be this year.
Our yearbooks start at $75 but since I forget to order early I end up paying $100.

 

[runwad]

I'm hopping back in to say we have a grad fee too, $25. Cap gown $25. Tassel must be included in the grad fee cause middle d's wore older d's cap & gown and I only paid the $25 for her.

If I can get away with son wearing girls gown, I will, they're all the same. But son is 6'1 and girls are 5'7 so we'll see length might be ok for him?

 

[rlduvall]

My son graduated last year and his cap, gown and tassel was $48.20. BUT, add in the graduation announcements with all the required 'accoutrements' and a deluxe grad frame and I paid Jostens $243. total on that order [including cap, gown and tassel]. UGH! Senior year just seemed to have costs constantly.

 

[kymom99]

My son graduated last year and his cap, gown and tassel was $48.20. BUT, add in the graduation announcements with all the required 'accoutrements' and a deluxe grad frame and I paid Jostens $243. total on that order [including cap, gown and tassel]. UGH! Senior year just seemed to have costs constantly.

I gave Jostens as little as possible and don't regret it for a second. Bought a yearbook but no announcements. Made them myself. I also did not buy a class ring for him. He got 2 state rings for cross country. Don't get me wrong, we spent plenty of money but not on things that will be in a drawer in a month or so. Some people like the mementos. I think girls care more than boys about stuff like that.

 

[rlduvall]

I gave Jostens as little as possible and don't regret it for a second. Bought a yearbook but no announcements. Made them myself.

I know what you mean, but my son's class was the 100th graduating class for the school so there were special announcements available and I absolutely bought the minimum. Also, we had a special stole because of it, but the school supplied it for free to all of the graduates. I, mama, wanted the deluxe grad frame. My son could not have cared less about any of it.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

$25 for cap, gown, and tassel. More if you needed stoles or ropes and we own all of it. I'm going to assume we get some kind of group discount though, the typical graduating class is between 550 and 650 kids. The school also purchases the gowns for anyone who is in financial need.
Yearbooks are $75, those I don't mind buying because the kids are in all sorts of activities.

My niece's was $100 to rent, I think that is ridiculous. Basically she paid $100 for her tassel.

 

[DreamIsaWish]

I'm going to throw this out there concerning kids who can't afford the cost. Around here in public schools, we cannot exclude kids from anything based on ability to pay. If they qualify for free lunch all fees are waived. They do not have to pay for field trips if parents indicate they cannot afford the cost. I'm going to assume that if our seniors cant afford graduation costs, the schools will cover them.

I wonder (and I truly wonder; not trying to stir the pot) if some of the excessive cost is to cover the cost of those who can't afford it. Or is there some other source of funding for those who can't afford various things? I almost think I'd feel better if some of my excess charges were for those who couldn't otherwise afford it rather than generic fundraising. But, I've got quite a few years until we get to HS graduation so right now it's just conjecture and curiosity.

 

[kymom99]

That sounds pretty neat

I know what you mean, but my son's class was the 100th graduating class for the school so there were special announcements available and I absolutely bought the minimum. Also, we had a special stole because of it, but the school supplied it for free to all of the graduates. I, mama, wanted the deluxe grad frame. My son could not have cared less about any of it.

 

[kymom99]

I wonder (and I truly wonder; not trying to stir the pot) if some of the excessive cost is to cover the cost of those who can't afford it. Or is there some other source of funding for those who can't afford various things? I almost think I'd feel better if some of my excess charges were for those who couldn't otherwise afford it rather than generic fundraising. But, I've got quite a few years until we get to HS graduation so right now it's just conjecture and curiosity.

At the school where I taught there was money in the budget for those types of things. One time I worked with a teacher who was team leader. She used to pad the cost of field trips to cover those who didn't have the money. That really burned me up. I didn't think it was right to charge people who could barely afford it extra to pay for others. They don't do that anymore. accounting is much more strict now.

I have to wonder if these companies that make yearbooks, announcements, etc will be obsolete one day because people are able to create things themselves. I make shutterfly books all the time and they really turn out nice. Also did my son's announcements on shutterfly.

 

[MomToOne]

So I had an interesting email exchange with the school this morning. At first they were defensive, stating that the kids who had a "hardship" "just know" to come talk to them about it - that they had some they had gotten from past students to loan out, and that Josten's would give them rentals if needed. I pointed out that several of my daughter's friends had expressed concern at the cost, so clearly the students didn't "just know". And that the State had VERY CLEARLY communicated to all schools that "hardship" does not have to be identified as a reason to borrow - anyone can. Finally they agreed that they had possibly fallen down on the job and would put out some communication on it. Not the easiest process, but at least the end goal has been reached. It has been a continuing stink out here for a few years, in the news regularly so most schools are now in compliance - the other local schools I looked at all had a Senior letter dedicated and posted on their websites about this issue - so I was really surprised that DDs school was so behind the times on this.

(And for the PP who brought it up - no, the high costs are not subsidizing the costs for students who can't afford it. I found expenditure reports on the district website that shows that various schools paid additional fees to Josten's for rentals. They were not huge, but clearly showed other schools were doing a more effective job at getting the word out on loaners than DDs school.)

I did tell them that we would donate DDs cap and gown (and probably stole - I just need to check with her) after her graduation for use as a loaner for future classes.

But I'm still peeved at the cost. Even though I can afford $60 I get the feeling from the posts here that $25 is a more common amount so I don't like that DDs school is overboard. I have better things to do with my money than overpay this ridiculously for something like this. But I will get over it. It will be the last Josten's gets from us though - DD and I found some announcements on Vistaprint that we both like that are significantly cheaper than the Josten's ones, and I can order the exact number we need (not many), instead of being forced to buy a bunch we don't need. And DD doesn't want a ring - I asked her what she was thinking about a class ring, and her response was "Yuck! No one wears those - they're ugly!". I let out a huge sigh of relief with that one LOL

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We haven't been contacted about caps and gown yet. I think the school may cover it. His yearbook is $75 but the longer you wait the higher the costs.

when I graduated my cap and gown was free in 2001. My yearbook was over $100

 

[DreamIsaWish]

At the school where I taught there was money in the budget for those types of things. One time I worked with a teacher who was team leader. She used to pad the cost of field trips to cover those who didn't have the money. That really burned me up. I didn't think it was right to charge people who could barely afford it extra to pay for others. They don't do that anymore. accounting is much more strict now.

Thanks for the insight. I was curious. Not sure I have an opinion, but very curious.

And I also love the Shutterfly books and stuff. Made lovely graduation announcements for kindergarten (yes, I know it's silly for kindergarten, but with a code for 10 free cards it was totally worth it and the grandparents loved putting it on the fridge).

 

[dreiwhit]

Our cap and gowns were loaned to us.

High school and college cap & gowns were all rentals. We paid to rent them and had to give them back after the graduation ceremonies. We did get to keep the tassel, but it definitely wasn't worth the cost of the rentals.....

 

[mommy2mrb]

DD goes to private school, cap and gown are free, yearbook is $75.00, this year they added it to tuition.
Just got the order form for all the extras, crazy prices. Decided on getting 10 traditional announcements for immediate family, but not getting the tissue, name cards etc. will do a photo announcement from a photo company and make my own invitations for party. She will have NHS stole/cords not sure how much those will be.

Between senior photos, yearbook page (yes I splurged, my only child) graduation items will cost about $650.
My mom does give $250 for grandkids fees which helped.

Now to save for prom!!

OP hope the school will help the kids in need.

 

[crisi]

Public school, no charge for cap and gown - and we kept it.

They want all kids to walk, and charging for the cap and gown would keep some kids from being able to (or have kids whose parents could afford to choose not to) - they've removed the excuse.

They are all of $25 for a cheap cap and gown on the internet.

 

[dhardawa]

I paid $35 for cap, gown, and tassel and the mandatory $15 shipping and tax. So, $53.50. It will be complete garbage too.

 

[scrapquitler]

My daughter graduated HS in 2014. Cap, gown and tassel cost $17. You could buy extra tassels for something like $3 if you wanted an extra one. This was a purchase, not a rental.

 

[MomToOne]

I paid $35 for cap, gown, and tassel and the mandatory $15 shipping and tax. So, $53.50. It will be complete garbage too.

I'm trying to figure out this mystery shipping fee everyone charges since the reps come to the school and hand them out, they aren't actually shipped to us. With about 300 kids in DDs class, that means they take in $3k to ship the rep a couple of big boxes, and for them to spend an hour or two handing them out. Seems more than a little high for that!!

I think I'm in the wrong business...

 

[NinaBella]

.

 

[kymom99]

To piggyback on this, where does your high school hold the graduations? Our school use to hold it at the Tampa Convention Center, but later moved to the USF Sun Dome (cheaper venue). Each grad does receive a limited amount of tickets as well due to not enough seats for everyone.


Tell me about it! Last cheer season every girl was charged a shipping fee for their cheer pictures although it was clearly indicated the pictures are shipped to the cheer gym. I forget how much the shipping was exactly but it was appropriate amount if shipping only my pictures to my house. Lets say it was $6.00 to $9.00, times like 300 cheerleaders. I was like, well someone is making a nice profit. The same just happened with the cheer make-up... it will be shipped to the cheer gym but we were charged shipping per cheerleader. So this is not an uncommon practice.

My son went to a small private high school and they have their ceremony at a nearby Catholic college in their auditorium. They give out tickets but there are always plenty for whoever we want to invite given the low numbers. Some of the bigger public schools have theirs at the nearby university at their larger arena.