By Ulices Samaniego

With the Spring semester beginning every senior graduating is beginning to start preparations for the May ceremony. But there is a conversation being held by many students about the cost of graduation. The main concern for many students is a fee for applying to graduate which is $65 and a late fee of $25 automatically charged after Feb. 11. This fee does not include the cap and gown. This is what’s causing many students to wonder what is that $65 for?

Before I went out and asked students their opinions, I first went to the York College Business office to ask what the money of the fee was used for. When speaking to some of the employees in the office they were able to clarify that the $65 fee was used to pay for diploma and speaker fees.

Question: What are your thoughts on the Graduation fee?

I am not happy with the graduation fee. I believe it fair for us students to have to pay for our cap and gown. But this graduation fee just fees like another York College charge before we go. The school doesn’t do the best job in clarifying what the fee is for.

Ryan Makowski is a Senior Marketing major.

Ryan Makowski

While I do understand that graduation ceremonies can be expensive and there needs to be funding for events. I think given how scaled down theses ceremonies have been in the past couple of years due to COVID and the fact how COVID is still a real threat we might not have a full-scale ceremony. For that fact, I believe the fee should be reduced. Also, this fee does not even include the cost for cap and gown, which makes the fee seem kind of questionable. As for the late fee I believe it’s a bit too harsh because students are focused on classes and getting stuff done. Students shouldn’t have to worry about a late fee making their graduation more expensive. Graduation is the end goal for everyone, so it doesn’t make sense for it to be behind this pay wall when we are already paying so much for tuition, housing, and for some parking permits. Another thing that the school lacked on was informing us what the fee was for. When I went to pay for my graduation fee, they didn’t specify what the fee was for. All I knew is that I was asked to pay to graduate, so that’s all I could do.

Matthew Rohrbaugh is a Senior Integrated Marketing Communication Major.

Matthew Rohrbaugh

I just feel like the information is late. I’ve been hearing it from other students, but like I don’t have a lot of friends or people who have graduated before me that could tell me about this issue. I’m trying to figure out the resources for myself. I feel like they don’t give you enough time to prepare, not everybody can come up with $65 in a couple of weeks. The late fee is kind of unfair if they’re not going to give us more time. The school should start telling anyone who is graduating in the spring since before winter break that way students have more time to come up with the money for the fee. The information should be given out sooner, I don’t think they give it soon enough for people to make decisions. Like the fact that many of us don’t know what this fee is for, and we graduate in May is an issue.

Victoria Romero is a Senior Integrated Marketing Communication major.

Victoria Romero

It doesn’t make sense it should be charged into the tuition or what about if you fail a class and can’t graduate — is it refunded? It’s the dumbest thing

Patrick Gill is a Senior Political Science major. Aside from that he works at the mail center on campus.

Patrick Gill

The graduation fee to me feels like just another way for the school to make money. With the tuition you would think the school could pay for the fees or at least make it cheaper. Since tuition covers a lot, for example, the medical treatment in case a student needs a doctor on campus. Most students don’t even use the doctor on campus. It’s just an example of the many ways students are paying more than needed. Overall, the fee is too much and not a lot of information is given out about it.

Onasis Bisbal is a Senior Biology Major.

Onasis Bisbal

Ulices Samaniego is a Senior Integrated Marketing Communication major with a Communication minor.