Winter Graduations Discontinued
posted by Misha Thomas | February 24, 2017 | In NewsGraduation is an event every student looks forward to. It is the epitome of success.
However, a peculiar announcement was sent via email to students during winter break.
On December 14, 2016, students received an email stating, “Beginning in the 2017-2018 academic year, Fayetteville State will conduct Commencement Exercises only in May, discontinuing the ceremony currently conducted in December.“
Students, especially those slate to graduate in December, have many questions: Will it be possible to graduation in the Capel Arena? How will this affect my tuition?
Chancellor Anderson via email explained that, “…in Fayetteville the Crown Center is the only location that could accommodate an unlimited number of guests for each graduate. Capel arena was mentioned as a possible option, but it was determined to be too be much too small and the configuration was not appropriate. Moreover, if graduation were there, students would be limited to no more than two guests.” He stated that, the recommendation for graduation was “primarily a business decision.”
He went to say that members of academic affairs gave the recommendation to him and the Board of Trustees. He stated, “We did not want to add several hundred dollars to the graduation fee of each student. “
Dr. Young examined and answered my questions via email.
- Has Fayetteville State University considered holding a December graduation in the Capel Arena to cut cost? Yes, we conducted a number of commencement ceremonies in Capel Arena and from this experience ruled out doing it again for two major reasons. One, the only space sufficient for the line-up outside between Capel and the football stadium, which is very cold in December. The second, and biggest problem, is that the seating capacity forced us to limit the number of guests each graduate could invite to two. We had to issue tickets. Many students were very unhappy to limit their number of guests. The main reason for going to the Crown was to avoid a limit on the number of guests. The Crown is really our only viable option. We do not have a campus facility large enough.
- Are there any other reasons not listed in the email of why we will only have one commencement per year? Chancellor Anderson’s email summarized the main reasons, which are primarily budgetary. Another consideration is that we would like to make spring commencement a more celebratory and festive event. Currently we are planning for departmental receptions throughout campus. Another consideration is that for students entering as first-time students, we will increasingly focus on graduating with their respective classes in four years. So, a student who enters in fall 2017 should plan to graduate in spring 2021 with his or her incoming class. With the UNC system fixed tuition plan, a first time student will be guaranteed the same tuition for eight consecutive semester of enrollment. In the ninth semester, tuition could jump significantly, potentially requiring additional indebtedness by the student.
- A quote from the email talks about deciding between “increasing student fees” to cover December commencement or to discontinue it altogether, can you comment further? How much would student fees increase if we were to have a December commencement for graduates? The current student fee is $75, which is among the highest in the UNC system – in part because we have to use an off-campus facility. The current proceeds from the fee covers one commencements. The costs overrun of conducting two ceremonies must be paid out of our regular budget, funds that should be supporting instruction and academic support. We would have to increase the fee to at least $125 and maybe $150 to cover the costs of two commencements.
- It is also stated that the number of graduates participating in December ceremony has declined due to summer graduates being included in the May graduation. How drastic of a decline is it? Could you give me an overall count of how many graduates there are for December? In December 2016, we had 475 graduates of which @ 295 participated in the commencement ceremony. In May 2016, we had approximately 750 graduates, of which @ 550 participated in commencement. Prior to permitting summer graduates to participate in May commencement, the disparity was not nearly so great with 400 – 500 in December and 550 – 600 in spring. (These numbers are approximations.) Also, bear in mind that the first December commencement was in December 1992 (maybe 1993). We did not let summer graduates participate in May so the December commencement prevented those students from having to wait a year for the ceremony. For the first several years, we had Winter Commencement in Seabrook, the cost of which was minimal.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.