Sacramento State students are paying among the highest fees in the California State University system to graduate.

Information gathered from 14 CSU respondents showed Sacramento State is topped by five of the schools in graduation application fees.

Graduation fees for Sac State cost $32.50.

“Seven dollars pays for the diploma while 50 cents pays for the handling,” said Anita Hall, Sac State’s Admissions & Records Registrar. “The other $25 pays for the commencement. Degrees are then ordered from a supplier once a list of graduating students is compiled.”

The $7.50 fee for the degree has remained constant since the Fall semester of 1991, Hill said.

Sac State senior Bryan Fisher, paid his fees and said he should have a choice of whether or not to pay the $25 commencement fee based on whether their plans to attend the graduation ceremony.

“Students shouldn’t have to pay if they’re not going to attend,” said Fisher. “If you earn your degree, why should you have to pay?”

Fisher said there should be a way to make sure graduation requirements are being met after filing the application. “I should get the results back quicker,” said Fisher, “I don’t know if I need more classes or not.”

Sac State senior Stephen Babb expressed his concern over the way the graduation ceremonies are handled, noting an incident involving a guest speaker at last year’s ceremony that caused controversy in the Sacramento area.

“For $25 for each student, it has to be more coordinated,” said Babb, who has yet to pay his fees. “It has to be more than just shoving students into a room.”

This overall fee is based on what the schools themselves determine the costs will be, said Dennis Armstrong, a spokesman from the Office of the Chancellor of the California State University system. “Individual campuses make the decisions on campus-based fees.”

Of the 14 schools surveyed, San Francisco State University and California State University of Long Beach led the list charging students $40 to apply to graduate.

CSU Monterey Bay and CSU San Marcos do not charge graduation fees.

Commencement Coordinator Carmen L. Villa of CSU San Marcos said students at CSUSM are charged a $6 Academic Record fee each semester they are enrolled.

“This fee pays for unlimited academic transcripts for students,” Villa said, “and it pays for their application, their graduation and the commencement ceremony each year.”

The fee each student must pay for transcripts at Sac State is $4 for the first copy and $2 for each additional copy.

All fees for students must first be cleared with the Student Fee Advisory Board before being implemented, said Hill. If the proposed fee passes, it is sent to University President Donald Gerth before being put into effect.

According to the Chancellor’s office all student fees must be outlined to the CSU system in what is known as Executive Order 740. Problems regarding student fees must be brought up with university administration or Associated Students, Inc.

“Students who are graduating should have a choice of when and where the ceremony should be held,” Fisher said. Graduating students should be able to have a choice of how they want their $25 to be spent when it comes to graduation, he said.