Sacramento State has raised yet another fee this year: the graduation petition fee, which burdens students with the second-highest graduation application fee in the 23-campus California State University system.

Juniors planning to graduate next year will have to pay $63.50 for the graduation petition this year, which includes the $28 diploma fee – up $20 from last year, said Kim Nava, public relations interim director of news services.

The raise was put forth by Sac State university registrar director Dennis Geyer and approved Aug. 15 by Sac State President Alexander Gonzalez, Nava said.

Four items contributed to the fee increase this year, she said.

Mailing costs, ceremony costs, diploma covers and application processing fees have all increased.

“The increase was necessary to close the gap in covering the expenses associated with the ordering, printing and mailing of the diploma and the inclusion of a leather-style diploma cover, which will be mailed with the diploma,” Geyer said. “The increase also helps cover staffing, external services and postage.”

Senior English major Michael Ha said he always thought paying for the petition to graduate was unnecessary, especially with tuition increases this year and everyone struggling financially.

“I feel lucky that I managed to submit my petition before the raise,” he said. “But I still think it is unfair to the students.”

Similar feelings were expressed by junior history major Vanessa Mieleszko, who is planning to graduate in spring 2011.

“Paying to graduate is ridiculous, it does not make sense paying more money to leave.” Mieleszko said. “This represents how the system is profiting on students and less on how it is making education accessible to a wider demographic of our society.”

Mieleszko said she does not understand why all of the fee increases are taking place while a lot of the administrators are making six-figure salaries.

When the original article about the graduation petition fee ran in The State Hornet in 2002, graduation fees were $32.50.

Ha said he paid around $45 for his petition last year.

The graduation fee consists of two fees, Geyer said. The two parts are commencement and diploma, or graduation services. Only the diploma portion was increased, Geyer said.

The commencement fee is $35.50 and has been for some time, he said.

The diploma fee is what increased. The increase was from $7.50, which was set back in the 1980s, to $28.

Students also expressed feelings toward the other aspect of graduation: the deadline for graduation petition submission.

The university registrar said students planning to graduate need to file petitions one year prior to the graduating semester.

For example, if the student’s plan is to graduate fall 2011, then the petition deadline is Nov. 1, 2010.

Likewise, if a student wants to graduate in spring 2011 the deadline is May 1, 2010.

Mieleszko said she does not understand why Sac State requires students to apply of graduation a year in advance.

“This shows just how ridiculous this school is, the whole bureaucracy of Sacramento State is very out-of-touch with its students,” she said.

Nava said with approximately 6,500 students graduating each year, the university needs time to process applications.

“It’s such a huge volume of students to process; if we waited a couple of weeks before, it would be an absolute mess,” Nava said.

Blazej Bruzda can be reached at [email protected].