The months leading up to graduation are a stressful time for many students, especially those taking all remote classes.
Some of the requirements for the commencement ceremony, like regalia and tickets, have historically only been allowed for pickup at the bookstore, but the controversial rule is changing.
Kent Bravo, the media relations specialist at SF State, said there are going to be changes made for this year’s graduation as time goes on.
“Regalia will not be pick-up only,” Bravo said in an email. “Graduates will be able to have it shipped to their homes but tickets will be picked up on campus. Details about that are forthcoming.”
Despite the changes for the regalia to be mailed out, there are still concerns about the pickup of tickets for remote students.
Maria Sanchez, a criminal justice major at SF State, has been pursuing her education remotely for three and a half years.
Sanchez started her college career in Fall of 2019 and stayed at SF State’s on-campus housing until Spring of 2020.
“I already had a job. I had already paid the housing fees,” Sanchez said. “I also heard from many people that SFSU wasn’t refunding the full amount of the fees and that it was taking a while. I didn’t want to make it more difficult for myself, so I found it easier to stay in the dorms and work in SF.”
In May 2020, she went back home to Calipatria, a small town in California, about nine hours away. Sanchez never returned to campus because she wanted to help her sister take care of her first child.
“I did want to finish my degree at SF [State] because I started my Fall 2019 there, but I didn’t want to make it difficult for my sister,” Sanchez said. “Also, all the classes I wanted were remote, so I didn’t see the point in going to campus.”
According to Sanchez, when the administration announced that they will be mailing out the regalia this year she felt a sense of relief.
Sanchez is hoping the tickets will be able to mail out as decisions become finalized for graduation.
Before the announcement was made about the regalia, Sanchez was already asking people who might live on campus about picking up her graduation items.
“It was weird to go around asking people to do you this kind of favor because it seems a lot of people were wary. I don’t blame them. Anything can be a scam nowadays,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said she will still have someone picking up her tickets if the bookstore allows them because she will be saving a $400 trip to SF State.
The bookstore has not commented at this time.
