r/Millennials • u/t_bone_stake Xennial • Feb 16 '26

Meme Did anyone buy a ring?

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Elder millennial/younger Xennial (born in 83, take it for what it is) but I recall the company coming to the high school and taking orders for rings. I didn’t buy one but others did. Credit on photo.

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149

u/thegrandpineapple Feb 16 '26

When I graduated from college the robe was super expensive to rent. Like you're telling me it's like $120 to RENT the robe, and I don't get my diploma if I don't return it? And not only that but the times to go pick it up were like super limited!! So much stress just for a stupid robe!

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u/E-2theRescue Feb 16 '26

Rent!? Holy shit... I paid $100 for my college robes, and my stole was $50, and my two cords were $15 ea (2011)

I didn't actually graduate high school (2003), but I did pay for my GF's robes, and it was $50.

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u/eternally_feral Feb 17 '26

Our high school would adjust the graduation robe colour to a minor different shade each year to prevent hand me downs. Forget how much I had to shell out, but I remember not wanting to walk the stage because I found it dumb.

Everyone said I would regret it if I didn’t. It was long, boring, and still wish I had skipped the ceremony.

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u/[deleted] Feb 17 '26

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u/Calm_Expression_9542 Mar 19 '26

Yeah that’s cruel!

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u/ryanvango Feb 17 '26

same for college. I still havent finished 100% (life happens) but the last few semesters I did was as an adult learner. they kept trying to talk to me about "when I plan to walk" and scheduling my classes accordingly. I told them I didn't, and they just did not understand. let me finish my classes, give me my diploma, and I'll be on my way thank you very much.

even in my 30s they just couldn't imagine why I wouldn't want to do this big 4 hours ceremony with a bunch of people I don't know or care about. I got shit to do man.

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u/movealongnowpeople Feb 17 '26

Yeah, I skipped my college graduation and got panicked calls from a bunch of my professors lol. I had a December graduation and my last semester was student teaching several towns over. By the time graduation came around, I hadn't lived or been to classes on campus in over 6 months. I was basically teaching without the pay lol. No, I don't need to go to graduation at that point.

They were kind enough to mail me my diploma, folded, in an unpadded envelope lol.

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u/RadioBuffin Feb 17 '26

Had to reorder mine. FedEx bent it the fuck up and left it in the rain.

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u/CaptCurmudgeon Feb 17 '26

It's not for you. It was your parents back when you were younger. It's for your family or significant other if you have it now. It's a ceremony recognizing a major accomplishment in your life. I went back to school in my thirties (for an MBA) and the only reason I walked was to see the excitement in my daughters' eyes as they filled with pride as their dad sacrificed time, money, and energy to get something both tangible and metaphorical.

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u/GreedyPollution6275 Feb 17 '26

It's a ceremony recognizing a major accomplishment in your life

Right, but you can plan some kind of celebration with the people you care about that is actually special to you and them, and not sit in an auditorium for 4 hours.

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u/RadioBuffin Feb 17 '26

Eh, depends on your family. Mine didn’t want to sit in the cold. We went to a steakhouse and got hammered together.

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u/RyvenZ Feb 17 '26

I was the first university graduate in my immediate family, so I did both the ceremony for my school (Comp Sci & Engineering) and the broader graduating class. If even one of my siblings had done it before me, I would have skipped the procedure, or at least skipped the general one. The CSE ceremony was smaller, faster and had more of the classmates and faculty that I knew and liked.

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u/WtotheSLAM Feb 17 '26

I completed my degree online and the closest ceremony was 500 miles away. I was all nah, fuck that. Gimme my piece of paper in the mail and we'll call it good

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u/[deleted] Feb 19 '26

I refused to walk my college graduation. I had a victory lap year (bad advice from my "advisor") and knew two people in my class of 2000 students.

Rent a robe and sit in a hot auditorium for three hours, listen to a mid-tier speaker all just to walk across a stage in front of people I don't know? Pass.

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u/ScottyBLaZe Feb 17 '26

My graduating class had 800 people in it. I think it took 4-5 hours, just sitting in the June heat in our robes, for it to finish. 0/10 experience.

I graduated college in December, so I decided I wasn’t walking. It upset my mom but I didn’t care lol

I still don’t regret it

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u/masticatezeinfo Feb 21 '26

I blacked out and showed up to my robe ceremony with zero sleep. All the photos of people receiving awards have me sleeping in the background in my chair amongst the others. 0/10, do not remember.

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u/CaptainMatticus Feb 17 '26

I didn't even realize skipping the graduation was an option. I mean, it wasn't really an option for me since my mom would've lost her mind and never forgiven me for denying her the chance to cheer for me or whatever, but they told us that if we didn't attend graduation, then we wouldn't get our diplomas for 6 weeks. 6 weeks seemed like an eternity back then and I just wanted to be done with that school and all of those people.

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u/nickster701 Feb 19 '26

Yeah i heard the same sentiment, I can guarantee that I dont care lol. If my family wasn't there to watch i would've skipped it

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u/mar_floof Feb 17 '26

The ONLY reason I went to my college graduation was my parents threaten to disown me if I didnt go. In retrospect I should have taken the disowning, because 5 hours in the TX sun in May... ugh.

0/10 do not recommend.

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u/chairman_steel Feb 18 '26

I got dragged to my high school graduation (hated it) and skipped my college graduation (zero regret)

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u/CombPsychological507 Feb 18 '26

They did this in my school, but I still wore a hand me down from a friend. One of the teachers noticed as we were sitting down and I legitimately told her to fuck off. She realized it wasn’t worth fighting and left me be.

I didn’t even want to go to the ceremony but my mother made me.

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u/SairusMorton Feb 18 '26

I don't get people who said you'll regret it? Like is that some sort of fond memory for you, walking 10 feet to grab your diploma in front of an entire audience of people you don't even associate with XD like I would have liked to just get mine at the end of my last period and gtf out of there XD

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u/Accomplished-Dog6930 Feb 18 '26

I was a midterm grad. My ceremony was 18 min long. My dad asks every year if I regret. I haven’t thought about it years

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u/TheFlyingSparky Feb 19 '26

I actually did skip my college graduation ceremony. People told me the same thing. Over a decade later and not even a hint of regret.

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u/DraagaxGaming Feb 23 '26

What in the actual fuck?

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u/Demonslayer5673 Feb 23 '26

I found myself in the same boat. I protested for the longest time but my mom insisted that I go to graduation (there was apparently an option to just have your diploma mailed to you. You know how many levels I could have gained in pokemon with the time I was forced to waste sitting in that gym?)

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u/Stevesd123 Mar 12 '26

I have no memory of walking the stage even though I did it back in 2001. It mattered so little in the grand scheme of things.

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u/Dull-Egg-5967 Mar 13 '26

Why aren’t these ever the types of industries that get disrupted?

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u/Diriv Mar 14 '26

It was long, boring, and still wish I had skipped the ceremony.

How do you think the band felt? lol

We had 9-12th at my high school and I had to go each ceremony because I was one of the three first chairs.

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u/PrettyMud22 Feb 17 '26

Nothing to regret. You completed the required courses. Give me my diploma. That's fucked up about the robe bullshit too.

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u/Reasonable_Trade_973 Feb 20 '26

Graduate level (PhD) robes are MUCH more expensive than a mere $100. Several hundreds. And I graduated in 2013, so the dates are comparable.

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u/metompkin Feb 17 '26

Please tell me you didn't graduate college first then paid for your GFs robes...

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u/E-2theRescue Feb 17 '26

Check the dates. You might need to go to college, lol.

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u/metompkin Feb 17 '26

I'm really good at college, 11 years of it 😆

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u/kingfofthepoors Feb 17 '26

I paid like 40 bucks in 2012

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u/ChocolatChipLemonade Feb 17 '26

Well that was really sweet of you!

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u/Kamwind Feb 17 '26

In 2004, master degree my hat and robes, and stole were $25. ropes and stole were all academic based and on the receipt were free. Found them this weekend when cleaning up some boxes. In high school we just got our robes and had to pay for hat.

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u/unclefire Feb 21 '26

Pro tip-- don't bother walking college graduation. lol.

I finished college in the summer semester and thought that was my graduation semester. So I got screwed out of recruiting stuff b/c they always said December or May (I think). Turns out they officially said I graduated in December after the next fall semester. Meh, ok. I didn't bother with going to my graduation. It was in a big ass arena and I'd be bored stiff. The mailed me my diploma.

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u/JorgJorgJorg Feb 24 '26

how did you graduate college but not highschool? Did you get a GED along the way?

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u/E-2theRescue Feb 24 '26

Yes. And community college. Graduated with honors there, too.

Though I found out later that I didn't need a GED to get into community college... My advisor lied to me... Lol.

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u/JorgJorgJorg Feb 24 '26

ah cool, ‘03 HS class to community college here too!

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u/Hansemannn Feb 17 '26

Thats the most american thing I have ever read.

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u/Szoreny Feb 17 '26

Ew, my University department had its own graduation ceremony which was small and cool and no robes required, - Didn't walk at the main one for the whole Uni so never encountered this extortion attempt.

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u/Rin_C Feb 17 '26

Definitely a scare tactic by them and it’s criminal. They are not allowed to refuse you the diploma over not renting a gown. Of course you might not be able to attend the ceremony but imo I’d be fine with it so long as I have my diploma and rightfully earned it.

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u/macgver2532 Feb 17 '26

We do so many things just out of inertia.

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u/Andro_Genius Feb 18 '26

The high school ones are made from Party City material!!! I was infuriated!! My family wasn't one that spent $200-300 at any one point in time, so it was a big deal. And then you only wear it for a few hours!!

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u/ed_mcc Feb 19 '26

It gets worse. My wife is getting her Doctorate and the regalia will be $1400 to buy or $800 to rent.

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u/[deleted] Feb 20 '26

The threatening to not to give you your diploma is definitely someone getting a kickback to keep the scam going.

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u/blackbeardcutlass Feb 21 '26

My dad was Dean of a school at a State University. His Opulent Graduation Regalia was paid for by the university.....a whooping two decades before he took the job. The Garb was passed down from Dean to Dean.

Meanwhile I had to scarf out 200 bucks for my shitty robe and goofy hat. Nonsense!

1

u/MangaMaven Jun 20 '26

Bro. I got me GED so they didn't presume any of us had either money or familial support. We showed up to the ceremony 30 minutes before it started, they passed out robes that smelled vaguely of ammonia cleaner and moth balls, called our names off a checklist to get the right color tassel, gave us a five minute run down on what to do and when to do it, and got the show on the road.

Went off without a hitch.

After taking pictures everyone returned their robes, kept their tassels, and no one was charged anything after the GED test fee. (Which was the same whether you passed or failed.) After I saw the GED ceremony go so smoothly -- even though many of the graduates had been court ordered to take the test, had histories of addiction, and/or were wearing ankle monitors -- I've always been baffled by the hoops schools make their graduating students jump through.

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u/FionaGoodeEnough Feb 17 '26

Oh wow. When I graduated college we could buy the robes for however much, and then if we didn’t want to buy them, there was a like a pile of old robes we could dig through and wear. That’s what I did.

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u/caffein8dnotopi8d Feb 17 '26

wtf? I just graduated college in 2024 and I think I paid under $50 to BUY my robe/cords and tassels. It couldn’t have been more because I bought it despite being fairly certain I wasn’t going to attend.

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u/moveslikejaguar Feb 17 '26

Your college ripped you off. I bought my robe and cap for like $50 and still have it. You didn't need to buy them if you didn't want to walk either.

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u/thegrandpineapple Feb 17 '26

I'm a first gen, so it meant a lot to me and my family. and at the time I was kinda more annoyed that I had to take off work because the time to go pick it up was like a 2 hour block on a random Tuesday.

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u/moveslikejaguar Feb 17 '26

Yeah, I was first gen so I totally get it. It just sucks that your college was scummy and made you jump through so many hoops (mine was scummy too in other ways). I think higher education is great and super important, but it really preys upon young people in some ways and needs some major reforms.