Cost of academic regalia ÷ number of wearings thus far = $160.00 per use.
As a return on value, that's not so bad--in just two or three more years the cost will be the same as if I'd shelled out for rentals each time.
By contrast, consider
this equation:
[(money earned over three years of full-time employment + money earned over six years in graduate school) - (educational debt + consumer debt related to the profession)] ÷ nine years = an average annual salary too grim for me to contemplate.
Conclusion: as extravagances go, pretty clothes ain't got nothing on
graduate school.
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commented at 11:15 AM~
Our institution rents regalia for us. We have the option of buying cap n gown but dang if I'm going to fork over that kind of money for 2 hours of use per year. Wear yours and be fabulous.
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Concord Fowling Pieces commented at 12:46 PM~
A) The advantage of being in a field where you can use your regalia at work every week. :)
B) My father actually rented regalia for something like 20 years of hooding ceremonies (though he just borrowed a hood off the pile each of those years). This strongly influenced my opinion on the matter of rent vs. buy (though we found a place where regalia cost only $400 or so for B http://www.gradgowns.com/ ).
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Clio Bluestocking commented at 12:56 PM~
Seriously, what are these things made of? For these prices, I want the thing to give me a back and shoulder massage all through the ceremony.
Of course, like you said, ain't nothing like the price tag on graduate schoool!
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The Bittersweet Girl commented at 11:05 PM~
I've heard lore of institutions that buy regalia for its faculty when they get tenure -- a gesture of incredible good faith and recognition, in my opinion.
Meanwhile, I wear the elephantine, dusty robes that got left behind in my department when some geezer professor retired -- and I'm thrilled to have them. Otherwise I literally would not be able to afford to hood my own grad students. Ain't it a crazy profession?
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Dr. Delaney Kirk commented at 4:56 PM~
I wish I had bought mine when I graduated with Ph.D. in 1988. At the time I didn't think I could afford it. Instead I have paid to rent one 1-2 times a year and it always looks cheap and wrinkled even after ironing.
