Should universities charge for graduation?

'It's a massive shame that there are students who can't afford to take part,' says Shelly Asquith. Photograph: Guardian

Graduation is when you get to celebrate successfully completing a degree, and making it through three years of hard work. Yet, it seems that the emotional significance of the day is increasingly marred by the huge, up-front costs that universities ask graduates and their families to fork out.

As part of a GuardianWitness project, we asked readers to work out the actual cost of their graduation; this is what we found.

Typically, gown hire is over the ￡40 mark, with one reader spending as much as ￡68. Virtually all the universities charged for guest tickets, at prices of ￡15 and above; at UCL, Lucy Dunn had to pay ￡30 a ticket, including one for herself as the graduand. And these are just the very bare essentials.

If you want an official photograph, hoody, graduation DVD or other piece of memorabilia, you have to spend considerably more; one of our contributors spent ￡200 on photographs alone.

Then there are the expenses that are not immediately so obvious. If your graduation starts in the morning, then it is likely that you and your guests will have to find accommodation for the night before. There are also travel costs, which can be hefty if you live some distance from your university. And, on top of this, there are the expenses of a nice meal out, a dress or suit to wear underneath your robes, and possibly a haircut "in an attempt to look smart in the unreasonably expensive photos".

If all these costs were factored in, then our readers found it hard to graduate without spending at least ￡200; many spent much more. And, for international students, the cost of airfares multiplies things to a huge extent.

For many families and students, finding that amount of money is difficult, if not outright unfeasible. Katherine Ogilive thought graduation was "absolutely extortionate. I don't think every family will be able to afford that, which is sad when you think how hard parents have worked to encourage access to opportunities and better education for their children".

Especially with the rise in tuition fee costs, many students are questioning just why graduation is so expensive – and whether universities should do more to help cover the costs. As Hannah Blake asked, "Why should we be made to pay for these things when we have already paid out thousands for our degree?"

Some universities are better than others, with Sheffield, Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham all offering free tickets for graduands, and at least two guest tickets. Others charge much more, such as University of the Arts London (UAL). However, a spokesperson from UAL defended the high costs of graduating at the institution.

"Keeping graduation ceremony costs as low as possible is a priority for UAL so that as many graduating students as possible can attend with their families. Graduands attend for free and guest tickets are ￡28 each, which includes a commemorative programme and a reception." Yet they recognise that the costs can be too high.

"Despite our best efforts, we are aware that having guests attend the ceremony will be too expensive for some graduates." UAL is by no means the only institution which charges so much; I graduated from King's College London this summer, and had to fork out ￡75 on three guest tickets.

The cost of graduation is a serious problem, and for those who can't afford it, the effect on family members can be distressing. As one contributor wrote, "I ended up declining because ￡180 (not including transport or anything else) for an afternoon ceremony for something I didn't care about is insane; my mum didn't see it the same way and cried for a long time."

It just seems wrong that some people should be barred from attending because of financial reasons, and belies a more serious cynicism in the university system.

Universities increasingly seem to be operating graduation on a business model, where the aim is to make a profit from the attendees. Michael Chessum, president of the University of London student union, sees graduation costs as "a symptom of the way in which universities are seeing students more and more as consumers." In his role as a sabbatical officer, Chessum said that the expense of the ceremony was one of the most common complaints from students.

"Its almost like a hidden course cost- you've spent three or more years at university, and right at the end you're burdened with this huge expense." Chessum argued that universities should make graduation free to attend – but also countered this with the point that there are bigger problems, and bigger injustices, affecting the university education system, such as increased tuition fees, and cuts in funding.

This was also mentioned by Shelly Asquith, student union president at UAL, who attended her graduation ceremony this summer and incurred expenses of over ￡200. She thought it was "a massive shame that there are students who can't afford to take part, especially international students." However, Asquith was wary of saying that universities should cover the costs of graduation. As an arts institution, UAL has endured huge budget cuts under the current government.

"Ideally graduation would be subsided, but I would rather see the university spending money on other things to help students with their costs throughout the course." Graduation is, after all, an optional ceremony, and it is more worrying that students can be priced out of completing their courses.

But ultimately, most people don't want to miss out on the experience of graduating. Celebrating your degree, with your friends and family around you, is an amazing thing to do, something you only really experience once. It's this that makes it so sad that some people are forced not to attend due to the cost; even if it's only an optional ceremony, it's a very significant one.

There are admittedly issues around university funding, particularly with arts institutions. But it seems that universities could do more; such as holding graduation in a university building, so that they don't have to charge for guest tickets. Savings like these would enable more families to attend, rather than just those who can manage to spend ￡100 on tickets.

I would have hated to miss my graduation. My parents separated two years ago and my dad lives in China, so having our family together again for the day made it so special. It doesn't seem fair that other people have to miss out on such an important day simply because it's too expensive.

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Mexican students eye up UK universities as study destination

Kidnap, murder, extortion – despite recent reports of improvements, Mexico remains gripped by a crisis which, at its peak, saw the army deployed in some areas in an attempt to wrest back control of the streets from violent drug cartels. Between 2007 and 2012 intentional homicides per capita increased by over 65% in Mexico, while kidnappings increased 250% and extortions 94%. Other countries in the region are also facing social and political challenges for everyday security – the situation in Venezuela, for example, is not much better than Mexico, with a leading criminologist tallying 155,788 murders in the country since 1999.

It comes as no surprise then that the attraction of the UK as a safe country to live in has gone from being the 17th most important factor for Mexican students in 2007 to the fifth in 2012, according to British Council research.

But if international higher education is increasingly seen as an escape route for some of Latin America's young people, it is only because of some far more positive social changes in the region. In the past decade, more than 50 million people have worked their way up the social ladder and into the middle classes – an increase of more than 50% that means now almost a third of Latin Americans are classifiable as middle class. This generation has high aspirations for their children and wants to see them secure the best education possible.

At the same time, most governments in the region have started addressing low rates of higher education participation – more scholarships, increased sponsorship and greater social mobility has resulted in half a million more people enrolling in higher education in 2010-11 than in 2006-07 in Mexico alone. This has also helped increase the appetite for international study.

Underpinning all this is Latin Americans' famously strong sense of family. Historically, it has been the main reason that those who could study abroad have preferred to stay home instead, but aspirations for the next generation, coupled with safety concerns, mean this instinct has opened people's minds to the idea of international study.

It is against this backdrop that the region is becoming increasingly important to European universities. As with students from most regions around the world, the UK has to settle for second place behind the US in the eyes of Latin Americans, but the high quality of education available, the international recognition of UK qualifications, and the subsequent career prospects are cited as defining factors when Latin American students were asked to reflect on the UK as a higher education destination.

The UK shares many of these qualities with the US, but there are discernible differences in the way each is viewed from Latin America. The UK is more often chosen because it is seen as a desirable country to study in, while the US is chosen on the strength of individual institutions. This means that Latin America is a recruitment ground that's open to all UK universities and not just a few big names.

There are still many obstacles that UK universities can only overcome with representatives on the ground, which is where good education agents and specialist providers with local knowledge and contacts play a part. What Latin Americans really want to know is that their children will be employable once they complete their studies. And, while tuition fees between domestic and UK universities are comparable in general, the UK's high living costs are a concern, so parents need to be further convinced of UK higher education's value as an investment.

Domestic competition is also increasing all the time as private Latin American universities respond to foreigners' recruitment drives by undercutting international offers, creating more scholarship and discount schemes; these universities have locality on their side. On an international level, the UK needs to brace itself for increasing competition from emerging higher education destinations – Germany and Canada are already not far behind in their recruitment of Latin American students.

However, as long as its carefully crafted reputation remains intact, and the quality of degree level study is maintained, I confidently predict that UK higher education can face down all of these challenges as an appealing destination for increasingly mobile Latin American students, whatever their motivation for leaving home and however the political or social situation develops.

Laura Aguirre is Latin American recruitment manager for Study Group – follow it on Twitter @Study_Group

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Universities and colleges told to do more for disadvantaged students

Les Ebdon’s comments come with the publication of the Office for Fair Access’s annual assessment of participation in higher education. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Les Ebdon, the access ombudsman for higher education in England, has told universities and colleges to step up their efforts to attract students from disadvantaged backgrounds as official data shows affluent applicants outnumbering those from deprived areas by three to one.

Ebdon described as a tragedy the recent sharp fall in enrolments by part-time students because worsening participation rates for part-time and mature students suggests alternative routes into higher education are shrinking.

Ebdon's comments come with the publication on Thursday of the Office for Fair Access's annual assessment of participation in higher education, which shows wide gaps in recruitment from the lower end of the income scale despite a bumper year for universities.

"What the monitoring here shows is that progress is being made, and that's very much welcome, but it also does show there's still a long way to go," Ebdon said. "While there's been an 80% increase in participation from the lowest participation groups, you're still eight times more likely to end up at a selective university if you come from the most advantaged 20% than if you come from the most disadvantaged 20%. So there's still work to be done."

"What we're seeing is only one application [to higher education] from 18-year-olds in disadvantaged areas for roughly every three applications from 18-year-old in advantaged areas … We've been saying to people that the key to success is outreach, getting the message out that university is an option for everyone that has the ability to succeed, and that there shouldn't be barriers in the way for the disadvantaged."

Outreach efforts face particular challenges getting through to mature students and part-time students. "What you need to recognise ... is that if you look at labour market forecasts, the demand for people with higher level skills will require more places in higher education. And it may be it's a tragedy that we're seeing this drop in part-time numbers because what we do know is that this is a very cost-effective way of producing people with higher level skills," Ebdon said.

Offa is responsible for approving and monitoring access agreements by universities, which set targets for widening participation. Overall, in 2011-2012, Offa found that universities were spending more on their outreach activities but the spending as a proportion of the higher fee income actually fell.

In response, Ebdon's watchdog wants universities to be "smarter in their investments" and wants universities to aim for more challenging recruitment targets.

The long-held aim of 50% of school-leavers entering higher education remains far off – but Ebdon says the government could easily increase the numbers going to universities if it was willing to fund the expansion: "That's entirely a decision for government because that's a question of how many places they are willing to fund," he said. "What we do know, as these figures show quite clearly, that there is an appetite for higher education greater than we're meeting at the moment."

The report is jointly produced with the Higher Education Funding Council of England.

About 34,000 students – one in 10 of the 2012-13 entry – received the means-based scholarship aimed at those from poorer households, but the popularity of the scheme and the number of eligible students led many institutions to restrict access to the funds even further.

While some of them topped up funds to meet demand, 58 institutions narrowed their criteria below the ￡25,000 household income national criteria, in some cases down to ￡16,000 – meaning that many students from disadvantaged backgrounds missed out on the scholarship fund.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said: "Universities know their students best. Each has its own mission and priorities. It is right that they should tailor their approach to suit their own particular circumstances and those of their students within the national guidelines."

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