'Grad Pack' available at University Bookstore

Bundle includes one-year alumni association membership with cap, gown.

By Elliot Njus

Published May 7, 2009

The Mizzou Alumni Association and the University Bookstore want graduates to become members of the association the moment they buy their cap and gown.

This year, the bookstore partnered with the alumni association to bundle a one-year membership with commencement regalia.

The "Grad Pack" also includes an alumni T-shirt. It costs $54.99 - about $15 less than buying each component separately. The alumni association membership, normally $30, makes up $20 of the cost.

The bundle appears to be working. Last year, about 1,000 graduating seniors joined the alumni association, Executive Director Todd McCubbin said. This year, about 2,000 students have already purchased the bundles, membership included. MU is expected to award 3,356 bachelor's degrees in ceremonies Saturday.

Although the option wasn't promoted, bookstore spokeswoman Michelle Froese said the bookstore did sell the cap and gown separately to some students upon request.

But some students have decided to go elsewhere for their graduation gear rather than purchase the alumni association membership.

Missouri Students Association Senator Phyllis Williams is graduating Saturday with bachelor's degrees in history and sociology. She said she bought a cap and tassel, but is borrowing a gown from a friend because she didn't want to buy the bundle.

Williams said she supports the alumni association and is saving up to buy a membership, but she said it was unfortunate the bookstore had chosen to bundle the membership with graduation regalia.

"It made something already fairly expensive kind of ridiculously expensive," she said.

She said she might have bought the gown had she known they could be purchased separately for $19, but that signs at the bookstore only promoted the bundled price.

On its Web site, the bookstore offers regalia for students earning master's degrees, but not undergraduate degrees.

Froese said since this is the program's first semester, it would likely be re-evaluated to see if anything should be added or changed next semester. It was developed earlier this semester and announced at the University Bookstore graduation fair in March.

Other schools offer similar graduation packages. Arizona State University offers a graduation bundle that retails for $65 and includes regalia, an alumni association membership, an alumni pin and a $5 Starbucks gift card. The ASU bookstore also offers graduation regalia separately.

The University of California-Davis offers two graduation packs. The cheaper of the two retails for $59.95 and includes a one-year alumni association membership, commencement regalia rental, a diploma cover, a keychain and a souvenir tassel. All of the items included can also be purchased separately.

UC-Davis only rents caps and gowns for environmental reasons, said Kelly Holt, the UC-Davis bookstore commencement coordinator.

Holt said the bundle has become more popular every year since it was introduced and the bookstore has tailored it to include items most graduates buy anyway.

"It's not just a profit-making venture, it really does provide a real value," he said.

McCubbin said the goal of the program is not just to promote the association, but also to offer students a value by putting another discount on the $30 annual recent graduate membership rate. That rate is available for five years after graduation and will increase to $35 in July.

He said in previous years, most graduates who joined the alumni association signed up at Senior Send-off, in response to e-mail campaigns or through promotions by alumni organizations for MU's schools and colleges.

"Hopefully seniors know a little more about us than they did 10 years ago," he said.