Selling ‘Premium Seats’ To High School Graduation Is Ridiculously Classist

A high school in Florida is selling “premium seats” for its graduation ceremony this year. The seats are in the end zone of the football field and cost about $200 per bench that will hold up to 15 people. All other stadium seating is available on a first-come, first-serve basis. I understand the school needs to make some extra money to fund the ceremony, but this is a horrible way to do it.

Seniors have to pay a $20 additional graduation fee for the first time this year, but it can be waived for those families who can’t afford it. We all know there are other expenses around the day as well – the cap and gown, the celebratory dinner, etc. Graduation is expensive. But I guess that isn’t really the point, here. The point is, there will be a VIP section at the ceremony. That’s gross.

The school thought of the idea to offset some of the $12,000 in expenses the ceremony creates. The seats will bring in an additional $2,000 the school badly needs. I get it. It just seems something else could have been done; selling ads to local businesses, doing a fundraising drive – high school is all about fundraising drives, isn’t it? From ABC:

Mark Domer’s kids also graduated from the school, and he said the costs adversely affect families with lower incomes.

“It’s being discriminatory,” Domer said. “It’s just not fair.”