University clarifies regalia confusion; will offer campus pick up

The university issued a statement this morning where it announced the originally scheduled campus pickup for regalia will now take place at the Student Recreation Center on May 14 and 15.

Graduating seniors received an email yesterday regarding delivery charges for regalia, causing a large amount of confusion among seniors about whether the charge was new, a scam, or if they could simply pick it up from campus instead.

“When the [shipping charge] miscommunication came to our attention, we said, ‘What can we do to help the students through this process?’” Vice President for Enrollment Management and Student Success Debbie Below said.

Before Southeast’s move to online, Chris Barr of CB Graduation Announcements said he misunderstood a customer’s delivery request, and offered to cover their delivery charge for free because of the mistake.

Word spread of this and he said people were believing everyone’s delivery would be free.

Once Southeast moved to online coursework, the university did not plan to do the campus pick up for regalia because last year more than half of the graduates had their regalia shipped to their home address, according to Below.

This prompted Barr’s email to graduation candidates, stating “There was a miscommunication regarding shipping charges for home delivery of your cap, gown and tassel. There is a $15.95 shipping charge for delivery to your home of your graduation regalia.”

According to Barr, the delivery charge to a home address has always been $15.95, and students had the option to either have their regalia mailed home or pick it up the two days before graduation.

“We had students calling us saying that they had an email from the university saying that it was free shipping, which was not the case,” Barr said. “We don't know if it was a Facebook post or what it was, but because of that, we went ahead and sent out the email yesterday saying that there was a miscommunication.”

If students don’t want to pay the $15.95 for shipping to their home address and are unable to pick up from the SRC on the dates given, they have the option to cancel their order for a full refund, including the shipping charge if it was already applied.

According to Barr, students have until the pick up date to cancel their order. As soon as the pick up days are over, Barr said they will contact students who didn’t pick up or use delivery via email or telephone and ask what the graduate wants to do with their cap and gown.

As of this morning, four graduates had canceled their order.

To cancel, CB Graduation Announcements can be reached at (800) 433-0296.

For more information or questions about commencement, email graduation@semo.edu.