Graduation is an opportunity, and no students who have spent the past two or more years here at Seward working their butts off for their degrees should miss it. Although we all believe graduation is a big deal, there are mixed feelings even on the Crusader staff about spending the price for attire required for walking at graduation. With tax added, it costs anywhere from $39 to $70 for the mix of buying and renting the graduation getup –– $22 for the cap and gown, $9 for the tassel, $11 for honor cords, $5 to rent the stole, and don’t forget the added $20 fee if you bought the Phi Theta Kappa stole. Yikes! But here’s the deal. As a staff, we agree students should think outside the box. If 40 bucks (plus) is out of your budget for a graduation cap and gown, go to www.ebay.com and get your gown there for cheap. When we checked, there were black caps and gowns for as low as $9.99. Here’s another no-brainer. Some of you may have forgotten about your graduation robe from high school. Use that if it’s the right color. No expenses there. And while you’re digging through the closet for that graduation robe, pull out those honors cords and use those, too. An honors cord is an honors cord. They’re no different than the ones you used in high school and will save you $11. Better yet, maybe Liberal High School should just change their graduation colors to all black instead of black for males and red for females. That way, the majority of students at Seward will already have a third of the gear they need for graduation. Even at this late date, you can pull off buying your graduation robe on eBay or using your high school robe and honors cords. All you will need is that $14 fee for buying your tassel and renting the stole, which the bookstore will sell and rent until the Friday before graduation. The PTK stole is optional, so skip that if you’re on a budget, but don’t miss your own graduation. Go and get the recognition you deserve for graduating with your associate degree from Seward.