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 CLASS OF 2005 FORKS OUT £350 EACH JUST TO GRADUATE 25/07/2005
The iconic image of a group of black robe clad young hopefuls throwing their mortar boards into the air is one which every student looks forward to. However, what most of them do not really consider is the cost of throwing that hat. A new survey by the UK's popular debit card, Maestro, has revealed that the average graduate can expect to spend a total of around £350 on graduating this summer. This cost includes both expenses incurred on the graduation day ceremony as well as the obligatory graduation ball. In addition to this, the survey has also revealed that the average job-hunting graduate of 2005 has so far this year spent an average of over £800 on searching for the job which will help them foot their graduation celebration bill. Having a ball The average student spends around £85 on looking the part, by forking out for a gown, graduation day outfit and hair-do. In addition, revisiting the university and having dinner with proud parents, costs a further £80. Finally, graduates seeking to immortalise their special day pay an extra £45 for professional photos and frames. In addition to the graduation ceremonies that thousands of young people around the country are attending this summer, it has also become customary to say goodbye to the carefree student life by having an almighty party - the grad ball. Here too, the costs soon rack up, with the average graduate spending £130 on wishing goodbye to uni friends in style. After spending on average, £40 on tickets to the event and £45 on an outfit in a last ditch attempt to woo that person they've been obsessing about all term, the average graduate will go on to spend another £25 on alcohol. Yet despite the surprisingly high cost of attending these events, the vast majority of this year's students (or perhaps their parents), believe the occasion to be too important to miss, with 86 per cent having attended or planning to attend their graduation ceremony this year. Nigel Turner, Marketing Director of Maestro UK said: "With such a high percentage of people attending their graduation ceremony, it is obvious that marking the culmination of so many years of hard work is well worth doing. "However, we would suggest that people bear the cost of graduation in mind before suddenly finding themselves with no money for the all-important job-hunt that follows graduation." Post-university blues Far from using university as a springboard into employment, only 25 per cent of those who graduated this year, have done any serious job hunting at all. Some 25 per cent have gone into further education such as an MA or PhD, 26 per cent have taken a 'basic' job to pay off debts and 13 per cent have jetted off to see the world. Only 13 per cent of the class of 2005 had a job lined up before they graduated. Indeed, the difficulty many graduates face in finding suitable employment after university has been well publicised, but the cost of the much dreaded and arduous job hunt is yet another expense that many do not take into account after leaving university. This year's graduates have so far spent an average of £835 each in the search for a suitable career. This includes almost £200 spent on clothes for interviews, around £250 on getting to interviews and an average of over £400 on additional training. The survey reveals that while the average job-hunt spend across the sexes stands at £800, men actually spend a great deal more than women, forking out £1130 compared to women who have spent just £500. This disparity is due to the higher value men place on additional training. So far this year, male graduates have spent a whopping £770 on this in an effort to make themselves more employable, compared to a paltry £14.48 spent by women who spend slightly more on interview clothing. NOTES TO EDITORS: Research was conducted by YouGov among a sample of 548 graduates across Great Britain For further information, please contact: | |
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