“My mum is a designer so she made this for me,” says Wendy. “It took her a week… I’m her daughter, so she had to put in every [effort].”
Wendy says the significance of graduation inspired her to create a custom look. “I feel like you have to because it’s your day. We go through a lot to get a master’s degree so you have to look your best on the day.”
Graduation also comes at a time when students are “the least financially resilient”, says Allingham, as they have been absorbing the costs of studying all year.
The maintenance loan falls short of living costs by an average of £502 per month, according to analysis by Save The Student, external. This gap is plugged – sometimes only partially – by parental support, part-time jobs and debt.
Another factor that can increase the cost of graduation is buying an official photograph, with providers specified by your university, adds Allingham. “The price of photography on the day – it’s extortionate.”
Professional packages at the University of Salford start at £30 – an image of the graduate is sent digitally – and the most expensive is £350. For that you receive about 20 prints with various mounts and frames of two images, one of the graduate and another with friends and family.
Like Keerthana, Alicia Munhupedzi used the internet to find her dress – though it was a bit last minute.
“I thought, ‘Where can I get a nice dress really quickly and cheaply?'”
The answer? Depop, the second-hand clothing app popular among Gen Z shoppers that sold for $1.2bn (£890m) earlier this year.
Like others, Alicia felt her outfit was important.
“Graduation, it’s a milestone thing, especially if you’re not planning on doing a master’s,” she says. “So, to me, there was a pressure.”
So much so she couldn’t sleep properly the night before her ceremony and woke at dawn to get ready. “I made it through today off two hours of sleep, water, good vibes, energy and a coffee.”
Knowing all eyes would be fixed on her when she was handed her degree, Keerthana says she was nervous for her graduation ceremony – but it passed more quickly than she thought it might.
“This is the only moment you get for yourself,” she says.
And was the 05:00 wake-up and two hours of getting ready worth it?
“Yeah,” Keerthana says, “I couldn’t compromise on that.”
Additional reporting by Kate Berry and George Sandeman.
