Sac State Will End Fall Graduation Ceremonies

Sacramento State University will no longer hold fall graduation ceremonies after the one planned for next weekend at the Golden 1 Center.

The commencements were recently moved there from the now-closed Sleep Train Arena. It is almost twice as expensive. Last year's spring ceremony at Golden 1 cost the university $150,000. The spring ceremony held at Sleep Train in 2016 cost $85,000.

Sac State student Rayna Fambrini says she will be the first in her family to graduate from college. She'll be done with school next fall, but now has wait until next spring to walk.

"I've worked really hard," Fambrini said. "I've had two jobs throughout my entire college career and it just feels pretty after-the-fact and not really celebratory anymore."

She is also concerned that holding one larger event will mean each student gets less tickets.

Sac State President Robert Nelsen says the university looked into other options for the ceremonies: Cal Expo, the Convention Center and Memorial Auditorium, but the venues can't accommodate the families of 7,000 students.

"There's just no other venue possible at this point," Nelsen said, adding that Memorial Auditorium would limit each student to just two tickets.

He says Sac State would have to double the $75 student graduation fee to cover the cost of two events at Golden 1. Many of the other CSU's that don't have an indoor arena have already ended fall ceremonies, he added.

The university hopes to offer each student at least eight tickets for future commencements, Nelsen said.