Thousands of students graduated from Illinois' public universities this spring - the culmination of years of work, countless hours and often sizable expenses, all spent in the name of furthering education.
But a final round of tuition payment isn't the only expense many graduates faced before collecting their diplomas: Roughly half of Illinois' public universities charged students for caps, gowns, tassels and other apparel at higher rates than the original cost to the schools.
Frequently, public and private universities charge several other fees per academic term. University of Illinois at Springfield, for example, charged students taking on-campus classes fulfilling the minimum full-time credit requirements almost $1,700 over two semesters for various fees.
The fees were featured in a June 8, 2010, article in the Chicago Daily Herald.
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