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Putting Prices On Priceless Memories Today, Yesterday

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By RONNIE BLAIR

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 28, 2008

Updated: 05/28/2008 12:11 am

High school students love their bling, so when they choose a class ring they sometimes pay $550 or more for the privilege of wearing their school pride on their fingers.

Gail Nowland liked her shiny accessories, too, back in 1978 when she graduated from Robinson High School. She chose one of the upgrade models, complete with a diamond. The price: $105.

"The boys paid $60 or $70, I think," said Nowland, who is helping organize a class reunion.

It's commencement time again, and parents all across the Tampa Bay area can testify to this: High school graduation comes with a price, and it's not just the time spent struggling through calculus.

But that's always been the case, even when many of the price-shocked parents of today's high school seniors graduated in the 1970s.

Today's graduation-paraphernalia prices aren't out of line with increases for other products, considering the three decades that passed since 1978, said Greg Fenlon, a Balfour representative who does business with seniors at several schools in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

"Some kids spend more, some spend less," Fenlon said. "We offer a wide range of prices."

So does Vernon Photography in Largo.

Senior portrait packages start at $100 and rise to $1,000 or beyond, depending on how many aunts, uncles, grandparents and close friends will receive a photo, owner Charlie Vernon said.

Most seniors spend about $350, he said. Vernon wasn't in business in 1978, but 10 years ago, when he started offering senior portrait packages, the average senior spent about $200, he said.
Helen Neville Caravona, who graduated from Gulf High School in New Port Richey in 1978, insists she remembers all those prices 30 years later.

Cap and gown: $13

Class ring: $98 (Like Nowland, she went for the extra bling.)

Yearbook: $15 (At least, that's what most of the '78ers paid. Caravona earned a free one with her performance at a rock-a-thon. She rocked in a rocking chair in the cafeteria for 24 hours as a fundraising effort. A free yearbook was the least the school could do. Plus, it was less expensive than giving her a class ring.)

Unfortunately, Caravona lost that $98 ring during a move a year after graduation.

Caravona is helping plan a class reunion, too.

The class of 1978 is trying to keep the costs low.

Reporter George H. Newman contributed to this report. Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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