Figures provided by Indiana University show the school spent $1.65 million on commencement ceremonies this spring.
The (Bloomington) Herald Times reports that the total doesn’t include the costs of ceremonies that were organized by individual schools or units.
The Bloomington campus ceremonies were the most expensive at more than $900,000, followed by more than $430,000 spent by Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and almost $130,000 spent by IU Southeast.
University spokeswoman Margie Smith-Simmons says more than $140,000 was spent on stage labor for the Bloomington ceremonies. That work included set-up and tear-down of stages, sound equipment, seating and the field covering in Memorial Stadium.
Travel accommodations for the undergraduate commencement speaker and the graduate commencement speaker cost about $25,000.
The spring 2016 commencement ceremonies at the Bloomington campus cost about $270,000 more than this year’s ceremonies.
Below is a breakdown of the cost of commencements at each of the Indiana University campuses for spring 2017:
Indiana University-Bloomington: $909,512
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis: $432,612
Indiana University-Kokomo: $70,241
Indiana University-Southeast: $128,391
Indiana University-South Bend: $25,055
Indiana University-East: $28,906
Indiana University-Northwest : $61,832
