Highway Robbery

I just put in the order for my graduation regalia and nearly shit myself when the lady quoted the total. Go ahead and take a guess. Twenty bucks? Certainly no more than one hundred, right? This velvet cape and its matching "hood" of a fabric swatch is setting me back nearly eight hundred dollars. Sure it's nice, but seriously? SERIOUSLY?? That's a house payment! But they've hooked us and know full well that although we can go to an outside vendor to save a buck, it will not be the "approved" traditional garb and dammit I did not spend the equivalent of a foreign luxury sedan to get a PhD from a research one institution only to wear a rented shall left over from some kid's high school graduation. Call me a snob but I want to look good on my one day of celebration since the truth is it will be sandwiched between the unending stresses of writing the dissertation. Snarf!