Why do we attach so much meaning to expensive rings in the United States? In American culture, a ring symbolizes a sacred bond like marriage or a high achievement as a sports player. Undoubtedly, rings hold a lot of value in our everyday lives, regardless of whether they’re stylistic or indicative of one’s status. However, for serious events like graduation, marriage or sports achievement, rings can cost $300 to $6,000. This is quite the investment for many folks and because of that, the intrinsic value of these rings should be called into question, specifically for individual buyers who, understandably, can’t afford them.
Trinity class rings cost $470 at most. The lowest price you’re going to find for a class ring is around $383, and that’s only if you have a smaller ring size. What I find to be concerning is not the $100 price difference, but rather the insanely high average price of all of the rings. I am positive that there are students at Trinity that cannot afford, and would rather not pay for, such an expensive and seemingly useless item. Aside from that, class rings are only meant to symbolize a person’s “educated” and “elite” status. They scream, ‘Look at me! I graduated from college and I have this wonderful, $400 gold ring to prove it!’
I do understand there is a certain status that being labeled a college graduate will bring you, and I don’t disagree that college graduates should be proud of that. Not many people in the United States can say that they have graduated from a university like Trinity. Despite that, the primary concern of the typical college student is to finish their degree in four years, not to be able to buy an overpriced ring. Nobody, at least as far as I’m aware, is pursuing a degree at Trinity (an extremely difficult college to get through) just to buy a ring.
Outside of the ring’s notion of academic elitism, there are many other reasons why graduating students shouldn’t feel pressured to buy the ring. One reason might be that it simply doesn’t fit your style or “vibe.”
Another reason might be that there are many other kinds of memorabilia that are significantly cheaper than a class ring. Lastly, the school should definitely be paying for it, especially with the $1.7 billion endowment. If you’re a Trinity student who’s almost completely paying out of pocket (regardless of your financial aid), you’re not going to feel great about spending even more money on a ring that’s going to collect dust.
I find the message that these rings are attempting to convey pretentious, and honestly, I don’t see a point in having them at all. No Trinity graduate should have the right to flaunt their degree more than any other graduate because they have more money and can afford “bling.” Even if the student who bought their class ring worked “harder,” they still shouldn’t have that right solely because the item itself is such a blatant, unnecessary display of status.
