Pomp and tuition dollars at work: USC convocation is more emotional for parents than freshmen

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Set us as preferred The scene at USC under a bright late-summer sun Thursday looked a lot like the pageantry of graduation — thousands of students in black academic gowns marching behind department flags and faculty in elaborate, colorful robes.But it was actually the opposite: the age-old tradition called convocation that officially welcomes new students to the university.And after a week of dorm move-ins and lingering family goodbyes, those being sent off campus are not graduates, but parents, who seemed most swept up in the moment and their kids’ futures at a university where tuition, housing and other costs before financial aid can breach the $100,000 mark.The Trojan Marching Band played.

Trustees, undergraduate student government leaders and graduate students gathered.And cheering parents showed up in Trojan shirts and gear freshly purchased on campus.Beong-Soo Kim, the university’s 13th president, acknowledged the bittersweet mood as he addressed Trojans and their families.“This is their celebration too,” Kim told students, asking them to recognize the parents, teachers and mentors who helped them reach that moment.At one point Kim pulled out a Polaroid camera, asking students to make USC’s victory sign and shout together, “Fight on!”For many parents in the crowd, letting go proved harder than showing up.Andy Ramirez, a first-year student in the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, said his family drove in from Lancaster to see him.His mother and father were there.

So were the parents of his late best friend, who came to cheer him on because they knew their child would have, too.“It was for sure my family and my friends’ families that were the reason for me waking up today to come here.They’re all coming to see me because they’re really excited to support me,” Ramirez said.Ramirez moved into th...