All graduates participating in commencement must attend in full regalia (cap, tassel, gown, hood/stole). The Student Life Office will email all graduates by March 1 with information about purchasing your cap and gown. Graduates should plan ahead and be prepared to order and pay for regalia in the month of March.

Order Your Graduation Cap & Gown Online by March 30th

Note that graduates will need to know the following when placing an order:

  • Your Campus (Troy or Albany). Regardless of whether you take your classes in person or online, you will need to select a campus to order your regalia from. You can opt to have your items shipped for free to the campus bookstore in Albany or Troy. Or, you can have your items shipped home for a fee. Regalia associated with any degree will be able to be ordered from or shipped to either campus.
  • Your Degree (e.g., Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business Administration, Master of Science, Doctorate in Physical Therapy, etc.) Graduates can verify this information in your academic Program Evaluation in Student Planning and with the registrar’s office ([email protected]), if needed. Your degree information is also included in the Commencement invitation email sent to you by the Office of Student Life on February 28.

Instructions for Ordering

STEP 1: Go to the Herff Jones website: https://colleges.herffjones.com/college/rsc/ and click the button that says “Order Now” under the Cap and Gown images that say “Albany” or “Troy”.

STEP 2: At the next page, verify that your correct campus is selected in the drop-down menu (“Troy Campus,” “Albany Campus,” or “Albany Campus – The College Experience Program”). Then, select your Delivery Method (Bookstore Pickup or Home Delivery) from the drop-down menu and your degree level options will appear. Select your Degree Level (Bachelor, Master, Doctorate, or Certificate) and then click SHOP.
[Note: Graduates earning post-masters certificates should select “Master” and students in the College Experience Program should select “Certificate” to be matched with your appropriate regalia.]

STEP 3: Choose the Cap & Gown tab in the top menu bar (above the image that says “Congrats, Grads!”).

STEP 4: For graduates earning Bachelor’s, Master’s and Certificates, you will need to click on the image of the cap and gown to start your order. Doctoral students will be taken directly to the page to order their regalia after selecting the Cap & Gown button from Step 3. [Note: The “Grad Cap Remix” available to Certificate, Bachelor’s and Master’s grads is an optional accessory that is not part of the required regalia.]

STEP 5: Enter in your Personal Information, including: Name, Area of Study (Degree type), etc. and then click on Add to Cart.
[Note: The commencement invitation email from the student life office indicates your specific degree type, as provided by the registrar’s office. Those earning post-masters certificates should select “Master of Science” as their area of study to be matched with the correct regalia.]

STEP 6: Proceed to Checkout. You will need to pay for your regalia at the time that you order it online. Note that regalia can be shipped to either campus bookstore for free. Graduates who choose to ship items home will be charged an additional fee.

Helpful Tips

  • PLEASE ADHERE TO ORDER DEADLINES. After the online order deadline (March 30), graduates can purchase items through the campus bookstores, but there is no guarantee that your required items will be available. If you have questions, please call The Bookstore (Albany campus): 518-694-7378 or m.o.s.s. books (Troy campus): 518-274-0199.
  • Students who order with delivery to the bookstore will receive email notification when regalia arrives on campus (by May 1).
  • As soon as your regalia order arrives, remove it from its packaging and hang it on a hanger to help remove any creases and wrinkles. Do not iron, launder or dry clean your gown.
  • Verify that all of the regalia pieces (cap, gown, tassel, hood) arrived and are the correct color. Bachelor’s and Master’s caps and gowns are black; doctoral gowns are green with a black tam and gold tassel. The inner lining of the hood for all graduates should be green and white (Sage’s colors) and the velvet trim on the hood should correspond with your degree per this chart. If you receive any incorrect item or are missing an item from your order, you will be able to obtain the correct item from either campus bookstore after May 1.
    • Note that graduates in the College Experience Program wear the same black cap, tassel and gown that bachelors graduates wear, but they do not wear a hood. Instead, they wear a royal blue stole with their regalia, which they must order online through Herff Jones when purchasing their cap and gown.
  • If you have questions about your academic regalia, please call The Bookstore (Albany campus): 518-694-7378 or m.o.s.s. books (Troy campus): 518-274-0199.

For information about how to wear your Cap and Gown, check out one of these YouTube videos.
* Bachelors Degree : College Experience Program and Bachelors graduates can view this video for tips on how to wear that cap, gown, tassel. Please note this video does not show hoods, which are worn by Sage graduates earning bachelors degrees. Those grads can check out the Masters grad videos below for tips on wearing your hood.
* Masters Degree
* Doctoral Degree

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