SALT LAKE CITY, Oct. 7, 2013 — Could graduation fees make some at-risk students think twice about whether they even want to earn their diploma?

Absolutely, writes Graduation Alliance district adviser Doug Bonner in The Advertiser, a newspaper covering the Acadiana region on Louisiana.

“As someone who has worked alongside districts to help them raise their graduation rates, I understand that schools are being forced to do whatever they can to raise revenue. It’s a financially trying time for everyone who is working to help students succeed, and in many ways, schools are finding creative ways to raise revenue without increasing the burdens on students and their families,” Bonner writes.

But unless there are very clear – and confidential – routes for students from lower socioeconomic situations to have graduation fees waived, Bonner writes, “they stand as a potential roadblock that will derail students from crossing the finish line.”

You can read the rest of Bonner’s op-ed in The Advertiser.