--- title: You Won't Believe How Much Some Commencement Speakers Get Paid description: 'State colleges are known to pay big money for high-profile commencement speakers at graduation: The University of Houston paid $135,000 plus expense for actor Matthew McConaughey.' authors: - name: Brad Tuttle role: Senior Editor url: https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/ bio: Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals. education: Columbia University School of Journalism, MS at_money_since: 2014 articles: 366 covers: - Education - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Economy and Politics - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Investing - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Pets - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology social: - https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle - https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225 former_staff: true published: '2015-06-05T20:57:59.000Z' modified: '2024-04-16T05:58:17.000Z' section: Education tags: - College - college student - fees - Higher Ed - public schools - state college - tuition word_count: 362 canonical: https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/ type: Article source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey gives the University Of Houston Commencement Address at TDECU Stadium on May 15, 2015 in Houston, Texas.](https://img.money.com/2015/06/150605_em_commencementpay.jpg?crop=0px%2C186px%2C2100px%2C1182px&quality=85) *Academy Award-winning actor Matthew McConaughey gives the University Of Houston Commencement Address at TDECU Stadium on May 15, 2015 in Houston, Texas.* "Alright, alright, alright." Yes, Matthew McConaughey used his famed catchphrase while giving the commencement speech at the University of Houston this spring. The Oscar-winning actor also mentioned that while working on the movie that gave birth to the much-repeated phrase—Richard Linklater's legendary 1993 film [*Dazed and Confused*](https://time.com/3665375/matthew-mcconaughey-dazed-and-confused-audition-tape/)—he was psyched to be earning $325 a day. Fast-forward to 2015, and McConaughey is doing better than merely "alright" in terms of his earning potential for a given day. After hounding the University of Houston to release the terms of the actor's commencement appearance, the [*Houston Chronicle*](http://www.chron.com/local/education/campus-chronicles/article/UH-to-pay-McConaughey-135-000-actor-will-donate-6171143.php) reported that McConaughey's fee was $135,000 plus travel and expenses—money that McConaughey said he was giving to charity. The University of Houston is hardly the only public university that paid a handsome sum to a high-profile commencement speaker this spring. The [*Boston Globe*](http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/06/04/three-mass-public-colleges-spent-generously-commencement-speakers/EmUlT73rCeolaXg3B1OYRI/story.html) just revealed that three state schools in Massachusetts paid $25,000 to $35,000 apiece, "or amounts totaling more than a year’s worth of the tuition and fees they charge students," for graduation speakers. The University of Massachusetts-Amherst (disclosure: I work there part-time) paid Neil deGrasse Tyson $25,000 for a [speech that lasted roughly 15 minutes](http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/06/neil_de_grasse_tyson_paid_2500.html), plus almost $3,000 extra to cover the celebrity astrophysicist's expenses and expected taxes. UMass-Lowell paid actor LeVar Burton $35,000 total for three speeches (two commencement events and a fundraiser), while Westfield State University paid $30,000 plus expenses for a 14-minute commencement speech by Brandon Stanton, the photographer and creator of [Humans of New York](http://www.humansofnewyork.com/about). These fees may seem exorbitant, but they're actually on par with what many colleges have paid for commencement speeches in the past. According to [InsideHigherEd.com](https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/04/02/matthew-mcconaugheys-pricey-commencement-speaker-fee-not-out-norm), Katie Couric received $110,000 for the 2006 commencement address at the University of Oklahoma, and High Point University paid Rudy Giuliani $75,000 to be commencement speaker in 2005. Universities defend such fees as necessary and worthwhile because they raise the profile of their institutions and help attract new students and increase involvement and donations from alumni. Still, it's been estimated that only about 30% of colleges pay for commencement speakers. That means the majority of speakers offer their commencement addresses for free. *Read next: Great Career Advice from 2015 College Commencement Speeches* ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Education", "item": "https://money.com/education/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Colleges and Universities", "item": "https://money.com/colleges-and-universities/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "You Won't Believe How Much Some Commencement Speakers Get Paid" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/", "name": "You Won't Believe How Much Some Commencement Speakers Get Paid", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2015-06-05T20:57:59.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/#breadcrumb" }, "dateModified": "2024-04-16T05:58:17.000Z" }, { "@type": "Article", "headline": "You Won't Believe How Much Some Commencement Speakers Get Paid", "articleSection": "Education", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2015/06/150605_em_commencementpay.jpg?crop=0px%2C186px%2C2100px%2C1182px&quality=85", "width": 1012, "height": 569, "caption": "150605_EM_CommencementPay" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Brad Tuttle", "url": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/brad-tuttle/#author", "description": "Brad Tuttle is a former senior editor at Money with over 10 years’ experience covering a vast number of personal finance topics, including careers, cars, travel, budgeting, investing, insurance, credit cards, consumer psychology, real estate, banking, and shopping and deals.\r\n\r\n", "image": "https://img.money.com/2014/01/Brad-Tuttle.png?w=226&h=247&crop=1", "alumniOf": "Columbia University School of Journalism, MS", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/bradrtuttle", "https://linkedin.com/in/brad-tuttle-834b225" ] } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2015-06-05T20:57:59.000Z", "description": "State colleges are known to pay big money for high-profile commencement speakers at graduation: The University of Houston paid $135,000 plus expense for actor Matthew McConaughey.", "abstract": "State colleges are known to pay big money for high-profile commencement speakers at graduation: The University of Houston paid $135,000 plus expense for actor Matthew McConaughey.", "@id": "https://money.com/commencement-speaker-fees/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "dateModified": "2024-04-16T05:58:17.000Z", "wordCount": 362, "keywords": [ "College", "college student", "fees", "Higher Ed", "public schools", "state college", "tuition" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Education", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education" ] }, { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Higher education", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Higher_education" ] } ] } ] } ```