How much would you be willing to pay to sit in the stands when a loved one dons a cap and gown and picks up a college degree? $10? $100? More?

College officials say graduation tickets have been traded and sold as long as there have been commencements. But the advent of eBay, Craigslist and other Internet sales sites has helped create a booming online black market in commencement passes.

Though graduation tickets are traditionally given to students for free, a scan of Internet sales sites shows some enterprising college students hawking spare passes to this year's commencements at various colleges for $150 each.

In other online ads, students are offering to pay top dollar to anyone willing to sell them extra graduation tickets.

"Please help," reads a Craigslist ad posted by a Columbia University student last week. "The ticket limit numbers are crazy and I'm wildly offending various family members by having to tell them I just don't have a ticket for them."

The escalating prices have prompted some schools to step in and tell students free graduation tickets should not be used to turn a profit. Last year, Princeton University issued students a stern warning after some graduates were reportedly selling commencement tickets for as much as $750 a pair.

This year, Princeton graduates received similar warnings when they picked up their tickets to the June 3 commencement ceremony outside the campus's historic Nassau Hall. Each graduate is allotted five tickets to the outdoor ceremony, though students are able to earn more tickets if they volunteer for graduation-related events.

"We're expecting in the spirit of class unity that extra tickets be traded, which is what most students do," said Cass Cliatt, a Princeton spokeswoman. "We actually consider the tickets to be university property and most students recognize that this isn't something they paid for, and therefore they shouldn't benefit financially from tickets they didn't pay for themselves."

But TigerTrade, an online bartering site used by Princeton students, shows graduates in need of extra graduation tickets are getting creative. Some desperate students are offering to compensate classmates for tickets by doing everything from running their errands to buying them restaurant and retail store gift certificates.

Under New Jersey's anti-scalping law, it is illegal for ticket brokers to sell tickets to entertainment events for more than 50 percent more than they paid for them. But there are no scalping laws that cover free tickets to academic events like commencements, said Jeff Lamm, a spokesman for the state Division of Consumer Affairs.

"This scenario would not fall under our anti-scalping act and regulations," Lamm said. "If these are free tickets, the regulations would not apply."

Even if scalping graduation tickets isn't illegal, many colleges and universities warn students it is against campus rules and they could be disciplined if caught.

Still, many students say it is worth the risk. In an era when families often include stepparents, step siblings and other extended family members, it is often essential to find extra graduation tickets to avoid family conflicts. With college tuition skyrocketing, many family members also feel they deserve to be present to see a student receive a degree they helped finance.

Sasha Wiggins, a Temple University senior who worked full time and took out loans to pay for her degree, said the four tickets she was allotted to her graduation ceremony in Philadelphia are not nearly enough. The public health major posted online ads offering to pay for more.

"I am the first person in my family to graduate from a four-year institution, and I would like the people who helped me get there to be able to see the fruits of their labor and hard work," Wiggins said.

Other online ticket buyers tell similar stories. One student, who asked that her name not be used, said she was offering to pay cash for tickets to Rowan University's graduation to see her boyfriend get his degree.

It may seem silly to pay rock concert prices for tickets to hear "Pomp and Circumstance." But it's worth the money, the student said.

"He only gets four graduation tickets, leaving his brother and myself out," she said. "I just think it's unfair that I don't get to see him graduate college, especially when we've been together so long."

(Kelly Heyboer covers digital life for The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J. She can be contacted at kheyboer(at)starledger.com.)