With a price tag of $50 to $60, prom tickets can be difficult to pay for. But where does the high cost come from?
Each year, the Student Government Association takes charge of planning the spring dance. Part of the SGA board members’ role is to raise money so the school can afford the amenities that come with the dance.
“The total cost of prom, including the hotel and the DJ and everything else we needed, is nearly impossible to cover through fundraising alone,” SGA member and junior Hannah De Lucia said. “[That is] why ticket sales range from $50 to $60.”
In order to raise more money for the dance, the SGA gradually raises the cost of tickets.
“The price is chosen on how many people we think will attend and then there is a base price and it slowly increases each week. For example, this week it is $50 per person but next week I believe it will be $55 and then the following week $60,” SGA member and junior Billy Parvatam said.
Sometimes selling prom tickets at a high cost isn’t enough to cover the entire cost of the prom, and the SGA board needs to do more to compensate for the expenses.
“We raised money through class t-shirt sales, fundraisers through restaurants—especially Ledos—and various fundraisers run by our class sponsors,” De Lucia said.
According to SGA member and senior Annie Bryan, one way to decrease expenses for prom tickets is by fundraising more.
One of the reasons that prom is more expensive than other dances is due to its venue.
“Unlike homecoming and Sadie’s, prom isn’t hosted at school in the gym or cafeteria,” Bryan said. “It’s a lot more expensive to have it at a hotel.”
Aside from the expenses that have to be paid to enter the dance, many attendees spend extra money on dinner, attire and transportation.
Some SGA board members, however, don’t see the necessity of spending hundreds of dollars for just one night.
“The notion that for prom you need to spend all this money is overrated. You have the ability to control all of that,” Pavatam said.
There are also options for what to wear to prom beyond just buying new formal clothes.
“You don’t need a tux to look good,” Parvatam said. “The other day my friend was talking about how mixing and matching a regular suit with with some other stuff could work.”