Prom is a big experience – both exciting and stressful. Seeing friends before me go through all the prom preparations, I know first hand how expensive everything that goes into it can be.

Students drop hundreds of dollars on a dress or suit alone. For many students, prom does not just consist of purchasing a ticket and outfit. Many groups choose to go out for dinner before or after prom or even pay to ride in a limo or party bus. Schools put thousands towards securing a nice place for their students to have a good time. But how much money put towards one specific event becomes too much?

According to the senior assembly at the beginning of the school year, the class of 2016 has to raise fifty thousand dollars for prom. As of October 14, the class had about $6,000, and used the opportunity to participate in fundraisers to make sure prom can happen. This has also assisted in making sure tickets aren’t ridiculously expensive. This year tickets are $90, compared to last year’s cost, which was $85. It’s five dollars more but the cost could have been much worse.

Despite having this new information, many students planning to attend prom, including myself, have many questions. What if the fundraisers don’t raise enough money? What if people hear about the cost and give up on the idea all together?

Seniors had a lot to say on the matter, and had mixed reactions and varying degrees of optimism or pessimism. Money seemed to be a contributing factor as to if seniors even wanted to go to prom.

In general, most seniors seemed to want to go to prom, and when asked, said that they would go.

Some seniors, like Keigan Thornton, had a lot to add to the simple question. Thornton added that “Between the cost of prom for the ticket and my own personal preparation I am not sure if the cost of that is worth the experience of having to deal with my class for hours on end.” Not many seniors express a strong desire not to go to prom, however some are torn about it. The general thought is that it’d simply be too expensive and therefore may not be worth the trouble.

Despite the fact that class officers help make decisions regarding prom, many people I talked to blamed administrators and said that it was unfair that students did not have a bigger role in deciding how much prom will cost and where it will be held.

I think that the class officers could do a lot better in communicating and taking responsibility for decisions and that there is a lot of negativity involving administration. When people look for someone to blame, they look to Ms. Dew, our class administrator. The class officers are making the decisions, but perhaps students want to give their friends the benefit of the doubt.

A lot less people pay attention to voting for class officers, and because it is our senior year, people think it is less important. Many people don’t vote, so when it comes time to complain, it may be more their fault than anyone else’s. 

The negative view on the money situation seems to carry on, with some like William Nguyen even going so far as to say “It’s a waste of money.” He continued by stating, “That money could be used on something more worthwhile.” and even offered the idea of the money being used on a senior trip instead of all being used on prom. But even if the opinion on the money itself was a bit disheartening, the opinion seemed more varied on the class being able to raise the fifty thousand dollars.

There are several fundraisers set up to help the class of 2016 raise the money needed for their prom. I believe that if students and families attend the fundraisers they can go to, then perhaps the money for prom will be raised. I’m not overly confident in prom for the class of 2016. Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money, especially to teenagers. Some students here the amount we need to raise and it turns them off from prom completely. I’m not entirely guilt free of that.

While I may not have faith that prom will be as great as our class officers imagined, I’d still like to contribute if I can. Then there’s the question of if students can contribute.

It seems we are left with more questions than answers when it comes to prom. It is such an uncertain thing and once one problem seems to resolve itself, another one comes about. Money, clothing, dates, transportation– there are so many things that go into prom. All we can do now as a class, is hope and try our best.