The Formal Dance is an end-of-year event that everyone looks forward to. This year, the email containing the sign up sheet for Formal tickets shocked everyone: the price per ticket was one hundred dollars. Controversy of whether this price was affordable became a popular topic among students. Even though it was indeed an expensive cost for individuals, I believe that one hundred dollars per formal ticket is reasonable.
First of all, the venue of the event is at an extremely high cost. This year, Formal was hosted on the cruise yacht, Spirit of Boston, which had been decided on through all school voting. Renting the boat costs a minimum of 7,000 dollars per 100 guests. There were at least 350 people attending Formal this year, which meant the minimum cost of simply renting the boat was 24,500 dollars. This pricing information is only an estimation for an off-season, non peak event, based on a price of seventy dollars per person. Since Formal was hosted in May, there were extra fees for renting in popular seasons. Adding to this price, there are other payments such as transportation, cleaning fee, and service fee. Paying one hundred dollars for a ticket is very reasonable in terms of the venue cost.
Secondly, Formal tickets are charged to each students’ bookstore account, which is an account that requires everyone to make a deposit at the beginning of the school year. This ensured all financial aid students would be able to attend, since their bookstore money is all funded by the school. For students that are not on financial aid, most have lots of bookstore money left in our account that will be donated to the school by graduation. If you look at it this way, Formal is an alternate opportunity for us to spend this money.
In conclusion, setting the price of the Formal ticket at one hundred dollars per person is indeed very reasonable in terms of venue and where it is charged.