Homecoming is a tradition that is spread throughout high school culture across the globe. Students get together to buy dresses, heels, suits, ties, makeup, posters, and so much more to create a perfect homecoming experience. The ticket prices for these dances on average were between $15 to $30. However, ticket prices have doubled in price and made their students reconsider if the price of the ticket is worth the experience. This leaves many students wondering is this experience worth the price. 

Homecoming is becoming too expensive for some students.

Homecoming is filled with different activities to celebrate the creation of the school and the students that study within it. These include the parade, pep rally, home football game and the homecoming dance along with creating floats, practicing routines, buying outfits, and getting tickets for the dance and football game. This is meant to be a celebration of student life, and how these young adults are the foundation of building our school to be great. Therefore, the prices of homecoming dance tickets should be reduced back down to $20 to make it more affordable for students who are missing out on the opportunity of a lifetime, all because they can’t afford the ticket. 

The homecoming parade being a key feature element before the big Friday night game. Different organizations of the school go all out on their floats to represent what this school is about spending anywhere from $100 to $400 on average for just float decorations. This doesn’t include the multiple eight hour days parents and students come together to build the float into perfection, and the cost of the outfits to fit the theme. For students that participate in a sport or a club that get to create a float, their price tag just rose up another $400 to engage in the school’s tradition of the homecoming parade. 

Along with the homecoming parade comes the school spirit days and pep rally. Students go out and buy whatever they can to participate in the homecoming spirit week during school and go all out for the homecoming game pep rally before the big event. For the five days of school that students show up, that is five different outfits just to fit the spirit days, and on average each outfit costs anywhere from $15 to $50. These students that represent the school in every way they can, could miss out on the most important events of the week; the homecoming football game and dance. 

Not only do students participate in the parade and the pep rallies, but the big night also includes the hundreds of dollars spent to look beautiful and handsome for the homecoming dance. Students spend anywhere from $150 to $600 on dresses, heels, makeup, mums, suits, ties, and shoes to get dressed up and ready for the night’s activities. However, many students cannot afford the $40 homecoming ticket on top of the cost to buy what they need to not only look beautiful but feel amazing and ready to come to the dance. Many students state that although they had an amazing and everlasting experience last year, they simply cannot afford the price of the ticket and have to miss out on a homecoming tradition that has been around for decades. 

Students deserve a voice, and right now they are speaking their truth. They want to participate in all of the homecoming traditions and not have to pick and choose which one to engage themselves in because they cannot afford to go due to the high price of tickets. And parents can no longer buy the tickets if they have multiple children, for just two students to go the cost of tickets alone is $80; that doesn’t include the families with three, four or five children that cannot make the sacrifice to participate. These parents, these students, these families that create the backbone to this high school deserve so much more than what they are receiving. Lower the price of tickets back to $20 just like they have been for years to come, and more students will be able to buy the tickets and represent not only this school but themselves as well.