This year’s prom will be held at the San Francisco Design Center on April 28th from 8 p.m. to midnight. The theme will be Midnight in Paris.

– The Campanile

Editors Note: This piece was written by David Lim of The Paly Voice and Brian Benton of The Campanile for publication in both publications. This article appeared in The Campanile on March 30, 2012.

$100.

It could buy you two iPod Shuffles. You could donate it to Feed the Children and provide a child with meals for a month or invest it and buy a single share of stock in Nike.

Or, if you are a student at Palo Alto High School, you could use it to buy yourself a ticket to the junior and senior Prom which will be held April 28 at the San Francisco Design Center. 

THE BUDGET BREAKDOWN

Prom is a $75,000 plus project. Between the venue ($15,000), the dinner ($45,000) and the transportation (another $15,000), the price adds up. If, as estimated, 600 students attend, tickets would have to cost $125 a person just for ASB to break even. 

That is why the Paly Associated Student Body knows they cannot make a profit off Prom. In fact, according to Prom Committee members Sam Blake and Sophie Parker, Paly loses money on the event each year. 

The money for Prom comes directly out of the ASB budget. Neither The Campanile nor The Paly Voice received a comprehensive budget for the Paly Prom, as much of the cost is dependent upon how many students plan to attend, but an approximate estimate for Paly’s entire Prom would be around $75,000, according to the budget reported by ASB.

This includes everything that you see — the venue, the food, the transportation — as well as the behind the scenes costs that can go unnoticed, anything from janitorial staff to hangers to the coat check.

The Paly ASB subsidizes the event, meaning part of the total cost is paid for by funds that were not raised through Prom ticket sales. This allows the tickets to cost about $20 less than they would without subsidizing. Students with an ASB card will receive a $10 discount, bringing the cost of the ticket from $100 to $90.

PALY VS. GUNN

Paly’s Prom tickets are consistently more expensive than Henry M. Gunn High School’s, however Paly is spending more money on the event than its cross-town counterpart. This year, the difference in ticket cost is only $5, although in the past Gunn’s tickets have been as much as $35 less than Paly’s.
Gunn provides lower-priced tickets because it is able to subsidize Prom with funds that were raised from ticket sales of earlier dances.  Every ticket sold for their Homecoming or Sadie Hawkins dances chips away at the price of Gunn’s Prom tickets.

“Gunn subsidizes their prom with profits from their dances throughout the year,” Blake said. “Obviously, we don’t make profits on any of our dances so we can’t subsidize with that money.”

Unlike Gunn, which typically only loses money on Prom, Paly loses money on most of its other dances as well. According to a Feb. 24 Campanile article, Paly dances have grossed $2,127 and cost $5,328. Those dances, as well as Prom, are subsidized partially by money raised from selling parking space during Stanford University football games, however the amount raised is nowhere near what Gunn makes off dances.

“At Gunn, Homecoming is one of our biggest subsidies,” Gunn Student Body President Malik Gill said. “I’m not 100 percent sure about the numbers, but I would guess it covers 10 percent of the Prom ticket price.” 

Homecoming, paired with Gunn’s other dances, “subsidize our Prom between 15 percent and 25 percent, depending on the year,” Gunn ASB Advisor Lisa Hall said.

Had Gunn not underpriced their tickets last year (they were only $65, according to Gill) and found themselves with less in the dance fund than expected, Gunn’s tickets could have been even less expensive than they are this year.

If Paly was able to subsidize its Prom with money raised from ticket sales of other dances, tickets could be 15 to 25 percent less expensive as well each year, putting them at a price identical to Gunn’s.

HOW TO DECREASE OUR PRICES

The obvious way to decrease ticket prices is to find a way to further subsidize the cost. Paly has long attempted to increase dance ticket sales but has had little success, so a new way to find money for subsidizing might be needed.

Some schools, such as Menlo-Atherton High School, host additional fundraisers prior to Prom and then use the money raised to subsidize their ticket costs. According to a Feb. 27 Menlo Atherton Bear News article, Menlo Atherton is looking to fundraisers “such as bake sales [or] car washes” to help its Prom budget.

Other ways to decrease costs, like simply finding a venue, caterer or DJ at a lower rate, are harder than they seem according to Blake. 

Venues have little variety in price. While the Prom Committee could sacrifice the quality of a venue to decrease the price of tickets, it is reluctant to as venue has always been one of the chief concerns of the committee.

“The venue [this year] is not as expensive, but the venue is actually cooler than last year,” Blake said.

For next year’s prom, ASB hopes to begin looking for a location earlier, which would primarily add to location possibilities, but might also decrease cost.

This is a technique Gunn employs. According to Gill, the Gunn Prom Committee began to find possible locations “about two years before the actual event.” Gunn’s prom will be held at San Francisco City Hall this year.

Food, another chief concern, is one of the largest costs that goes into Prom.

“Last year, people didn’t like the food so that’s one thing we’re working hard to make better,” Parker said.

Paly is provided with a caterer through their event planner, so there is little freedom to find a less expensive company. 

“We have a lump fund for the venue, food, decorations — basically everything that our prom planner is doing,” Blake said. “We don’t know exactly how much each meal is.”

A final element of Prom is the entertainment. Paly has lucked out and received special offers on some of these things. However, things like the DJ can still be pricey. It has been suggested that Paly find a student DJ for the event, although Blake pointed out the problems with that idea.

“Student DJs are actually not that much less expensive,” Blake said. “And as far as student DJs go … if the person is not good, everyone is going to know him and people will get mad. And you’d have students rushing up [to the DJ booth] with their iPods saying ‘play this song!’ That’s [what you want at] a party, not a Prom.”

Aside from these three elements, there is not much leniency in price. Security, insurance and other safety measures must be provided. Although unlikely, bus transportation could be removed, which would decrease ticket prices by anywhere from $15 to $25, although this would mean students would just have to spend the money they saved on their own transportation. This happening is incredibly unlikely also, as Principal Phil Winston is a proponent of students taking buses to the event.

THE GOOD NEWS

According to Blake, Parker and ASB Advisor Matt Hall, this year’s Prom should be more enjoyable than last year’s, with “better food and a good DJ,” according to Blake, and more activities, according to Hall.

While $100 is undoubtedly a high
price for one night, assistance in paying for a ticket is available for all students who need it, according to Winston. In the end, Prom, while expensive, is at a justified price at Paly.

While planning the venue further in advance and the use of a student DJ may be steps to lower the cost, they are only part of the picture. The next step for the student body in order to have lower ticket prices for Prom is to have students go to other school dances to further subsidize the cost. Only time will tell if a change in Paly culture will allow that to occur.