School dances always come with a cost, literally. The perfect outfit, dinner, and creative asks all dip into students’ pockets. Not to mention buying the tickets.

Although Turnabout tickets cost about $20, everything adds up quickly for students.

“I think dance tickets are overpriced, especially since you are only there for fifteen minutes,” said senior Katie White, “getting a whole new outfit for the dance plus the dinner already makes it expensive.” Moira Gitau, of the IT Department and Global Exchange club sponsor, works hard to stay within her budget to make Turnabout special each year.

“The cost of each dance varies from year to year. This year we have changed the way we have spent our budget by spending less on decorations and more on the DJ,” said Gitau.

With so much to pay for, students often lose focus as to what the price of their ticket goes towards.

After the DJ and decorations are paid for, all profits are put towards scholarship opportunities for students who want to travel abroad through one of New Trier’s many summer programs.

“Before students would have to apply for a scholarship that was not necessarily need-based, but there are a lot of students who want to go on these trips to France and China who just cannot afford the trips. This is why we use our profits in partnership with the scholarship program to help more students go on these trips,” said Gitau.

“They should advertise that the proceeds from the dance go to charity,” said White, “It would put the cost of tickets more into perspective for students.”

Gitau also explained that she does not account for how much money students will spend before and after the dance. Her goal is to keep students at the dance for as long as possible.

However, Turnabout is not the priciest dance at New Trier. Prom is one of the most extravagant events, facilitated by the Junior Adviser Chairs Greg Sego and Patricia Sheridan and the prom committee.

The total cost for Prom the last two years averaged $100,000 annually, according to Sego.

This price includes the venue, decorations, food, music, T-shirts, and incidental expenses, such as hors d’oeuvres and parking vouchers for chaperones.

For 2015, the school estimates 1315 attendees, presenting an issue in finding a setting spacious enough to hold the dance.

Sego stated, “A few years ago, we held it at the Adlai Stevenson Convention Center and it was cheaper, but the majority of student feedback was that ‘it didn’t feel as festive or as important” as it would in Chicago.”

Since then, New Trier has shelled out $88,500 on the venue alone to hold prom at the Hyatt downtown to enrich the experience.

However, New Trier alum Michael Stamos, who attended the event last year, offered a different opinion.

“I’d say it was very festively decorated and it seemed like there was a lot of money spent, but the venue was much too big and impersonal, and the magic was lacking for that reason,” said Stamos.

Limited by the large class sizes, it is difficult to find a cheaper venue, but there are still other factors that affect the overall cost.

Decorations in the lobby total roughly $1500, special giveaway T-shirts add another $6000, and the DJ charges $4000 each year.

The decorations inside the dance, per regulation, must remain on the tables. Sheridan said that a sea of balloons serve as the $1500 table toppers to complete the prom embellishments.

All of the expenses are totaled and averaged per student to arrive at the ticket price, which will be $80 this year.

This price does occasionally fluctuate, depending on the cost of various components of the dance.

In 2013, the ticket price was down to $75 since balloons cost a third of their current price and the Rosemont venue was cheaper.

Tickets may be pricey at New Trier, but what students pay to get into prom is intended to balance the dance budget.

Any extra money from ticket sales is either allocated to New Trier’s general fund or donated to the senior class Habitat for Humanity project.