Two Students Slash Prom Ticket Price

The dress. The shoes. The hair. The make up. The corsage. The limo. . . The Prom.  Some parents cringe at the word while envisioning bank accounts shrivelling before their eyes.

Thanks to some creative thinking by a couple of students, prom just got a whole lot cheaper. Instead of breaking the bank for prom tickets, seniors Stephanie Hurney and Tyler McDonald made it their senior project to lower the cost.

As a nod to their graduating class year, their pair fundraised enough money to bring the cost of a prom ticket down to $11 for the class of 2011. Last year’s tickets cost about $45, and had the two not come up with the cost-saving idea, this year’s prom night would have cost students up to $60 each, Hurney said.

Hurney and McDonald are the first students to bring down the price of prom tickets as part of their senior project requirement.

Hurney said she and McDonald were inspired for their project idea during last year’s junior prom.

“Last year I was going to prom and usually one person bought the ticket for your date,” she said. “That’s $90, dresses that run well over $200 dollars, on top of most girls like to do hair, nails, make up, get flowers,  and take a trolley.”

She said many students struggle to come up with the cash to pay for all the expenses prom entails, and some forego the dance entirely because they can’t keep up financially.

“I personally thought it was rough trying to get all that money put together,” Hurney said. “Our school has a lot of kids who struggle financially and it’s always been a problem. We wanted to make it not an issue.”

Hurney and McDonald worked alongside Senior Class President Cassandra McCarthy by turning a profit at several school events, such as the other school dances and a powder puff football game.

In total, they raised more than $7,000 to go towards the senior class. Aside from bringing down the cost of prom tickets, some of the money will go towards senior class gifts and the senior banquet.

“Hopefully some money will be left over for their class reunion as well,” Rogers High School teacher Amy Kalif said.

The seniors will celebrate their final prom night as a class tonight at.