Senior year is full of big moments — senior sunrise, senior picnic, senior assembly, senior homecoming, senior prom and the one everyone looks forward to, graduation. All of this is part of senior tradition, but it all costs money. 

While Leesville is a public high school, there isn’t enough money in the budget and they can’t raise enough money for everything to be free for us. This lack of money means that the students who are able to afford it, must cover the cost.

Here is a list of major things that cost money senior year. 

• Parking spot — $200
• Off campus lunch pass– $20
• Club dues — around $20 each
• School Lunch — $4.25 per meal
• School Breakfast — $2.50
• Senior dues — $52.10
• Senior photos
  • Yearbook photo — $30
  • Individual photo shoot — around $1000
• Yearbook — $85-$120
  • Senior ad — $125-$375
• Cap and gown — $57
• Homecoming
  • Dress — around $100
  • Dance ticket — $20
  • Dinner with friends — depends on the place you eat
• Prom
  • Dress — can be around $600
  • Dance ticket — $60
  • Dinner with friends — depends on the place you eat

For an average senior girl, their year would cost around $2184.10. 

Luckily for most people at this school, that is affordable when it is paid in small chunks, but some students are unable to pay the cost which means they might miss out on some monumental senior moments.

Anna Slock, senior, had some thoughts on this steep price. “The fact that somebody has to spend that much money to go get an education and participate in stuff in a public school is insane.”

While the education is free at Leesville, Slock believes that being involved in the non required activities is a large part of senior year, and it is not fair that it costs so much money.

Lillie Baker, senior, also thought that spending $2184.10 on senior year is insane and believes senior year should be more affordable. 

“I feel bad, they’re not getting the full senior experience just because they don’t have that money,” said Baker when asked to think about the people who can’t afford to spend that much money.

Slock came up with a small solution to the large cost of homecoming and prom dresses. 

“We could create a retail dress store through the school where people can donate their homecoming and prom dress, so that people the next year can buy them for a more affordable price,” said Slock.

This made me think: how could we make senior year more affordable?

Unfortunately, Leesville doesn’t have the dress donation system that Slock mentioned, but there are more affordable options than going to somewhere like Savvy Prom and buying a $600 prom dress. 

You could go to the thrift store and buy a prom dress for around $60 and a homecoming dress for around $20. Or there are discount dress stores, like Stacees Prom, an online dress store where you can get dresses for around $100, or Formalwear Outlet where you can get prom dresses for as low as $85.

To save money during homecoming and prom, you could eat dinner at more affordable restaurants, make dinner for your friends, or even do a pot luck where everyone brings part of a meal so the cost is split up evenly.

Another thing that could take a chunk out of the large cost of senior year is riding the bus instead of driving yourself. While parking at school is not exclusively available to seniors, it is an added cost onto your senior year.

Not only does using public transportation save the environment, but it also saves you $200 due to not needing the parking spot. 

Students who buy lunch at school can see if they are eligible for reduced price lunch which could bring the cost of lunch down to $0.40 a day and breakfast to $0.30 a day. This option is not available to everyone, but it is for those who need it.

Clubs are not a requirement at Leesville, so there is no need to pay the $20 dues if you don’t join them, but you may be able to talk to the club advisor if you really want to join a club but can’t afford the dues. 

Buying a yearbook is also not a requirement, but you could buy the $85 uncustomizable version and not buy an ad, or you could just not buy a yearbook and save $85. 

Unfortunately it doesn’t look like there is any way to get around the $30 cost to take your yearbook photo, however you can save money on individual senior photos. 

You can do your hair and makeup by yourself and hire a photographer that offers lower prices or even take the photos yourself.

While there are many costs that make senior year expensive, there are ways to save money to make it more affordable, and make it so you don’t have to miss out on any senior year fun.