Yearbook, $80. Prom ticket, $80. Tuxedo, $150. Senior trip, $180. Senior pictures, $160. Class ring, $400. Your child's high school senior year -- pricey.
This is the season when parents dig into savings accounts and pull out charge cards to pay for a lengthy list of events and accompanying paraphernalia to celebrate their children's last year of high school.
This year, though, there aren't as many rented limousines, expensive gowns or elaborate parties to celebrate the prom and graduation.
Spending for the prom has definitely decreased, said Susan Tiesing, owner of Tres Chic Boutique in Sacramento, Calif. She said the average price of a prom gown was $400 four years ago. It is $250 now. Business at the boutique has been bustling this prom season, she said, but the average ticket per customer has been much lower than in previous years.
Monika Ramos, a senior at Franklin High School in Elk Grove, Calif., opted for a $16.99 dress and an $18.99 pair of shoes from Ross for the Franklin prom on May 9. She paid $60 to have her nails done and her eyebrows waxed, but fixed her hair herself. Her ticket to the prom and dinner at the Radisson Hotel was $80. One prom picture was $20.
Her mother, Gloria Ramos, said that despite the cost cutting, the family paid nearly $300 for her daughter's prom experience.
"For me the $300 was already crazy," she said. "They didn't even get a limo."
Gloria Ramos, who teaches in the Elk Grove Unified School District, said the cost of senior year is too high. The single mother has been making regular contributions to Franklin's Senior Payment Plan to cover the costs of a slew of senior activities, including prom and Sober Grad Night tickets, a trip to Disneyland, a senior picnic and a senior T-shirt. The total cost: $405. The incentive for paying this way is a free yearbook -- a savings of $100.
But the plan does not include a graduation cap and gown, senior photographs, graduation announcements or a class ring, among other senior year costs. Monika Ramos is happily settling for the cap and gown and is passing on the rest. Ramos said her son, a junior, decided to forgo the prom this year to save for next year.
He isn't the only one who stayed away from the prom. Scott Pitt of Natomas Unified said only 450 students attended the recent Inderkum High prom, compared with 600 last year.
Lisa Rojas of the Natomas Schools Foundation understands how difficult it is for some families to bear the cost of activities like the prom. She has been instrumental in a program at Inderkum and Natomas high schools that offers prom dresses to girls in need. This year, students at both schools mended and restyled 60 donated gowns for the prom.
"I didn't want to see any girl unable to attend the prom because she couldn't afford a dress," Rojas said.
She said tickets for the Natomas High prom, on a boat in the San Francisco Bay, were $105.
"Definitely, we have kids that cannot afford to go to prom at all," Rojas said.
Bryan Kilby, director of student activities for Franklin, says the cost of senior year is worth it. "It is their last year in high school," he said. "The last chance to spend time with friends they grew up with for 11 years and a chance to make lasting memories."
