University Ball to solve debt problem

By Erin Ryan

In hopes of pulling themselves out of thousands of dollars of debt incurred by the meager attendance at the class balls of recent years, the Associated Students (AS) is replacing the Frosh/Soph and Junior balls with an all inclusive University Ball.

After experiencing four years of unsuccessful balls, the senior class has the largest debt. Senior Thao La, AS development vice president, estimated that the seniors owe between $11,000 and $12,000.

Just to break even, past balls would have needed about 800 people to attend. Instead, recent Frosh/Soph balls only drew about 200-300 students and the Junior Ball would bring in 250-300 students.

Separately, each ball costs about $20,000, funded by each class budget. Similarly, the cost of the new University Ball is $20,000, but this price is paid once, not twice.

"We need to sell about 800 tickets to break even, but we are hoping for 1000," AS President Joe McNally said. "So far we have sold about 300, but usually people wait until the last minute."

This heavy price tag comes from the ballroom, the band and DJ, security for the event, taxes, food and beverages, the shuttle, marketing and promotions, and other expenses.

AS is tracking the students who purchase tickets in order to attribute sales to specific class funds. So far, the Junior class has bought the most tickets, and they will get whatever profit comes from the ball.

In addition to combining the balls, AS is also using other means to eliminate the debt.

"Every quarter, classes are given $500 to throw events with, and if they make any money, they can pay off their debt," La said.

Some of these events include study breaks, providing students with donuts and other goodies. But previously, events like these have been free.

The sophomore class has plans to sell bottle openers and the freshmen are holding raffles. The senior class sold packages including a class T-shirt, sweatshirt and video.

The junior class debt was caused in part by ordering too many class T-shirts that were not sold. This year, AS has tried to remedy that problem by limiting the amount of T-shirts that the officers can buy, so that they sell out before they can order more.

The class officers are also trying to plan more activities and charging the students to attend.

But charging students to attend events as a fundraiser does not always work. While $25 per ticket for University Ball may be expensive for many students, AS says that is as low as they could go.

La said they negotiated down the price of the band, the DJ and the price of the ballroom, so tickets could have been much worse. She said if they had decided to have cheaper entertainment, students would not have fun, making next year's ball unsuccessful.

"Every class has to be held accountable for their debt and we have our moderators working with each class to relieve the debt," McNally said.