MEMPHIS, Tenn. — With dresses, limousines, and flowers, prom can be pricey, but some parents at Craigmont High School have sticker shock over the cost of just getting in the door.
“I’ve talked to a lot of senior moms, and they said ‘are you kidding me?'” said a parent, who only wants to be identified as Erica.
She showed WREG her son’s prom ticket, which she said currently costs $85 per person.
“Is a star going to be there? I mean, are they going to have like Future going or something? I just want to know why is it so high?” said parent Kelly Larry.
Larry said her daughter bought her ticket at the early bird price which was $70.
Parents showed WREG a text reportedly from an administrator, that said only “65 prom tickets have been purchased. In order for prom to happen, 135 tickets need to be purchased by Friday, April 8, 2016.”
The district said that is not exactly true.
As of around noon, 76 students have bought tickets.
It said that if students do not buy 124 more, prom will have to be “scaled-back,” though it is unclear what that means.
The district said students voted for the prom plans, including the Halloran Center which costs about $6,000.
The food is estimated to cost about $5,000.
The students also voted for gift bags that would cost $4,000.
Decorations are estimated at $3,200.
“But the parents didn’t get to say anything,” Erica said.
She said the school should not have allowed these expectations.
The principal said that if parents are having trouble with the cost, they may reach out to the school to try to work something out.
Parents said the ticket does not cover bringing a date, but the district has not confirmed that.
WREG asked SCS for examples of other schools’ prom ticket prices, and we heard numbers like $40 or $60 per ticket.