Going into senior year, everyone tells you all the fun it will be. They hype up the multitude of events that take place during your last year in high school, but what they forget to mention are the expenses.

Senior year gives you a run for your money, literally. As a junior, you’re told about how great your senior portraits turn out, how you can’t miss the football games or homecoming, how amazing prom and grad bash are, and how exciting it is to walk across the stage in the spring. However, nobody warns you that it could cost as much as $2000.

“It’s a crazy amount of money for a string to move across my cap once,” says senior Josh Tiller. At the time it may not seem like much to some people, but $5 for every football game, a $35 homecoming ticket, $500 for senior portraits, an $80 cap and gown rental, a $70 prom ticket, a $200 suit rental/prom dress, a $110 gradbash ticket, an $80 yearbook, and costs of other events really add up.

Some students can’t come up with the money they need and some simply don’t want to pay the large sum. Granted, there are programs around the school that help with the issue such as the prom dress donations and rentals formally handled by the previous chorus teacher, Mr. Andreacchio (Mr. A). Though these rentals help some students out, there are plenty who still don’t get to participate in some of senior year’s important events due to what seems like an ever-growing price. It would’ve been helpful if there had been more of a heads up to start saving as we approached senior year.

A message to this year’s juniors: If you plan on participating in everything that your last year as a Chief has to offer, start saving now!