Paying for college is no fun. Paying for fun is no fun, either. But when students have to decide between saving money for college and having a great night, most are willing to pay something to be entertained.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, college students have a spending power of nearly $200 billion this year. Nearly every college student will say that college means keeping to a tight budget, but few students will sacrifice a good time. Exactly how much are students willing to pay for entertainment?
On-campus activities usually range from $3 to $5, and many are free. Tufts Programming Board is an umbrella on-campus activity planning group. According to senior Nicole Masone, Co-Chair of the Programming Board, profit is not the goal of charging for events.
"All of the Programming Board groups try to keep ticket prices as low as possible and only charge for events when that money is necessary to break even," Masone said. "The Programming Board groups are not making a profit with ticket sales."
Students who attend these events largely find them cost-appropriate, and they are willing to pay. "I go to a lot of performances, and they are cheap enough but definitely shouldn't be more expensive," junior Erin Poth said. "Nothing on campus should be more than $6 or $7."
While student-run activities at Tufts are prevalent, some students do not know about them. "I'm not aware of much actually going on at Tufts," freshman Dania El Hassan said.
Money is not easy to come by at college, said some students. "I really have no income," sophomore Jamie Ratner said, adding that the lack of a cash flow hinders her choices of where to spend money.
Being on a college budget is a common theme among students, and this influences their decisions to spend their money at all. "I'm on a college budget, so I don't really go out much," senior Vanessa Gallegos said.
Several students agreed that $30 or $40 covers the typical weekend out. "It depends on whether I take the T or a taxi, too," freshman Juan Lois said.
Every student said that how much they'd be willing to spend to be entertained "depends."
"It totally depends on the quality of what I'm paying for - I'd pay $100 for a U2 concert, but I wouldn't pay more than $10 for a movie," El Hassan said.
