The Boston University Student Activities Office has reduced the cost of tickets for this year’s Senior Week and added individually priced activities leading up to the week that were not an option last year.
Tickets for Senior Week, a week when BU seniors gather for activities around Boston, will cost $75 each — a significantly lower price than that of previous years.
Senior Week will take place from May 12 to May 18. The $75 package includes the “Lansdowne Takeover,” a bar hopping event around Fenway Park, as well as an evening at Royale Nightclub, a trip to Mohegan Sun Resort and Casino and a clambake on the Lawn on D.
Lowering the price for the Senior Week package ticket was a priority for SAO, as it has tried to make an effort to reduce the financial burden on students.
“You’ve gotten to that point in May, you’ve had to buy a cap and gown, which is expensive, you’ve had to buy books for every semester,” said Katherine Cornetta, assistant to the dean of students. “The costs seem to add up. It was really important for Student Activities to lower the cost.”
The SAO has a good relationship with vendors and was able to negotiate for more affordable prices, Cornetta said. Additionally, some of the more expensive events hosted in past years have been dropped.
The price of the package ticket is partially subsidized by SAO, as it has been in past years, Cornetta said. A budget is allocated to partially cover the cost of every event so tickets can be cheaper.
Tanille Carter, a senior in the College of Communication, wrote in a Facebook message that she felt relieved to see the lowered prices for Senior Week tickets, as she would have been hesitant to participate otherwise.
“It was especially surprising as tuition has been raised and is continuing to go up,” Carter wrote. “To see the prices be packaged and lowered, in this way, maybe this is BU extending an olive branch.”
It is important that as many seniors take part in Senior Week as possible, said Daniel Solworth, the director of operations and chief of staff at the Dean of Students Office. In circumstances when students have come to SAO and said they could not afford the price of a ticket, the office has provided financial aid.
“The goal is for as many of the graduating seniors to be able to take part in what we feel is a really special experience for our seniors in their Senior Week experience,” Solworth said.
This year, Cornetta said new events are happening prior to the official Senior Week, including a trip to a Boston Bruins game that already occurred on March 29 and a trip to Bully Boy Distillers on Thursday. These new events were meant to give students a chance to participate if they cannot join in during the traditional week.
“They really made the Senior Week schedule more robust by adding events throughout the whole second half of the semester,” Cornetta said.
Additional events include trips around New England to Martha’s Vineyard, Provincetown and Newport, Rhode Island, Solworth said. Trips around Boston were also added, such as a ride on the Codzilla boat in the Boston Harbor and several brewery tours.
“We were able to sort of redesign the week as a whole, creating these smaller a la carte experiences while keeping the anchor experiences,” Solworth said. “We were able to repurpose the budget as a whole [and] design different cost levels.”
Tickets went on sale on March 23 this year, later than in previous years, when sales opened in January or February. Cornetta said the date tickets go on sale is dependent on how quickly events are coming together and whether SAO is considering feedback from previous years.
The boat cruise typically included in Senior Week will be run by the Class Gift Committee rather than SAO this year.
Ruby Dombek, a senior in the Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, said she thinks Senior Week is expensive, but the experience is worth it.
“It still seems expensive to me,” Dombek said. “It would be nice if it was free, but I think it’s worth it to have that last week with your friends. I have not signed up yet for the other activities because of the extra cost, but I am considering it because they look fun.”
Nathalie Pardo, a senior in Sargent, wrote in a Facebook message that she was unaware the package ticket price was lower than previous years, but she is planning on participating and thinks all seniors should be able to.
“I am participating because it sounds like a nice way to end my undergrad and also just because a friend asked me if I wanted to go with her,” Pardo wrote. “I think it is something all seniors should have the opportunity to participate in.”
