Students are urged to go to sporting events to support their classmates and friends. We are told to go and be the best possible student section we can be – so why should we have to pay to get in? Many students are in band, dance or cheer, which gets them into the games for free, so how much money would the school really lose by not having the few students that are left pay?

According to Michelle May, the accounts payable clerk for the district office, the average amount of money raised at a football game last year was $1,800 from gate admissions alone. Students are a small amount of that number, so how much would it really matter? At basketball games last year, an average of  $950 was collected per game from admission to the game. If the small amount of students going that pay to get into the game didn’t have to spend that $3, the school would still collect plenty of money.

However, the income from the gate is subject to sales tax, and the remainder is used to pay for expenses for the games, such as game workers, officials, electricity, fertilizer and mowing for the football field, replacement of equipment, uniforms and athletic supplies (tape, first aid kits, etc.), according to May.

Still, it is highly possible that a larger amount of students would attend basketball or football games if they didn’t have to pay the $3 fee required to get into the game. Yes, I realize that $3 doesn’t seem like much, but a lot of high school students don’t have jobs, so why would they want to waste the money they do have on a game?

Also, for the students that do have or make money, if they weren’t required to pay, they would have more money to possibly spend at the concession stand, which raises money for the group working it that night and for the school.

Dropping the $3 admission for students would not do much at all to the total amount of money raised, and in fact, it may increase money raised through increased concession sales.