Boston College’s Senior Week Committee and Office of Student Involvement (OSI) present seniors with a handful of events to celebrate the completion of their undergraduate studies at BC with friends and classmates in anticipation of Commencement. Senior Week will officially take place between May 15 and May 21, although a few events—the 100 Days Dance and the Senior Red Sox Game—precede that designated time. Of the nine events, four are free, while the rest of the activities, of the ones whose definite prices have been announced, will cost students upward of $40 each. BC does not provide the Committee with any funding to coordinate them. Only the students’ money pays for the arrangement of the events, such as food, decorations, renting the spaces, any provided transportation, and security for the events—the Committee does not make any profit from the costs.
Senior Week ought to have a less exorbitant cost for students who want to participate. The Commencement Ball, for example, costs $107 but does not include the price of transportation or, perhaps, clothes for the occasion—with extra costs, the total price could end up at over $150. One possible solution that could help the prices is to take a page out of other student organizations’ playbooks. The Committee could arrange with BC Dining, like organizations such as Arrupe and an annual class trip to Israel and Palestine do, to collect donations from students. By the end of the year, many students have hundreds of dollars remaining on their meal plans that will disappear once the spring semester ends. Rather than allow this extra money to go to waste, Senior Week Committee members could collect money to distribute funds among students who demonstrate need for financial aid, or simply subsidize the entire event. By lowering the cost for students who struggle financially, students can be guaranteed a chance to participate in these expensive activities and celebrate their time at BC before they go.
Featured Graphic by Nicole Chan / Graphics Editor
