As we make our way through the school year, students share their many expenses of senior year. From college classes to cap-and-gown orders, there are many costly things during a student’s senior year that can affect them greatly.
Senior year has many different big costs, and senior Olivia Ney says that senior pictures are one of them.
“Senior pictures because mine cost closer to like $400 for both sessions,” Ney said.
Another big cost of senior year is college applications. On average, a single college application can cost between $50 and $80. This can become costly due to many seniors applying to a lot of different schools. Senior Ismael Diaz says that the cost of college applications is a very important cost of senior year. “If I don’t apply to college, then I won’t be able to go to college. So like, they’re important,” Diaz said.
Another big cost of senior year is dual-credit classes. Dual credit classes are college classes that students are able to take in high school. These classes usually cost around $270, not including the prices of books and supplies. Senior Kensington Wood says that this is a big and important cost of senior year.
“These expenses are going to affect my future because I’m planning on going into the medical field, and CNA is going to be like the basic first step,” Wood said.
The many costs of senior year can leave some seniors worrying about how they are going to pay them. A lot of students are enrolled in dual-credit classes through Hutchinson Community College. These classes usually cost about $275, not including any materials. One benefit students get from taking classes through Hutch is that if they enroll for college there, they get their money back for the classes that they took in high school. Although that is a very good benefit of taking the classes, there are still many seniors who are left having to pay for them. Not only are many seniors enrolled in dual credit classes, but many are enrolled in multiple of them. This has left students having to find a plan on how to pay for these classes.
“I wasn’t really expecting it. They said it would be easy and cheap,” Wood said.
