Thrifty tips to put your best foot forward — and leave high prices behind

In this tough economic crisis, it’s difficult to think about spending a fortune on a single night.  Especially this year, it’s more important than ever to get the most bang for your buck while still looking your best.  What is this all leading up to? PROM! Follow these simple steps to spend little and not compromise on looking great for the big night.

Why spend $300 plus on a dress, ladies?!

Every girl knows the most important element of prom is her dress.  Instead of searching for a gorgeous gown at high-priced boutiques, try looking into vintage stores.  No, not thrift stores, vintage stores.  Vintage stores may be a little more difficult to locate, but with the perks being extremely low prices and the guarantee that no one will have your dress, why wouldn’t you check one out?  If you’re not into the whole vintage, already-been-worn thing, here’s another option.  Instead of buying a prom gown, check out a bridesmaid’s dress and personalize it with beads and sequins.  This may take a little more time and effort, but you’ll get exactly what you want. (See today’s story about prom dresses for more money-saving options.)

Spend your money wisely, boys.

Let’s be real.  Guys, if you’re the one who’s paying for the tickets and the corsage, you’re going to want to be thrifty with your purchases.  Instead of renting a tux, which can cost $50-$150 plus the extras you may want, you may be able to get away with a dark suit and dressing it up with cool extras like vests, ascots, bow ties, and crazy, colorful shirts and ties.  If your prom does require a tux, look online for all pricing options.  If you’re all about looks and not so crazy about quality, go for a cheaper material like polyester, rather than wool, which can double the price.  If you don’t want to pay extra for a colored vest to match your dates dress, look at vintage stores and thrift stores.  Seriously, no one is going to care where you got your stuff.

Do it yourself!

Ladies. We all know that what really finishes off your beautiful gown is the tan, nails, and makeup, but come on.  Spending that much on something you can do yourself is ridiculous.  For starters, lie outside if you want some color.  If you start four weeks in advance and lie outside an hour a day, trust me, you’re going to get a tan.  If you really want to get your nails done by a pro, how about just getting a manicure and forget about the pedi? No one is even going to see your toes underneath that taffeta, so why pay extra?  Also, if you really want tips and don’t want to go to the salon, try specialty kits from any drug store.  They may take some time and effort on your part, but you will literally pay a quarter of what you would.   Finally, getting your makeup done professionally can be kind of silly if you can do the exact same thing at home.  Look online for looks you want and try to do it yourself.  You’ll save yourself a lot of running around on the big day if you do.

Put your money where the flowers are.

If there is one place to not skimp, it’s going to be the flowers.  This goes for both girls and guys: don’t forget the corsages and boutonnieres.  There are not going to be that many options for thriftiness when coming to flowers — unless of course your mother is super good at arranging the florals.  Flowers are the finishing touch, so don’t skimp — and make sure you and your date have the same colors worked out so you don’t conflict.

– Natalie Averi

Finding the best deals on the best dresses for prom

From finding a date months before, to getting your hair done on the morning of, prom is supposed to be a wonderful high school experience. But every girl knows that planning for prom is hard enough without considering the dent it’s going to put into her wallet.

On average, a high school girl may spend anywhere from $900 to $2,000 for both her junior and senior prom. The nails, the hair, the shoes, the jewelry, and the dress are the girl’s responsibility. And that’s assuming that she’s got a date to take care of the tickets, the transportation, the flowers, and the after-prom. For those of us going solo, prom just got a lot more expensive — especially in the toughest economy in ages.

For all girls — the ones who do and ones who don’t have dates to shoulder some of the cost — the biggest concern tends to be the dress, the most expensive part of prom.

There are three ways to cut down on dress prices but not dress quality. By reusing old dresses and shopping via thrift stores and online it is possible to find the right dress at a better price.

In with the old

By reusing old dresses from friends or family members, you can save the money and save the time of shopping for something ‘perfect’ that you may never find. Just think of all the girls that you know who have gone through this already. They’ve already bought their own prom dresses for high school, that’s roughly two dresses per girl. You have a decent variety and you’ve just cut anywhere from 100-900 dollars to save for life after high school.  Even if the dress is a little big it is cheaper to get things fitted rather than finding a new dress entirely.

Get thrifty

Girls with or without female relatives might have trouble reusing an old dress. In this case, it is still pretty easy to shop cheap. By going to a thrift store, you can essentially do the same thing as reusing a friend’s dress. Pretty Women in Beaver sells nice dresses for decent prices and their selection is wide in sizes and types. Any Salvation Army sells dresses — though they might not always be the prettiest they are most definitely the cheapest. By looking at different locations and by checking in periodically, the Salvation Army is guaranteed to have different selections often.

Think amazonian

Amazon.com has great selections of prom dresses, with hundreds of colors. By looking around on the web site, it’s easy to find used and new dresses for every occasion and every style. It is possible to find a great dress for under $100 — and by the time you’ve paid shipping and handling you’ve reached the same price of an okay dress from a store. If you find a great dress that works from a dress company’s web site, it is smarter to look on Amazon because in all probability they have it for cheaper.

By using any one of these three shopping techniques it’s possible to save cash and time while finding a better dress suited to your style. Plus, this way, if you don’t like the dresses that are ‘in season’ you have more variety, and less chance of walking in with a dress someone else already has on. 

– Rachel Zibaila

Why a college education is worth it, and how you can get one 

If you feel anything like me, it seems like every time you turn your head you hear the words recession, economy and bad, worse and worst! So, in the midst of all this economic trouble, how are we high school students supposed to even think about going to college?  With our guidance counselors breathing down our necks for our final decisions and our parents cautiously checking the prices, is it really even worth getting a higher education? It’s time to sit down and look at the facts and decide if it is really as bad as everyone says.

1. College is worth it.

                  The facts are clear: people who go to college and receive any type of higher education are far more likely to receive well-paying jobs than those who don’t. College, even community college, is worth the sacrifice you have to make in order to secure a well-esteemed, well-paying job. Even if you have to pay your way through and take a few classes here and there, it is still worth doing. According to Ericdigests.org, an educational information web site,  the average income made over an adult’s life for a high school graduate is $1.2 million. For student with an associate’s degree, it’s $1.6 million, and for a student with a bachelor’s degree, it’s $2.1 million. Statistics also show that students who don’t go immediately from high school to college are more likely to lose momentum and never attend college. In addition, you also will run into an average 8% tuition increase annually, and a delayed start of your career. If you can go to college, GO!

 2. Choose what’s best for you.

                  It’s easy to see small bank accounts and automatically write off the idea of even going to that private college you had your eye on, but the fact is that there are lots of options for financing college. First of all it is important to look at the schools where you are applying, and take into consideration the cost. Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can afford the most expensive schools; be realistic enough to realize what you can’t afford, but hopeful enough to know that you do have options.

  You will want to consider state schools or universities; their tuition is going to be significantly lower than a private university. But also remember, because of this, the number of applicants is going to be a lot higher, making competition stiffer. According to the website campusgrotto.com, “State schools have lower tuition because they want to keep as many kids as possible in-state; there is also more money given in scholarships and grants.”

 On the other hand, keep in mind that less people are going to be applying to private schools, meaning higher rates of acceptance and more opportunity for financial aid. If private universities are hard pressed for applicants, they will be more open to making things work however they can — after all, paying half tuition is better than no tuition.

                  Don’t settle for less than what you want: in other words, don’t pick just any college just because it’s cheaper, especially if it doesn’t have the major you want. There is no point in paying for something in which you’re not even interested. Make sure the colleges you are looking at have the major you are interested in and look at all they offer, even down to extracurriculars, to see if there are things you like.  

3. Don’t assume everything is hopeless.

We are in a hard financial time for our country, but that does not mean that everything is horrible. Colleges are trying very hard to be proactive about this situation. For example, at Robert Morris University, all salary increases have been frozen in order to create more money for financial aid. This is just one example of many ways colleges are helping kids out.  Also, the government is still continuing to pour millions into financial aid. Make sure you fill out all the forms for financial aid, like the FAFSA and PHEEA.

4. Apply, Apply, Apply!

Just because times are tough doesn’t mean there aren’t scholarships! There are millions and millions of dollars being given away this year as scholarships, and that is not going to change. Trading a measly 500-word essay for a thousand dollars is a great swap! (If you’re not sure how to write a good essay, stay tuned for our article giving you all the ins and outs of essay writing!)  Besides essays, there are also grants, which are also in abundant supply.

Lincoln Park’s guidance counselor, Courtney Keeling said, “You know, I would expect there to be less scholarships this year, but instead there are seem to be more, and less people applying for them.”  Even if it is going to take a few hours away from your friends, apply for every scholarship you can, your odds go up with the more you apply for!

5. Don’t be afraid to take out a loan.

College is worth the price, however stiff. If you have exhausted all other resources and are ready to give up, don’t rule out the idea of taking out a loan. Although banks are more hesitant to loan money right now, they are still doing it. We have no idea how long this recession will last, so odds are it might be over by your sophomore year of college. The average amount of debt a student who attends a university accumulates, according to the web site dailymerold.com, is between $14,000 to 18,000. The average income of a person with a bachelor’s degree is roughly $30,000 a year, making paying loans off in ten or fifteen years extremely doable.

6. Don’t lose your confidence.

The application process for college is a tough one, so keep your head up as you swim through it! Be sure to focus on the good aspects of being accepted, rather than just dwelling on the cost. Above all, never sacrifice your dreams just for money. The relationships and knowledge you will gain in college are priceless — always keep that in the front of your mind!

 –Audrianna Joseph

College is expensive and cost can be a pretty big issue when deciding which one to attend.  In any economy, good or bad, it is important for any price-conscious student to look for ways to lessen the cost of college, ways that can come in the form of scholarships, financial aid, or grants.  One Lincoln Park student did a particularly good job of lessening the cost of college, earning himself a free ride to one:

Who:  Joe Fedore, a senior majoring in Musical Theater at Lincoln Park.

What:  Received a full ride to go to college for musical theater.

When:  He will be attending in the fall.  As to the application process, Fedore said he auditioned in early November and received the acceptance letter sometime in December.

Where:  He was accepted to and will be attending Baldwin-Wallace College in Berea, Ohio.  In addition, Baldwin-Wallace’s Musical Theatre program is considered to be one of the finest in the nation.

Why:  Fedore plans on pursuing a career in musical theater.  When asked about his future plans in the business, he said you can’t really plan ahead too much in musical theater.  As soon as he can, he said he’ll just be trying to find work.  “Musical theater is one of those things that you just have to be in the moment of it,” he said. At moment, it sounds like he is pretty well-off going to Baldwin-Wallace.

How:  For the audition, Fedore said he had to prepare two musical theater songs, do a monologue, do a dance audition, and play the piano.  Thanks to a good audition, he received a talent scholarship.  That, combined with financial aid and other various scholarships that he found, is what gave him his full ride.

There is a lot that can be done in an effort to lessen the cost of college, and there is a certain amount of relief that comes with finding those scholarships and grants.  “I can’t really complain much about the economy right now,” said Fedore.

– Logan Thomas

Tough economy means tough choices for Lincoln Park students

The rough state of our economy has not only affected our parents. We as high school students also face the backlash of a failing economy. For many seniors, the financial crisis is even more relevant as they decide which college or university to attend in the fall. In a recent survey of more than 300 Lincoln Park students, 28 percent said that the state of the economy will have an effect on which college they will choose.

With the dollar’s value being at an all-time low, schools are now being viewed for reasons other than their academic merit. Nearly half of the students surveyed said that their college decision will be greatly effected by the amount of financial aid that they receive. “My top choice for school became my second because of the economy,” senior Gabrielle Smith-Perry, 18, wrote.

Other students are not feeling that same kind of pressure. Senior Zach Perpetua, 18, is receiving full tuition from the University of Pittsburgh and senior Joe Fedore, 18, is receiving almost the same from Baldwin-Wallace College.

So what about the rest of us? There are always scholarships. There is a scholarship out there for pretty much everything. They range from science fairs, to duck calling. If scholarships aren’t enough, there are grants and loans. Of those surveyed, 68 percent said that they plan on taking advantage of these opportunities.

Jobs are obviously a big help as well. According to the survey, 30 percent of Lincoln Park students have jobs, 3 percent are looking for one, and 67 percent are unemployed. Of the 30 percent who have jobs, 8 percent have second jobs.

The money that students do have is spent on a varied list of things. A surprisingly low 7 percent of those surveyed spend most of their money on gas for their cars. Most students spend their money on clothes (33 percent) or other things ranging from food to video games.

One tactic that almost everyone surveyed mentioned was saving. Many students are cutting back on their spending habits, or at least trying to. While saving is important to pretty much everyone, some students expressed how difficult it has been to save anymore with money being so tight.

Times may be tough financially, but some students have found that it is made easier when you keep a positive attitude. Senior Nicholas Cageao, 18, wrote, “Overall, the economy has just caused me to think a little bit more before I spend, and it has reinforced the fact that life isn’t about money.”

– By Emma Stabbe

This is part one of a five-part series about the economy and its effect on Lincoln Park students. Check The Siren every day this week for stories and advice about how to save, where to spend and what to do to get through the recession.

Coming Tuesday: Rethinking College? Think Again!