The Price of Status

How much does it cost to attend a free U.S. public high school? Plenty, says Education Professor Errett Hummel of Portland (Ore.) State College. The average high school student in Oregon spends $238.46 a year on extracurricular expenses. The cost is the reason many students quit school, says Hummel.

Hummel made a year-long survey covering 88% of Oregon's high schools. He found youngsters paying as much as $18 for a student-body card, $30 for other tickets, and $32 for class jewelry. Every dance steps up the bill. One father reported that it cost him $100 to dress his daughter for a prom that cost her date more than $20. The biggest cost: transportation. Though every school district runs buses, every teen-ager seems to want a car. The cost averages $65.28 a year and ranges up to $200.

Naturally, many cannot keep up. At two high schools, only one-third of the students can afford class jewelry. At another school near Portland, only one-fifth of the students can afford the junior-senior prom. How do the outsiders feel? Aside from moving or military service, notes Hummel, the main reason students give for quitting school in Portland is "to get work and earn money." Says he:

"Those who counsel teen-agers realize that often those who are unhappy in school are those who cannot 'keep pace.' If the gang travels to the next town to take in a game and you can't go along, if the sweater for the rally or the booster's club happens to cost more than your family can afford, or if you can't stop now and then to buy a Coke after school-sometimes these things pile up until school just isn't worthwhile."

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