Her money is saved from a combination of earnings from pre-
vious jobs as well as a current on-campus job.
While she wouldn’t categorize her group of friends as hav-
ing expensive habits, McKinnon estimates she herself spends
around $50 per week on dining and going out.
McKinnon said money isn’t terribly influential on what her
friend group does but said many of her friends are judicious
about where they spend their disposable cash, as most of them
work for their spending money.
“Michigan’s an expensive school,” she said. “They talk about
Michigan, at least when you hear about it when you’re touring,
it’s sort of, ‘Oh, this amenity is included; this amenity is includ-
ed; this amenity is included.’ And then you come here and you
realize what’s not included.”
While Greek life fees can pile up, there are other organiza-
tions on campus that require a notable starting cost.
The University has 31 club sports teams, which are orga-
nized leagues that compete with teams at other schools. Club
teams are largely organized by students, but often have coach-
es, and compete in playoffs for national championships. The
average cost of a club sport is roughly $434, though the prices
range from just $30 for the club running team to around $2,750
for the rowing team.
LSA sophomore Sara Lin is the treasurer of the women’s
club gymnastics team. While the team does receive funding
from the club sports organization, members are also required
to pay $100 per semester. Additional costs are added when
the team travels for meets and must pay for food, lodging, and
travel.
Yet organized sports are less common than other activi-
ties, with only about one-quarter of students participating at
least two-to-three times a month. Exercising, however, is very
popular: about 66 percent reported going to a gym once a week
or more frequently, with about 21 percent going daily. While 43
percent of students never play sports, 22 percent play sports at
least once a week.
Lin said a large portion of her time and money goes into her
gymnastics team. She has been a gymnast all her life and said
participating at the University — getting to spend her time in
the gym with her friends — has been some of her favorite time
on campus.
“It’s nice to go (to the gym) after classes or something and
not necessarily have to work hard and you just have two friends
you can talk to or a private gym almost,” she said.
The price may be steep, but for both Lin and McKinnon, the
experience of joining a close-knit community makes it worth
the money.
“It’s been a really good way for me to build friendships, as
well as find a community,” McKinnon said. “I always kind of
equate it to joining any other club. I mean, there is sort of an
idea that Greek life is kind of different than any other extra-
curricular but it’s similar in the same way that everybody finds
their group through it.”
Go Broke!
At any given home basketball game, students pack the lower
bowl, drape themselves in as much maize clothing as they can
find, and jump up and down from tip-off to game’s end. Con-
ducting the crowd is the leader of the student section, Maize
Rage President Christian Tallarico.
Tallarico is an Engineering junior and a seriously devout
Michigan fan. Since his freshman year, Tallarico has bought
both football and men’s basketball tickets every year. On top of
that, he also takes several road trips to away basketball games
each year, typically with fellow Maize Rage members.
“I love the away games more than the home games, to be
honest,” he said. “It was more fun freshman, sophomore year
where we walk into an away game thinking we’re going to win
and we’re confident and we’re not really taking crap from peo-
ple talking to us.”
Each year, Tallarico has taken around four to five trips for
away basketball and football games. He estimates the cost per
trip is about $200 per person, $300 for the trip to Chicago for
the basketball Big Ten tournament. Last year, the combination
of football tickets, basketball tickets and an at-Notre Dame
ticket cost him $700.
This year, the University’s Athletic Department worked to
accommodate the requests of students to make athletic events
more accessible. Former Athletic Director Dave Brandon col-
laborated with the Central Student Government and in October
2014 agreed to reduce ticket prices for student football tickets
down to $175 from $280. In February of this year, the Athletic
Department implemented need-based ticketing, offering fed-
eral Pell Grant eligible students the chance to buy significantly
cheaper tickets for football, basketball and hockey.
As CSG President, Dishell was instrumental in this latest
deal and said the number of Pell Grant-eligible students buy-
ing tickets has already increased 20 percent. Additionally, Tal-
larico said the department has been helpful to the Maize Rage
as well, particularly for Big Ten tournament tickets, which are
offered at a discount from regular season tickets.
Apart from these larger purchases, Tallarico said he and his
friends rarely have any other social expenses. Tallarico saves
his money from jobs and internships over the summer then
budgets his sports year ahead of time, rarely going out to eat or
to other events. For him, putting his money into tickets and his
time into the Maize Rage is the only way to go.
“For most of us it’s a big reason why we’re here and if you
want to get together with us I can assure you you’re going to be
at the front of all the basketball games, you’re going to have the
opportunity to get all the away tickets,” he said.
What are you really paying for?
Whatever a student choses to spend their money on, the
hope is that it goes to good use and helps create an experi-
ence that a proud Wolverine can remember for years to come.
And, for the most part, it appears University students feel good
about the money they spend.
When asked whether they felt money played a significant
role in their social lives, 38 percent of students agreed and 20
percent strongly agreed. A majority of students feel they are
able to “keep up” financially with their friends, with 43 percent
agreeing and 16 percent strongly agreeing. A majority also dis-
agree that “money has inhibited their social life” at the Univer-
sity — though 18 percent agreed and 4 percent strongly agreed
with that statement.
There were still variances in response. Students com-
ing from homes making less than $100,000 annually were
less likely to agree that they can keep up with their friends
financially than those coming from houses making $150,000
or over. Of students from the higher socioeconomic bracket,
38.86 percent strongly agreed that they have a great social life,
compared to the 16.42 percent of lower-income students who
strongly agreed.
Engineering junior Joe Spurlin handles all his money per-
sonally, socially, or otherwise. Spurlin classifies himself as
middle class and receives financial aid through federal grants,
as well as money for the University. He supplements this with
a part-time on-campus job.
Spurlin spends roughly close to the average per-week
amount, estimating at around $30. He also participates in a
local hockey league and has football and hockey tickets.
However, Spurlin said he has to spend extra effort manag-
ing his money, because his money for housing, food, and social
activities all come from the same place. For him, keeping up
with his friend group can become difficult at times.
“I do have friends who their parents pay for everything in
terms of tuition and housing so that all the money they make,
all the money they have is stuff that they put towards lunch
and dinner and stuff like that,” he said. “It always feels like
they can spend more freely than I can.”
While Spurlin is undoubtedly not alone in this experience,
University students aren’t exclusively spending money to have
fun. A large portion of students are having fun for cheap, fre-
quently hanging out with their friends with no specific activ-
ity. A resounding 72 percent of students “chill” two-to-three
times a week, or more frequently.
Watching TV and movies are also popular activities, with
56 percent watching at least two-to-three times a week, if not
daily. Video games are less popular: only about one-quarter of
students play at least once a week.
The University also provides a considerable amount of free
or reduced-price activities. The Michigan Union’s Umix offers
a free meal on Friday nights, a variety of programs provide
accessible tickets to on-campus shows, and, though many clubs
do require dues of some sort, there are still plenty of free orga-
nizations for students to get involved in.
In the end, 70 percent of campus believe they have a great
social life that they will look back on fondly. Though the Uni-
versity might have expensive taste, at the very least it appears
a good portion are able to find their social niche, wherever it
may be.
“Spending time in lounges, we all watch ‘The Bachelor’ on
Mondays together, that’s just like a social event that we do
without spending money,” Spurlin said. “You can have a good
college experience regardless of the amount of money you
have.”
Wednesday, March 25, 2015 // The Statement
7B
Whatever a student
choses to spend their
money on, the hope
is that it goes to good
use and helps create
an experience that a
proud Wolverine can
remember for years
to come. And, for the
most part, it appears
University students
feel good about the
money they spend.
EXPENSES
From Page 5B