Winter Carnival has been a favorite DU event for the past 52 years. A weekend off campus in the mountains is a great way to bring DU students together and build school spirit. But with high, albeit subsidized, costs for lift tickets, food and events, many students find the DU tradition out of their price range. DUPB should revamp the pricing schedule to make Winter Carnival more affordable to those who qualify for work study.

The DUPB’s mission statement is “to provide affordable, inclusive and entertaining programs for all DU students.” By organizing Homecoming during the fall quarter, Winter Carnival during winter quarter, and May Days during spring quarter, it does just this. But unlike the other two events, Winter Carnival is off campus, meaning it naturally carries a higher price. Luckily, it is heavily subsidized through funds from the student activities fee.

But $45 for a lift ticket, $20 for roundtrip transportation, additional charges for the concert, tubing, ice skating, food and lodging that can itself run into the hundreds of dollars per room per night in ski resort towns leaves many students priced out of this historic DU tradition.

And this price scheme assumes a spartan living situation once one gets to the mountain resorts.

In the name of building school spirit and bringing students of all background and income levels together for Winter Carnival, students who qualify for work study should have their tickets subsidized to a greater degree than those who do not.

Students who qualify for work study put in hours of their time working across campus all while balancing their work with their class schedule and studying.

These hardworking students should only be charged half of the price for lift tickets and events, even if it means other students have to pay a few dollars more.

Last year was the first time that scholarships were made available to students to help offset the costs of participation in this event.

While this is an important step in the right direction, there are a limited number of scholarships available and thus the event may still exclude students who cannot attend for financial reasons.

Using the funds currently available in these scholarships in combination with slightly higher prices for students who can afford to pay a few more dollars, offering work study students activities for half price would truly be a step toward inclusiveness, something this campus and its administration has been criticized for promoting but not practicing.

This difference, hypothetically knocking the cost of Winter Carnival from $100 to $50, could be the deciding factor for many students sitting on the border of whether or not to join their friends on the mountain, or take off work to do so.
If DUPB really wants to walk the walk and not simply talk the talk in providing affordable and inclusive programs for all DU students, it needs to ensure that students who come from all income levels and walks of life can attend Winter Carnival.

Offering activities for half price to those who already work on campus jobs while balancing their study schedule would be the best way to open up this tradition to more students and bring everyone in the DU community together.