Change is a natural thing within life and especially so on a college campus.
At Wake Forest, change is consistent for students. We have new restaurant, new study spots, new friend and more. But change is not always a good thing, especially when dealing with money.
As someone from a low-income household, money is a big deal for me and I assume for many of my fellow Demon Deacons. Even with my thriftiness, though, I do spend money to enjoy myself as well. Sometimes I make bad decisions with my money, but it’s worth it to spend time with my friends. Throughout my two years at Wake Forest, I have made many questionable decisions with money, but my decisions to spend 10 dollars at Last Resort (LR) has always been the right move.
While 10 dollars is a good chunk of change, I believe it is worth it for LR. The next morning I may have the mark of the devil on me, the infamous X’s from the bouncers of LR, I still had an amazing night. And going to LR has been a staple of my party life at Wake Forest, and having LR as an alternative to the usual Frat parties has given me much joy.
But with the new price increase for people under 21 to get into LR, I am heartbroken. While its free until 10 p.m., who the heck is going to LR at 10 when it doesn’t even start to be live until twelvish. Now from 10 to 12, it costs students under 21 15 dollars.
While it upsets me, I understand LR is a business trying to make money. And while I think the five dollars will affect who comes, I think they will still increase profit from it. But they will alienate the student body who isn’t 21 yet.
But the audacity that LR has to charge students 20 dollars after midnight is just out of this world. And while I turn 21 in two months, so it won’t affect me that much, I am full of sadness for my fellow underage Deacons.
In my time at Wake Forest, 20 dollars could get me into LR two times, for the future goers they must either only go once or spend 40 dollars (at most). And all this money doesn’t include the Uber charges. So a fun night out at LR now destroys your wallet.
I understand that LR wants to increase profit, or maybe they want most people to be 21 and over. Whatever they want doesn’t matter to me because they betrayed the Wake Forest student body with their new prices.
Thirsty Thursday should be an amazing night where I wake up not saddened from the lack of funds I now have for Moes Southwest Grill. Yet this is where I find myself now on Friday mornings. I make sure I don’t have Friday classes just for LR and this is how they treat me.
LR must go back to 10 dollars to truly support the Wake Forest students. In many ways we are exploited as students, but to exploited for even more money when tuition goes up every year is absurd.
LR is a staple of the Wake Forest party scene and to continue this trend, LR must not only stop increasing prices but go down to ten dollars. A 20 dollar copay is completely unacceptable and we must not stand for it. I know after the shuttle or Uber ride, the thrill of LR is immense. But we must not let them rob us anymore.
