The prospect of May Week is probably one of the few things keeping us sane through our week five blues in Lent term. We try to avoid our impending essay deadlines and supervisions, instead opting to spend the time trying (sometimes desperately) to source ball tickets for May Week. Everyone gets wrecked in Easter term and everyone wants to enjoy themselves with friends afterwards. It’s only fair, I guess. The issue, of course, is in the price tag.

May Week – whether it’s the balls or the garden parties – is an expensive affair and everyone feels its burden. But the issue isn’t helped when students charge their colleagues (and dare I say, sometimes even their friends) extortionate prices for May Ball tickets. A ticket can sell for double its price, or more (if it’s for a highly sought May Ball like Trinity, John’s or Magdalene), and some students make themselves a handsome profit.

Trouble is, it’s at the expense of someone else’s pocket.

Being at Trinity, I know people who’ve sold their extra standard ticket (worth £155 for a Trinitarian to buy) for over £300. That’s a lot of money and it sets people back quite a bit, especially students who may have to cut their budgets for Lent and Easter terms to make ends meet. It’s the last week before our insanely long summer and we want to have fun with all the people we’re friends with. Maybe it’s peer pressure, but if all your friends are going, you want to be there too and you’ll pay – out of desperation.

A friend of mine who sold his ticket for £320 to an international student told me the other day that “these are just rich overseas students with too much money and too little sense”. He meant what he said as a justification for his exploitative behavior. Setting the exploitative and perhaps even worryingly xenophobic arguments aside, however, his behavior is still problematic. It’s problematic because it prioritises those students with money over those with limited bursaries and financial obligations.

While many students at Cambridge can afford to spend £150 on a May Ball ticket, one way or another – most people wishing to buy that ticket will not be able to afford it for £300. Just because someone is willing to buy a May Ball ticket for that price, doesn’t mean everyone can, and it certainly does not justify selling it for profit. The choice to sell for £300 makes the ticket unaffordable for most students – it disadvantages, alienates and disheartens them. I find it ludicrous when those students selling their tickets for profit then want to have long conversations about elitism and privilege in Cambridge.

I’ve sold my extra Trinity May Ball ticket for face value both this and last year – to friends. Part of the reason why I didn’t sell them for profit was because I didn’t want to exploit my friends; I wanted them to have a good time and not discourage them from coming. I also found it difficult profiting from a ball I had no part organising or planning. I’m entitled to two tickets for the Trinity May Ball being a member of college – but my entitlement ends there. I didn’t feel I was entitled to make money from the sale of those tickets because, like most other students, in no way did I directly or indirectly contribute to the success of the ball. The idea that some students should be allowed to make money just by virtue of being at an older college with a more impressive ball is laughable. And it’s made more laughable by the fact that the people paying the obscenely high prices only do so because their colleges aren’t as impressive in May Week.

It’s not completely black and white, of course. There are some students at Trinity, John’s and Magdalene who will not be able to afford to go to their own college’s May Ball unless they cover the costs of their own ticket first. And because the University forbids us from holding paid jobs in term time, some students will have to make a little extra money before the summer. It’s a difficult issue, but the solution is not for everyone to start selling for profit – if we get to that point, we’re spreading a dangerous culture. The solution is to create more equality across the University and make Cambridge more accessible for everyone by not putting a disabling price tag on having fun. The money your parents make should not determine how much you enjoy yourself at university.

There is plenty to be done, and some things will take years to change, but we can always start by charging a fair price for our extra may ball ticket. A fair price is face value.