Senior Yearbook Ads--YIKES!

[TimeforMe]

We received a flyer from DS' high school to put in a personal ad for his yearbook. Cost: for a 1/2 page color ad--$350; full page=$500. Are they out of their minds? Two years ago, we put one in for DD and while I do remember it being expensive, it wasn't that expensive. I'd rather give him the cash for college. It meant a lot for DD to have it in there, but DS not so much. I think, anyway. He might just be being nice because he knows we can't afford it.

How much are your ads?

 

[Kteacher]

Wow- that is high! I just paid for a 1/2 page ad for Dangerboy- it was 190.00 for color, and you could put in up to 4 pictures.

 

[agnes!]

Me? Well, I'm nosy about things. I'd like to know how much of that money is actually going to the school...(and how much is actually going to the yearbook company!)

It's a shame he can't put "My parents gave me $500 as part of my college fund instead of paying those outrageous prices for an ad" under his yearbook photo .

agnes!

 

[ThreeAngels]

Oh, wow! My DS is a junior this year and I've been wondering how much those senior ads might cost. Good GOSH, that's just ridiculous! I very much wanted to get him one, but, if our prices are like the OP's, that would not be do-able for us.

 

[ColoradoBuffaloMom]

An ad in my daughter's yearbook is $45 for each 1/8th of a page. I did a
1/4th of a page and I could put in 4 pictures. My daughter is on the yearbook staff so I told her she could have veto power over the pictures but not over the mushy words I wrote

She said they make money on the ads but not a lot. It helps keep the yearbook price down (although I'm not sure I call $60 for a yearbook cheap) and it helps send the kids to yearbook conferences so they can learn a lot and get lots of great ideas.

She has loved being on the yearbook staff the last two years and it has been so wonderful for her self-confidence and all around great HS experience.

 

[Sherrypooh]

FWIW, in our high school in CT it was 150.00 for a 1/2 page add. It was 65.00 for a 1/4 page. I did not price full page. We have to have ours to the school before December 1. Then, we have to come up with 100.00 for a "drug free alchol free" graduation party. They say the 100.00 is a contribution, the graduates won't get their deplomas until the day after the party. Guess I will get this paid soon too!

 

[mandy200587]

I did yearbook in high school. Baby ads and business ads were the two reasons our book was affordable. Our book would be close to 200 without ads, it was 65 with the help of ads. The ads also allowed us if we had enough money to do something special on the pages like a gloss or that.

Our school's baby ads cost 35 for everyone, and we kept them the same size to be fair to all the students. Our business ads, ran a full page for 250, half a page 150, quarter page was something, business size was about 75 I want to say and the pride page was 35.

 

[Piecey]

FWIW, in our high school in CT it was 150.00 for a 1/2 page add. It was 65.00 for a 1/4 page. I did not price full page. We have to have ours to the school before December 1. Then, we have to come up with 100.00 for a "drug free alchol free" graduation party. They say the 100.00 is a contribution, the graduates won't get their deplomas until the day after the party. Guess I will get this paid soon too!

Ouch, ours was free!! Thats crazy! We had a group of moms who were on a committe all year and they did various fundraisers (I'm not even sure what, we never saw them ) and went around and got stuff donated.

After graduation we were locked into the local YMCA where they had pizza, cake, hot dogs and at 10PM-1AM they had a Casino where we won tickets we could throw into these raffles for TVs, DVD Players, Digital Cameras, Fridges (that were all donated!)
I walked out with probably $75 cash, a $50 Savings Bond and lots of "Free Value Meal" coupons from McDs, BK and Taco Bell!!

 

[daisyduck123]

Cost: for a 1/2 page color ad--$350; full page=$500.

Hmm....I graduated 23 years ago & a full page ad was $100.00...so it's gone up 500%. Wow!!!

 

[Doe]

Wow-so glad they don't do this at our kids high school! Our yearbooks are $60 flat. The only extra thing you would have to pay for is to have your name engraved on the front.

 

[TimeforMe]

I did yearbook in high school. Baby ads and business ads were the two reasons our book was affordable. Our book would be close to 200 without ads, it was 65 with the help of ads.

Good to know. The yearbook itself is $75.00. I just asked DS again if he would like a page and he said definitely not--it was a waste of $. His HS is also building a new concession stand near the athletic fields so I asked if he instead would like a plaque with his name there instead ($250) and he still said no, it was a waste of $. Fine with me. I get off cheap(er).

 

[teacherforhi]

I guess it could vary from place to place and company to company, but it sounds like the school is making a killing. I just got a quote on adding four more pages to my book (our population is growing by leaps and bounds) and it cost $110 per color page. So I would be making a $390 profit on a full page. Even better, if I could sell two half page ads, that would be $590 profit. Maybe I should rethink the whole 'no ads' thing with my principal...

 

[mamacatnv]

I just wrote a check for $325 for a full Senior page, the yearbook is included in that so I thought all and all it was not a bad deal since the yearbook is generally $70-$75.

 

[HARASW]

My daughter was a senior in HS last year. A full page was $300 and if the students didn't bring in a minimum of $300, they wouldn't get a copy of their yearbook. Some nerve, when I was paying over $15,000 a year in tuition and extras!

 

[mouseclick1]

Wow, I didn't realize what a deal we got! I just put in a full page ad for my son at $200. All of our ads are B & W, color isn't an option.

 

[Mickeyistheman]

A full page ad, no color is about $400. You can put as many pictures and wording that can fit, but you won't get your pictures back.

I was hoping I could do 2 pages for $500 but that is not the case.

I had picked out all of our photos from our 1st trip to Disney to our last, since she will be going to school in Central Florida.

Such a shame because I always like reading what family and friends write. I think it is something they will always remember.

 

[daisax]

Never heard of such a thing... glad it didn't exist when I was in school -- I can imagine the displays some of the families would have put on to one-up each other!

 

[swilphil]

Years ago, I was the yearbook sponsor. The price of each yearbook depends on how many books are sold more than anything else. If you have a large high school that sells lots of yearbooks, the price of the yearbook will be cheaper. Of course, ad revenue helps also.
The school where I now work has a very strong yearbook program. The yearbook ads are between $75 and $250 if you meet the early deadline. The price goes up as the school year goes along. The 1/4 and 1/6 page ads are limited to two photos, plus text. The entire yearbook is in color now, so the ads are in color too. I don't think the yearbook ads are that big of a deal if you meet the early deadline, especially compared to the cost of the graduation announcements and all the other, er, junk they sell.

 

[mamacatnv]

Never heard of such a thing... glad it didn't exist when I was in school -- I can imagine the displays some of the families would have put on to one-up each other!

Funny you should mention that - last year we had a parent (also the Special Ed. Dean) who purchased not 1 page for her DD but 3 She filled it with so many pictures and text that even I, who has known this woman for years and am not fond of, was embarrassed for her. Every spare inch of those 3 pages was filled to capacity, it looked horrible and kids were ticked off that she was allowed to do that to "their" yearbook.

So, this year - 1 page maximum per student and on that one page we are limited to 12 photos and not more than 125 words. We submit all the photos and the wording and the yearbook staff will put together the page and give it back to us for "approval" changes can be suggested but are not guaranteed and we do get our pictures back in May.

Our ads are full color

 

[Disneynutbsv]

I put a business card size ad in, color for $65. Next year my son is a senior so we'll probably do a half a page...