by CALEB MARTIN || Anyone who attended a Clemson University home football game last year saw the atrocity that was “The Hill.” Attendance on The Hill was dreadful – leaving large empty gaps that the school’s board of trustees didn’t care for.
Hence, a new student ticketing system. Earlier this summer, Clemson announced it would offer three ways for students to get tickets to games, but the only way to ensure a ticket to every game would be to buy student season tickets.
This system also comes with a new way for students to enter the game: They will now be given wristbands and must have their ID and wristband to enter the stadium.
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Students can purchase lower deck season tickets for $280 and upper deck season tickets for $210. And while Clemson students may not be thrilled about this, it is still a cheap price to pay (coming out to $40 and $30 per game, respectively). As in seasons past, students will still have the opportunity to enter the weekly lottery for a chance to win a ticket to the game. Should students not purchase tickets, or win the lottery, there will now be game day pick up tickets available for The Hill, 1,500 to be exact.
Breaking down the numbers, there are 10,600 student tickets available: 3,600 of them are going to be season tickets, 5,500 will be reserved for the lottery, and of course the 1,500 tickets for The Hill. With a total student population of a little over 20,000, this means roughly half the students can go to the games. Pretty good odds for a college student.
The new news that Clemson has released is that to be eligible for tickets, a student must be full time. This means that an undergraduate must be taking twelve hours, and a graduate student must be enrolled in at least nine hours. For those students who are in a co-op or internship, they must pay a $30 co-op activity fee to be able to get tickets.
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There has also been a no-show policy put in place. Should a student get a free ticket, and not show up to two games, they will be ineligible for tickets the remainder of the season. This will keep students from getting tickets just in case they decide to go, and will allow the students who know they are going the opportunity to get a ticket.
Clemson’s student ticket distribution system needed a complete overhaul and while this may not be the perfect plan, it is definitely a step in the right direction. And for those students who complain about having to pay for tickets, just wait until you graduate and have real IPTAY dues.
Caleb Martin is a Clemson graduate, accountant and doctoral student residing in Greenville, S.C.
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