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It's helpful to look at old subscription prices when trying to set new subscription prices.   Note that MIT is closed on Christmas Day/Eve and New Year's Day/Eve, and so we don't dance then and the subscription prices should reflect that.  Also students often go away between finals and IAP and during spring break, and the student rates should probably reflect that.To contextualize them, it's also useful to know the price scheme used for individual nights:

  • Until the summer of 2007: $2 for students, $3.50 for non-students
  • Summer 2007 - Spring 2014: $2 for students, increased to $4 to include early rounds for others
  • Circa 2012 or so: MIT students became free
  • Summer 2014 - Spring 2023: free for MIT students, $2 for students and $5 for non-students.
  • Summer 2023 - ??: free for MIT students, $2 for students, $5-10 for non-students

Starting in Fall 2015, we started using a sliding-scale subscription model.  We also changed subscriptions to include Saturday dances. With the sliding-scale subscription price, the higher end of the price was typically set so that it represented a very small (or even negative) discount on paying single prices for all dances, so in essence, people paying the higher price were giving a donation to the club. Nevertheless, people seemed happy to do that, and the sliding-scale model appeared to be a success. However, some people didn't realize that the high end wasn't a discount and were a little frustrated by that, so it's best to be clear about at least the number of Tuesday and Saturday dances covered by the subscription period ("covers 19 Tuesday and one Saturday dance") when advertising the subscription range.

As of Summer 2023, the sliding-scale subscription price for a period with N weeks is set to $5N-10 for the low end, and $10N - 10 for the high end.  The spring and fall subscription periods start the first week of class and finish one week after Class members get their first class free, so to be sure there's a financial incentive for class members to buy a subscription, the subscription period starts the second week of class and finishes the last week of class.  This exactly determines the dates of all of the subscription periods.  The dates for class are determined by the PE calendar which is related to the academic calendar.  

The current price for admission to a single Tuesday dance is $2 for students and $4 for non-students.  For the summer of 2007 and before it was $2 and $3.50.  (The increase was to include early rounds.)

; Tech Squares has a handy projected dates spreadsheet. (Prior to 2022, class members bought subscriptions rather than paying a separate class fee, so to be sure there was a financial incentive for class members to buy a subscription, the subscription period started the second week of class and finished the last week of class.)

Prices should be loaded into SquaresDB when set.

We don't dance when MIT is closed, and prices need to reflect that.  MIT is closed:

  • 4th of July
  • Christmas Eve/Day
  • New Year's Eve/Day

Students rates should also reflect a discount for weeks when they are likely to be out of town or not dancing, for example:

  • During finals (fall and spring)
  • Winter break (between finals and IAP)
  • Spring break

Starting in fall 2011, MIT students (grad and undergrad) get in for free.  That way PE students finishing the class wouldn't have to suddenly pay money, and MIT club members wouldn't be tempted to sign up for the PE class but attend infrequently, just to get in free when they do pay.  And the hope was also to further encourage student participation.

Non-MIT college students, children younger than college age, and non-students in financial need who ask for it, all get the student rate.

iFrame
srchttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BLcv-OTLSCGfB7M19xWbp5--RdOhaEPIDQX-q76nYlE/pubhtml?widget=true&headers=false
width100%
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Edit the Google Spreadsheet

Office Excel
namesubscriptions.xlsx
For a time ending Spring 2008 there were two prices for subscriptions -- a small discount for paying on time, and a further discount for paying extra early (the chart lists the lower price).  Sara's theory is that the only reason people don't pay early is that we fail to set the prices far enough in advance, and the dual rate meant that the only slightly discounted rate was barely worth it financially which meant fewer people bought subscriptions and gate workers had to do more work, and so she advocated to get rid of it.  (The one time she had a non-student class member show up two weeks before the class started because they were unemployed and needed the extra discount.)