I graduated high school 17 years ago, and a lot of those prices are the same or less than I paid back then. Think you're overstating them a little bit.
I teach high school today, and I agree that these prices are overstated. Of course, I live in a Low COLA.
As long as you have your spending under control on a day to day basis, spending a few hundred total on Yearbook, Prom, etc isn't a big deal.
I agree. We splurged on some things for our kids during senior year ... but because we're frugal 99% of the time, it wasn't a difficulty for us.
However, as a teacher, I feel badly about seeing the poorest kids struggle to afford those prom tickets, etc. For the poorest of our poor kids, these high school milestones are ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. I'm talking about the kids who aren't even trying to go to community college, those whose families don't go on nice vacations, those who will never build a dream home (or even buy a dream car). For some of these kids, those high school "moments" are EVERYTHING ... and they will scrimp and save to participate.
like the rings that every high school sells at 50x the cost of materials
Pay attention to ALL the information from the ring people. If you're a Jostens school, they offer a simple $99 ring ... I think it might've been $129 for guys. These simple rings give you the school color for the stone, the school mascot on one side, the year on the other. No choices = cheaper. Yet few kids ever buy these bargain rings.
Like the cheaper rings, just about every high school cost-item has a cheaper-way-to-go, yet the vast majority of our kids ignore those things. Example: Order your yearbook the first week of school and it's $20 cheaper ... yet people stand in line at the end of the year in hopes that a higher-priced copy will be left over. Same thing with caps-and-gowns. They're only $25 if you buy them in the fall with the group; but something like 70% of our seniors order them individually in the spring and pay more. During the first two weeks of the school year, students can purchase a $40 sticker for their student ID that allows them to enter every school athletic event all year long ... but maybe 10% of the students buy that sticker ... the rest ignore the fact that if you attend JUST the home football games, you've already more than made up your cost! Prom tickets cost $25 each ... or $40 for a couple ... even if you're not going with a date, why not pair up with a friend to buy the tickets? Small dances and small events tend to cost $5 if you buy your ticket ahead of time at lunch, but the vast, vast majority pay double at the door.
On the first day of school I tell my seniors these things, and they still don't listen! I tell their parents on back-to-school night, and THEY listen!