It’s that time of year again, when the dreaded “Hey everyone, we are sold out on both campuses!” email will ruin a senior’s hope for enjoying their last DePaul rite of passage, attending FEST.

Last year’s FEST tickets for opener Chromeo and headliner Wiz Khalifa went on sale May 16 and by the very next day were sold out. DePaul Activities Board (DAB) announced on Facebook May 17 “Hey everyone! We are SOLD OUT on both campuses! This is a record! While we are very disappointed that we can’t sell more tickets, there is a fire code that we need to abide by, otherwise we get fined and shut down by the city. Boo.”

Many students were left ticketless and beyond upset, and seniors were enraged that they weren’t given preferential access to the limited tickets. By the time the day of the show came, people were paying well more than $50 on Craigslist for one scalped ticket.

 “Last year I had to leave my internship on my lunch and go to the Loop campus to get my roommate and I tickets because I heard they were selling out so quickly. If I don’t get a ticket to my last FEST at DePaul I’m going to be extremely upset,”senior Bailey Madden said.

This year, DAB is approaching ticket sales a bit differently, by limiting the sale to 500 per day so that tickets don’t sell out so rapidly. But how does this ensure any seniority for the students who have spent the past four years here?

Then-senior Jared Benedetto took to Facebook and said it perfectly last year:

“Just my opinion: DePaul Activities Board needs a new system. It is not fair to upperclassmen that have jobs and/or internships. Not everybody (freshmen) has two hours to wait in line. Many students are not going to be able to attend their last fest. Needless to say, what about commuter students? I’m assuming many didn’t have the opportunity to wait in line. DePaul is a University that prides itself in giving all students a “chance,” and in the case of this years fest, it has failed miserably. There are simple answers to the problems that are being faced but apparently DePaul (DAB) has not taken the time to think about possible scenarios and problems that may arise. Find a new venue, we have the money and our University is located in CHICAGO! Sell tickets online and limit each DePaul student to one.”

DAB should adopt a seniority system where upperclassmen get the first opportunity to purchase FEST tickets. Just like enrolling for classes, allowing upperclassman to register first, this makes sense. It’s not that underclassmen don’t deserve the chance to enjoy FEST it’s just that they have a few more years ahead of them to do it. Making these changes would enhance the student experience by ensuring that all students get to experience the glory of FEST at least once in during DePaul career, and that is more than fair.

This is not an attack on freshman students, but rather on students who buy tickets just to sell them, or try to get all of their friends from different schools in, resulting in a lost opportunity for DePaul students.

Seniors should have the first chance at tickets. I realize that this puts freshman at a disadvantage, but they will have their time will come.

It is simply not right that seniors need to search up and down Craigslist for FEST tickets for almost ten times their face value, because they were maybe at an internship or job when they went on sale at 10 a.m.

That being said, I’m just a senior who wants to attend their last FEST at DePaul. Give us our last moment of glory here.