Priced Out Of the Prom.

• Author: TAUBER, CHRIS
• Position: Some high school students rethink prom expenses - Brief Article

Steering clear of ever-longer limos, the cost-consciuos are finding ways to go out without going all out

For Dan Aversano, the Truckousine was the answer. With a Jacuzzi, two TVs, a VCR, a PlayStation, and room for 10, this elongated pickup he rented for his prom last spring topped the stretch Lexus the Mineola, New York, senior had taken to his junior prom. "We were looking to do something more," he says. "My dad thought it was a little ridiculous. But I have to say, it was so much fun, I wish I could do it again."

After the prom, at a country club on Long Island's North Shore, Dan and his friends took off to a seven-bedroom house with a tennis court they rented in the Hamptons, a favorite vacation spot for celebrities. Dan's share of the prom costs: $1,000.

These days, if you want to be a serious prom player, you have to lay out serious cash. Yesterday's limousines, pasta dinners, and mall dresses don't cut it anymore. Try stretch Ferraris, steaks fit for the President, and celebrity-worn designer gowns.

Though Dan's $1,000 tab was on the high end, prom costs across the country can easily approach $500. The prom is becoming a wedding, Oscar night, and state dinner all rolled into one. It's an estimated $2billion-a-year industry that snowballed along with the booming economy of the '90s. The prom theme going into the 2001 season: Bigger is better.

"Everybody's trying to outdo one another in terms of how big they're going to make the prom," says Garfield Bowen, publisher of Prom Guide. "They're starting to plan earlier. They're starting to save money a year or two before and go all out."

PUTTIN' ON THE RICH

But when does a prom get too expensive? "It already is too expensive," says Pamela Zeger, 17, of Winston Churchill High School in Potomac, Maryland. Last year, her boyfriend treated her to a $120 dinner at a Washington, D.C., steakhouse that features a photo of satisfied customer Bill Clinton. "It's a competition--who has the better limos, who has the better dresses."

Rachel Tashman, 15, of the New York City Lab School won't shy away from an all-out prom when her time comes. "What should matter most is how much fun you have, and not how much you spend," she says. "But kids who are more affluent shouldn't be afraid to have the prom experience that their resources allow them to."

Of course, some people don't want to--or can't afford to--empty their wallets. Chelsea Landon, 17, of Upper Montclair, New J. ersey, says of the 300 or so...