With prices continuously increasing for general admission Coachella tickets, most attendees are choosing to finance their desert trip via payment plan, according to Billboard.
Coachella originally started allowing payment plans in 2009. According to Coachella’s website, this year buyers must put down an initial payment of $49.99 to reserve a ticket, along with a $41 fee for the payment plan. The plans are interest-free and remaining payments will be divided equally over the year, ending the following March.
This year, Billboard reported that 60% of festival-goers are choosing the party now, pay later method. When the payment plan was originally offered as an option, the number of fans using this option was only around 18%.
Connor Rice, a health promotion and disease prevention studies major and attendee of this year’s festival, said the price of admission can be worth it. However, he stated there is a fine line between splurging and spending too much on a festival like this.
“I think you should consider what you get out of it,” Rice said. “And if you are doing the payment plan, you’ve got to think about lasting the whole three days.”
Courtney Lemons, a psychology major and attendee, said her last-minute ticket purchase was stressful. Despite this, she said she still believed it was worth the price of admission and that payment plans can sometimes be the best option.
“My mom actually bought Coachella weekend two tickets from pre-sale over a year ago,” Lemons said. “She had 12 months to pay it off. She said that because she and my dad are going with a bunch of their friends for the weekend, it felt very manageable to pay. They paid $565 per ticket and bought eight tickets.”
Despite the high price of admission, many said payment plan options also allow for more flexibility when spending within the festival. Ava Kelly, a cinema and media studies major and Coachella weekend one attendee, said people should do their financial research before attending the expensive event.
“It’s definitely not free,” Kelly said. “Once you get here, you have to feed yourself and gas up, too. But I think the payment plans allow people a little bit more wiggle room.”
Concert and festival ticket prices have skyrocketed in recent years, in part due to ticket reselling platforms. Some view payment plans as a way to pay face value and combat scalpers, even if they don’t have all the money upfront.
“Obviously the ticket itself in on E-payment is definitely a lot of money, so I feel like the payment plan allows me to put in as much or as little money as possible without having to take out a lot of my savings in one go,” Dahlia Chavez, a communications major and attendee said.
Along with the steep price of admission, some of the additional fees once inside the festival can include concession prices of drinks, meals, and even the pricey merchandise.
“I would say $100 a day if you have transportation figured out,” Kelly said. “If you don’t have transportation figured out, it depends. I would probably say $200-$300, and it depends on how heavy your drinking is, because every drink is $20.”
Although prices continue to rise, many still look for any chance possible to see their favorite artist perform at the infamous festival. Coachella continues to attract massive crowds, with numbers reaching as high as 125,000 people each day over the course of the two weekends. Weekend two, which will feature headliners Lady Gaga, Green Day and Post Malone, begins April 18.