Prom has always been more about showing off your hot shoes and hot boyfriend than slow dancing with your one true love, so it makes sense that the ultimate American teen rite of passage is becoming more about social status and “personal expression” (read: Facebook photo ops) than ever before. But it’s especially so for teenagers from low-income homes.

USA Today reports that families are now spending an average of $1,078 on the event, and we’re not even talking about the kinds of families that encourage their kids go on MTV’s My Super Sweet 16. Actually, those families spend less than parents in lower income brackets: according to a Visa phone survey, families that make between $20,000 and $29,999 a year will spend more than $2,600, twice the national average, while wealthier families plan to spend between $700 and $1,000 on clothing, accessories, grooming, dinner, and transportation.