Starting in July 2025, LNL will be increasing prices in order to adjust for rising inflation, increasing equipment upkeep costs, and to facilitate the replacement of outdated equipment. This will be our first price increase in over 14 years.
For student organization that recieve an SGA budget, please take a look at pre-filled FR resources here.
When LNL last adjusted the pricing structure of our services in 2019, the cost of LNL services decreased on average. Prices were last increased in 2011, and since then, our services and equipment have dramatically changed. With our existing prices, LNL can no longer continue to afford the repair or replacement of our increasingly aging equipment. Because of this, LNL has decided to increase prices starting in July 2025.
Over the last decade, our focus has been on repairing and extending the life of our equipment, often far past the expected end-of-life. However, we are now faced with an aging inventory, and several pieces of expensive equipment will need replacement in 2-4 years. Our existing pricing structure is long outdated, and we will be unable to cover these expenses when equipment requires replacement. Our new pricing keeps our services as affordable and accessible as possible while taking these anticipated costs into account.
To be frank, we don’t take this matter lightly and we understand that the price adjustment will be significant, especially for organizers of large events. We have been working on these changes for over 2 years, pushing back the announcement many times to allow for refinement and the integration of feedback from SAO and SGA.
We are here to support all event organizers on campus with the transition to our new pricing and we don’t want the increased cost to become a barrier. For the upcoming academic year (2025-26), we’re open to offering significant discounts to alleviate budgeting challenges. For events funded by student organizations, we’ve discussed the price increase with SGA, and they are expecting an increased cost for LNL services in Funding Requests and budgets.
Above all, we’re excited to continue supporting the events that bring our community together. Please reach out to lnl@wpi.edu with any questions or requests for cost estimates. Throughout the next year, we would especially like to hear your honest feedback as we adjust to this change and continue to improve our communication and event services.
LNL charges for our services so that we are able to repair, maintain, and replace the equipment we use to provide services to campus events. LNL is entirely a volunteer organization. We do not charge for labor or our members' time.
Financially, LNL operates differently than most student organizations at WPI. We do not receive an annual budget from SGA or WPI for maintaining our event equipment.
Read more here about why we charge for event services and read more here about our projection services, which are funded differently.
Our overall goal with price changes was to make small increases for small events and more significant increases for large events with advanced technical needs.
The size and scope of large events at WPI has greatly increased over the last 4 years. As our event services increased in scope, our prices remained constant. This led to a discrepancy between the event price and the cost of maintaining new, advanced equipment.
With existing prices, the cost of our services for large events was consistently less than 10% of any external provider.
Because of this, large and technically complex events will see the largest change in our prices; however, we will still charge significantly less than an external provider would. See price comparison for details.
In addition, some production services have been adjusted to account for different equipment and new services.
Discounts and fees:
Lighting:
Sound:
Rigging:
Video:
To avoid another significant price change in the future, our prices will start adjusting annually proportionally to the CPI (Consumer Price Index) to compensate for inflation. For events funded by student organizations, SGA has indicated that inflation adjustments can be included in annual club budgeting, including inflation-based price adjustments of LNL services. Please reach out to SGA at sgatreasurer@wpi.edu with any questions regarding club budgets or Financial Requests (FRs).
LNL’s prices have not increased since 2011. We reorganized and recategorized our services in 2019, but the average cost of an event decreased. While our prices remained constant, the landscape of event production equipment has changed significantly. As equipment has digitized, it has become an order of magnitude more expensive to buy and repair.
Our buying power has decreased to a point where, broadly speaking, we’re able to maintain and repair what we have, but we can’t afford to replace equipment when it reaches the end of its life. Our new prices are based on estimates of what equipment we expect will need replacing in the next 2-4 years.
LNL services have greatly expanded since our prices last changed as we have worked to adapt our capabilities to meet the needs of WPI events.
Even with the increase, LNL’s prices are significantly lower than external providers. See price comparison for details.
LNL spends funds to maintain and repair equipment used for current services, replace equipment as it reaches end-of-life, and make incremental equipment upgrades to meet new needs of campus events. Our prices were designed to maintain the equipment needed for our current services. To keep our prices low, LNL does not charge enough to completely fund large equipment upgrades that significantly change our capabilities.
When campus events make requests beyond LNL capabilities, we often coordinate external equipment rentals. When we notice that many events are requesting the same rental equipment, we then look into purchasing similar items to avoid recurring rental costs. SGA has previously been open to LNL requesting SGA funds (FRs) to expand our capabilities. Historically, LNL has contributed by partially funding the request and asked SGA to assist with the remainder. We do not have plans to ask SGA to fund any new capabilities in our sound or lighting services in the near future.
Below is a summary of SGA FRs in the past 4 years.
In 2024, LNL requested SGA funding for 18 ETC Lonestar moving lights. Similar lights had been rented from external providers for over a year to support a variety of events with limited set-up time. The goal of this request was to reduce reoccurring costs by purchasing the equipment outright.
In 2024, LNL requested SGA funding for a new (and more durable) inflatable screen to support outdoor movies. The previous screen was not durable, had holes in it from regular usage, and did not have the option to replace worn parts. LNL did not charge student groups to use the screen, and thus requested SGA fund the replacement.
In 2023, LNL requested SGA funding for 36 wireless microphones to support WPI’s 7 annual a cappella shows and other large stage shows. These microphones had been rented from external providers for over a year before purchasing. The goal of this request was to reduce reoccurring costs by purchasing the equipment outright.
In 2021, LNL requested SGA funding for an inexpensive inflatable screen to support outdoor movies during the pandemic. LNL had been renting a screen from a local provider with limited availability at high cost-per-event. Purchasing a screen offered a good return-on-investment (ROI) and flexibility in scheduling outdoor movies.
With new pricing, LNL provides event services at around 1/4 of the cost of an external event production company or less. Please read more here about why we charge for events and how we are able to offer these prices.
In most cases, LNL can supply more equipment and personnel for events than an external service provider. We also have extensive experience with the facilities, resources, and offices involved in supporting events on campus. We’re happy to connect you with resources to make your event a success. However, external providers tend to be more flexible in terms of set-up times and may have more availability during standard working hours. Please reach out to the WPI Events Office at events@wpi.edu to discuss how LNL compares to external providers and let us know if you have any questions about how we can support your event.
Please email LNL at lnl@wpi.edu for a quote specific to your event and technical needs. Please do not budget your event with these estimates.
| Type of event | External Provider Cost (Cheapest) | LNL Event Price (Previous) |
New LNL Event Price (as of July 2025) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odeum Speech & Reception* | $1,930 | $270 14% of external cost |
$440 23% of external cost |
| Odeum Stage Performances* | $5,440 |
$465 9% of external cost |
$840 15% of external cost |
| Alden Stage Performances* | $5,440 | $640 12% of external cost |
$1,570 28% of external cost |
| Large-scale Alden Dance Party* | $7,310 | $505 7% of external cost |
$1,430 20% of external cost |
| Large speakers covering the Quad | $2,740 | $390 15% of external cost |
$460 17% of external cost |
All prices shown are estimations based on event bookings. To get a quote specific to your event and its needs, please email LNL at lnl@wpi.edu and/or contact the WPI Events Office at events@wpi.edu to get in touch with external service providers.
*Examples do not include external performers with additional needs, rentals, or “music festivals” (events with 3 or more bands).
Since 1989, LNL has provided film projection services in Fuller Perrault Hall (and before then, we provided projection services in Alden Hall and Salisbury 115). Nowadays, we provide digital, 16mm, 35mm, and 70mm film projection services for weekend movies, special events, and film screenings.
Financially speaking, projection services in the Fuller Upper Booth operate separately from the rest of the club. LNL has received funding directly from the student life fee to maintain our projectors and supporting equipment. Projection funding is separated into a different WPI Workday fund (worktag) and is not used to support LNL event services.
Read more here about LNL’s beginnings in film projection and our unique modern projection capabilities.
If your event is funded by an SGA Funding Request (FR) or budget, we suggest submitting a funding request to SGA at least 3-4 weeks before your event. SGA is expecting LNL services to be more expensive than they have been in years past.
For organizations with SGA budget line items for LNL services, an FR will be needed for each event with an increased price. To make SGA Funding Requests (FRs) for budgeted events as easy as possible, we created a template form response, breakdown spreadsheet, and presentation with details prefilled based on SGA’s templates.
If you have any questions about funding requests, budgets, or any other SGA financial matters, please email the SGA treasurer at sgatreasurer@wpi.edu.
If you would like to learn more about this pricing change, why we charge for event services, and how we spend our funds, please read more here.
If you’d like a price estimate based on a previous event request, please email LNL at lnl@wpi.edu; price estimates can be given with no date and make no promises of our availability.
For a small event quote, please email LNL at lnl@wpi.edu more than 2 weeks in advance, and for a large event quote, 6 weeks in advance. We need a date, location, and event specifics to provide a quote (and SGA informed us that they would generally like to see a quote before approving an FR).
Please reach out to us via email at lnl@wpi.edu. We’re happy to chat about options for your next event and discuss any feedback.