Where O Where Are the Students Lurking?

I was on a panel this morning, ostensibly about (I think) how to get less-recognized film out to a greater audience. As I looked at the audience, I realized very few students were in attendance, even though the event was being held at a big university. And, thinking on it, a small percentage of the audience at all the events have been students.

So what gives, y'all? When I was a student, I wiled away all the hours I should have been in class at the movies, so I am not sure what's at play here.

I asked Allison Heim, a junior who braved the entire panel (we were all quite long-winded and ornery; everyone had an abundance of opinions on these topics and there were a lot of us). She suggested that the tickets sell out months in advance and are prohibitively expensive for a lot of students' budgets. And, she added, the event really isn't publicized that too well to the actual students.

Um, if there are any students reading this, please enlighten the rest of us. Let us into your dirty secrets (cinematically speaking). Speak!