Supply and demand, we’re all at least somewhat acquainted with how they work. If supply of a good is low and demand is high, the price will be high. Prices of goods affect the livelihood of consumers. We can go without some things when they get expensive, like Brussels sprouts and Nickelback VIP passes. Other things, it’s extremely difficult to forgo no matter the cost: gasoline, water and Chipotle.

But there’s one critical item to the Alabama experience that has become outrageously expensive over the past couple of years: student football tickets.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. “Ten dollars is a reasonable price for a football game for a student. It allows us to pay a small fee and make memories inside that glorious stadium that we will tell our children’s children.” Absolutely, I could not agree more.

However, though we study, work and perform constantly, tirelessly and meticulously in our studies and in our extra-curricular acticities, sometimes the alarm doesn’t go off at 6:50 a.m. on the day to buy tickets. Sometimes, we sleep through it. Sometimes, we forget to set it at all because we’re knuckleheads and miss out on the opportunity to take advantage of this gracious deal provided by our administration.

This is my story. This is the story of many students on campus.

And it is a sad story, is it not? Some have met me with cold logic, which lets the tears flow on my pillow at night. Some have met me with warm pity, which doesn’t dry my pillow full of tears at night. But no matter your disposition towards us who have forgotten, one paragraph emerges from nearly everyone when a big game comes around.

“Hey! I’m selling a lower bowl ticket for the game this weekend, and I’m looking to get $150.”

One hundred and fifty dollars is the price countless friends and strangers alike sought to gain on the Facebook ticket exchange to see Alabama face Ole Miss this year. I’m no mathematician, but that’s a 1400 percent increase from the original ticket price, and that seems like a lot.

And think of the freshmen—even while very few seem to consider them in this campus culture of ours. They are only allotted the option of three or four home games a year. If they want to be a normal student at the University, they have to pay whatever this carnivorous student market of ours creates for the remaining games.

While I certainly realize that this is not an issue exclusive to Alabama, nor to college football or sports in general, I expected more from us. Perhaps that isn’t fair. My freshman year in 2012, however, upperclassmen gave me tickets to the matches I was unable to purchase, and the only game I purchased from another student that year was a Texas A&M ticket for $20. That was a huge matchup, as you may remember that game as our only loss that championship season at the hands of the Heisman Trophy winner, Johnny Manziel.

I have friends who even have the audacity to buy a full package before the season and with the explicit intent to market these egregious markups for each and every game. While we all have financial struggles in college in varying degrees, let’s remember that we all have financial struggles in college in varying degrees. Student football tickets should not be utilized an additional source of income for students at the outrageous expense of other students.

While our economy as a nation runs on capitalism, survival of the fittest, and profit maximization, we would do well to remember that we are all part of the crowd our team needs and deserves. We have countless silos that seek to separate our unity on this campus; let’s not allow the resale of student tickets to be another crowning jewel in our division.

Will Sorrell is a senior majoring in finance. His column runs biweekly.