On Jan. 20, 2009, President-elect Barack Obama will be sworn in as the first black president of the United States, and people across the nation are doing everything they can to witness it.

That might not be easy or cheap, though.

Lee Green, professor of business and economics, said people have been scalping tickets to the inauguration as well as raising prices for hotel rooms and airplane tickets to Washington, D.C.

Green, who is taking a group of students to Washington, D.C., and to the inauguration for an interterm class, said tickets to the inauguration are free and can be obtained through local Congress people.

“They’re really selling something that’s not even intended to be sold,” Green said.

He said many of the people selling tickets aren’t even sure they will be able to obtain them to sell and that the whole thing is mostly a scam.

“I hope that people who are buying them online know there’s no guarantee,” Green said.

Senior Hali Jewell isn’t sure if she will go to the inauguration, but she would really like to see it and has checked out prices for plane tickets and hotel rooms in the area.

“It’s history in the making, and I’d just really like to be a part of it,” she said.

Jewell said she hasn’t been able to find any plane tickets cheaper than $350, which is for flights that make more than two stops on the way. She’s thinking of driving and staying with family in the area to lower the cost of the trip.

Green said he made flight and lodging reservations last spring.

“Right now, it’s virtually impossible to find lodging anywhere in D.C.,” he said.

Junior Kendra Hanson, who is going on the interterm trip, heard about the trip before she came to Baker and has been looking forward to it ever since, even though Obama isn’t the candidate she wanted to be sworn in.

“I’m going to be there when the first black president is sworn in,” Hanson said.

She said she feels lucky she decided to go on the trip, which costs about $1,650, including airfare and lodging, but said it seemed expensive for college students at first. Since signing up for the trip, she has heard of hotel rooms going for $700 a night.

“Now $1,650 looks like a pretty good deal,” Hanson said.

Hanson thinks something should be done about scalping tickets to the event, and agrees with Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi that selling these tickets should be illegal because of the nature of the event.

“It’s something that shouldn’t be only for the wealthy to attend,” Hanson said.