Students will be able to buy LouFest tickets at a third of the normal cost following a collaboration between Social Programming Board, Student Union and the organizers of LouFest.

SPB and SU announced the collaboration with the annual music festival, which will be held this year on Sept. 10 and 11 in Forest Park, on Friday. All students will also have access to a Washington University-only area on the concert grounds.

While a two-day general admission pass to the event currently costs $95, the new partnership makes a limited number of tickets available to Washington University students through SPB’s social media accounts for only $30 starting Tuesday, July 5 at 9 a.m.

In addition, the Wash. U. exclusive area at the festival will be complete with vendors, restrooms, private seating and lawn games, according to a statement released Friday.

The collaboration will be funded through SPB and SU’s general budget and aims to allow Washington University students who otherwise may not be able to experience the event a chance to go, while providing a space in the festival grounds where Washington University attendees can meet up with friends, avoid long lines and generally take a break from LouFest’s action.

“We don’t expect students to stay in the area the whole time, it’s going to be somewhere where students can have their own area and not have to wait in line to go to the bathroom or to get food,” senior and SPB President Rahool Bhimani said. “It’s mostly a place to sit down and hang out with your friends for a little while in between acts.”

Although SPB and SU have worked with LouFest in a limited capacity in years past, this collaboration is the most significant partnership between the groups in recent memory.

“SPB has been working for a while on expanding student opportunities to attend events in the community around campus, as you saw with some of the events last year,” SU President and senior Kenneth Sng said. “So I think LouFest is really a natural extension of that, and this will make the festival much more accessible to students.”

Bhimani said he believes that offering tickets at such a low price may enable some students to attend who would otherwise be unable to do so.

“We’re excited to offer an option that will be less cost prohibitive to people [than normal ticket prices],” he said. “A lot of people might not go to LouFest because it’s expensive, so this is a way to allow those people to interact with the St. Louis community in the same way as everyone else at less than a third of the price.”

Tickets will be sold on a first-come, first-serve basis through a LouFest designed website beginning Tuesday, when SPB’s various social media accounts will release links to the site. Initially, at least 100 discounted tickets will be available, with the possibility of more at a later date depending on interest levels.

Although many will be able to attend the festival at a discounted rate, many have already purchased their tickets–almost all costing more than $30.

“There isn’t going to be any kind of reimbursement plan for people who bought tickets before this was announced,” Bhimani said. “I actually bought tickets before this plan was in place, so I certainly get that it might be unfortunate for people who jumped on the opportunity to buy tickets earlier, but this is really focused on getting people to engage with the St. Louis community and attend this event who otherwise might not have.”