Hi Marie,
A little history for our group, then a suggestion that we plan to follow this coming year:
At the University of New Mexico (unmcontra.org) FolkMADS (our local folk dance org, folkmads.org) put on 8 dances in year Aug 2014 - May 2015, then we formed a student organization and put on 8 dances, the last 4 with a student band Aug 2015 - May 2016. We've had low attendance (10-30 dancers, about half students), but with returning regular dancers. We've put in a lot of energy without much growth, though the student band (http://www.clarabyom.com/rusty-tap.html) was a very positive outcome.
This coming year we plan to partner with other large student organizations and put on joint events. This will help guarantee larger dances, will help with advertising, and will get people who already know each other to dance together. I think this will increase the appeal of the dance.
We can also do more if we leverage ways to use student organization funds.