My parents and I had a huge argument: What is acceptable dress for a college day? Help me!?

I'm going to an Honor's Day Scholarship Competition this Saturday with my parents. I received an email telling me about it and it mentioned that you should dress nice. The exact words are, "Though student dress will be varied, we suggest professional attire." I took this sentence to mean, don't wear sweatpants or old jeans; look presentable. I suggested that I wear nice, dark skinny jeans with boots and a nice top with a jacket. However, my parents insist that I wear a black pencil skirt or dress pants. I don't want to wear either because I look horrible in my pencil skirt and I don't have time to go and buy a pair of dress pants I will actually look good in. I'm also afraid that if i dress that nice I'll end up being way overdressed compared to everyone else there (there should be quite a few people there). Please tell me what you consider an acceptable outfit for this occasion to be, and if I really should dress nicer than what I want to.