Not to defend the prices, but Alabama isn't the only doing this.
At UT, they have partial ticket plans available that start around $100 per pair for the rights to buy tickets that are returned by the visiting team, if any are. For a minimum of $250 a pair, you get the rights to buy season tickets, but they are non-renewable from one year to the next.
In order to buy a full season package and have the right to renew them from year to year, the minimum donation is $500 for a pair (singles not available), compared to $160 at Alabama. The prices go up dramatically from there.
To paraphrase Gordon Gecko, those hillbillies and their money were lucky to get together in the first place.