The other day, I was talking to the mother of one of kiddo’s teammates as we watched our kids play. She told me we were playing the team her daughter would have been on if they hadn’t moved and mentioned that one of the factors they took into consideration were the pay to play fees, which, at the time, were $350/sport at that school district.
I’d never really given it much thought and now I’m curious - what does your school charge? Please, this is not intended to be a debate on the merit of the fees, or how they impact families. Someone else can start a different thread if they want to discuss that. I’m looking for “just the facts.”
Here’s how things play out for us at our public school:
-Sports: $75/sport; and any group that competes such as academic quiz bowl or chess is considered a sport. Often have additional purchases required such as warm ups or $30/player for team meals (whether your kid eats them or not lol.) I’ve spent $0-$100 additional per sport.
-Robotics: $100. This is considered a special program and thus not $75.
-Performing Arts: $75++. Junior High is $75/theatre production + costume fees. In high school theatre, it’s a flat $75 + an extra $30/show. Choir and band as a class were no charge at the Junior High, but show choir was $75 + outfit ($50/boys; $125/girls). High school band and orchestra are $75 + lots of other expenses, but they also are required to do a lot of fundraising. If you are on the color guard during football season and want to continue to be on it during the winter competition season, you’ll pay the activity fee twice.
DS is in a public high school near Austin; has played two sports in high school, and two sports plus band in middle school. No pay-to-play fees for him.
Large public high school in Dallas. (Dallas ISD) There are no fees to play. Kids may pitch in for pre-game meals but it is not required. (We have a very strong athletic booster club that makes sure every kid can participate if they want to)
We are at a public school in NY and don’t pay any fees.
Now, it’s possible that some have costs for travel for long distance competitions (when Robotics has gone to Worlds, I think they may have had to pay a portion).
My kids have been in numerous academic clubs in high school and never had a fee aside from buying their lunches at Regional Science Olympiad competitions (if they didn’t bring lunch). The overnight hotel & bus were paid for even for the State level competition.
Team sweatshirts (not uniforms) are the only other thing I can think of that we paid for.
D20 plays V softball and the fee is $500 with most of the money going to bus transportation to games, etc. (technically optional but everyone seems to pay it).
D was in 2 sports and several band/choir groups while in a big public high school in the Midwest. There were no fees to participate in any of it. The only expenses were to buy appropriate shoes for the athletics, to have the band uniform cleaned at the end of marching band, and to buy the show choir costumes. She got to keep the shoes and show choir costumes (not that she ever wore them for anything else).
Large, highly ranked public school in NJ:
Varsity Soccer - $200 to the boosters to pay for new uniforms, assistant coach salaries, team pasta parties, etc.
Varsity Ice Hockey - $1500 since the school budget doesn’t cover much of the program expense. Fundraising helps reduce that individual obligation.
$200 per sport per kid. Total family contribution not to exceed 1k per year.
Then each kid is required to add/sell about $100 in raffle money for boosters fund.
No fee for robotics, it is fully funded through corporate sponsors.
Here it is $200 for sports, $100 for clubs, with a family max of $500 per year. All uniforms and performance attire are provided, except for shoes. The dresses and skirts were often old and ugly and ill-fitting because they were designed to fit a wide variety of sizes, but they matched.
Pay to play fees are illegal in California public schools. That doesn’t mean they don’t happen or aren’t couched as “strongly suggested donation” levels. There is an official statewide complaint process.
Public school in Texas. No fees to play. Choir students have to buy their performance attire, which they keep (or resell to next year’s group.) Band had to dry clean uniform a few times during the season. Color guard had to purchase their costume. Theater no fee. I’m guessing the sports teams had to furnish personal equipment (like baseball gloves) and shoes.
DS played soccer and tennis for his public high school last year. There were no real fees we had to pay but there were various fundraisers, etc that are encouraged. So far this year for soccer, I think we have paid around $300 but that includes money collected for the end of year party, presents for the coach, drinks for the boys to games, food for away trips, etc.
$0 - small public in Pennsylvania city-suburbs. Most sports do at least 1 fundraiser, but those funds generally go to underwrite costs of team swag (sweatshirts, jackets, etc.) Music programs at MS and HS do fundraisers to offset costs of extracurricular trips (band/chorus trip to NYC to see a Broadway play, for example.) Theater sells tickets, concessions and flowers at performances to underwrite cost of production. No sign up fee for any clubs, and kids are encouraged to start new clubs (i.e., after-school movie club, game club, etc.) I don’t remember if or what we paid for D to attend state Youth and Government conference as part of that club’s activities (bus and hotel costs).
For band and chorus attire, kids are asked to wear black bottoms and white tops of their choosing. Girls can wear skirts or pants.
Our public school varies by sport. Sports with little equipment need are $60 (swimming, track, wrestling, CC), sports with a little more need for equipment are $80 (soccer, tennis, gymnastics), and the rest are $100 (golf, football, basketball). These are fees to the school and then each team has their own fees for clothing (minimum of a T shirt for each team and then individual more intimate uniform items (swim suit, socks, etc.) and team social fees to pay for meals, bonding events, etc. In total we have paid about $250 per sport. Should the team be good and make it to state the fees then go out the window with required team state apparel.
Music and clubs on the other hand varied but none was more than $50. Marching band and vocal groups had reusable uniforms but concert bands had required uniforms we had to buy. A tux for guys and gown for girls. The school had a deal on the tux that we were able to get for around $250 if I remember correctly.
$200 per sport at my kids’ HS. Lacrosse was $550 plus buy your own equipment because, even though it is a varsity sport in the state league, it is not sponsored by the school and they have to rent fields. Robotics was $35 but they had to either buy their own equipment or fundraise.
Extras run the range from voluntary donation to the bagel fund for XC to a semi-mandatory $1000 minimum donation to the baseball boosters before tryouts, most of which goes to the coach at the end of the season. Kids whose families do not pay will not be chosen.
It was $850 per kid for my kids (two of them) to play lacrosse in a California public high school. The team had to pay for all transportation, ref fees, and equipment. I think that $850 included some meals and the coach’s gift, but it had to be paid to be on the team. There were fees for theater and marching band and almost every other activity too.
In Florida it is $60. When we moved there I paid $100 for a warm up suit and something else but the other kids had done a fundraiser to earn theirs. I could have said no and I’m sure they would have given her the warm up suit, which she never wore anyway. There were sign ups for meals for games, which came out to about $75 year, but those were optional. There was a booster club at about $50/yr. Coach’s gift, end of year banquet, Fall Ball…it all adds up.
For my kid in theater it was $40-50 per production, but there was a lot of sweat equity involved too, making sets and sewing costumes.
Our kids went to a private HS. As far as I remember, there were no extra fees to participate in sports. For paddling, you needed your own paddle, but D had one from the league she had been in. S was in judo and I think he was loaned a uniform because he gave it back when the season was over.
For band, boys needed a tux—that was a special deal for $100 or so, with adjustable slacks (supposed to be dry clean but we washed them in gentle cycle of machine). The instruments for band or orchestra had to be rented or purchased—those were pricey. I think the trumpet was a few hunfr d and violin was over $1000! Orchestra just needed a white top and black skirt or pants.
midwest here - sports: “suggestion” donation to booster club for sports ($40-50). Band - lots of incidentals and fundraising; nothing required. Color guard for band was on its own - around $1500/yr for costumes and winterguard competitions. Musicals - $75/kid required.
Neighboring District is crazy with it’s dance team; friend paid around $7K per year at public HS to have daughter in dance each year! Dance team at our school is around $2K. (guess which team wins state contests! and is harder to make) Our bill for activities went way down once HS started. Kids quit club sports for the most part, and that saved LOTS!