My kids attended a rural public high school in Vermont. There were NO fees required for ANY school related extracurricular activity. My kids were on 4 different sports teams, theater productions, various bands, choruses, etc. Families have to pay for their own associated personal equipment (soccer cleats, skis, tennis rackets, instruments). I hadn’t heard of public schools charging fees to participate in school sponsored activities.
We certainly had a lot of extracurricular expenses for all the activities and lessons, etc. our kids participated in outside their school though.
The fee is $125 for a sport, drama or musical in middle or high school. But that is the MAXIMUM any student would pay, even if they participate in 3 sports or both the drama and the musical. For other activities the fee is $60, with the overall max still $125.
There are other voluntary fees for some activities, like purchasing tickets to the plays or buying non-required jackets or sweats. Many activities have a parent committee that raises money and does things like pre-activity dinners and the end of season “banquet” and senior gifts. And there were usuallya fundraiser or two.
Concert choir had tuxes for the boys, but we bought a tux shirt. They seemd to have purchased dresses for the girls recently, but honestly they are not flattering on most of the girls so having your own dress may have been a better bet.
There were definitely costs for things like Model UN and Youth and Government for the cost of out of state buses, and food and hotel stays. There were also costs for the out of state marching band trips. But I don’t count those as “Fees” although it could keep a kid from doing those things (I probably would not have been able to participate as a HS kid due to cost for example).
I believe the soccer and swimming parents may pay more for ice or pool time.
Oh yeah, we provided refreshments for sports teams when our kids participated. That was a lot of kids but it was our pleasure. We only did it once or twice per season.
Our OH public - $330/sport. There were fees for performing arts as well ranging from $25 - 110 depending on the activity/group. There was a $660 cap/year.
My daughter’s private HS technically didn’t charge pay to play fees but we were responsible for uniform costs, fundraising, etc… When my daughter’s played volleyball we paid about $125/season. We also had costs with theater, about $50/show. Parents also provided food so for games/shows so that adds a bit.
I thought this was going to be a political thread. Ex: How much did you have to contribute to your alderman’s re-election campaign to get the permit approved?
My sons’ public high school in Oregon charges $350/sport per kid (both my kids graduated already but I just looked and the fee is still $350.) Coaches gift and meals separate.
Other activities like science bowl didn’t require a fee and were generally district or PTA supported.
We allowed our two kids to each play 2 sports a year. They were runners so cross country and track were always their choices.
My kids didn’t do theater so I have no idea on fees for those. The PTA has a budget for some of those activities- the parents there tend to donate a lot.
Kids could apply for scholarships for the sports fees if their families couldn’t afford them. When I was on the PTA board there were always a few families each term that reached out and asked and we approved without a second thought. Most families coughed up the $ though.
Wisconsin public school in a small suburb. There are fees for sports but they are reduced automatically if the student applies and is eligible for free or reduced-price lunches. There is a booster club for sports and booster-type organizations for music and theater programs, all of which do fund-raising.
Ah yes, fundraising. We were supposed to raise funds through a variety of different means–selling things that no one really wanted most of the time. Several of us asked and were able to get the school or parent/teacher org to set a number they’d like each family who could to donate and many of us preferred to make that donation instead of trying to sell things no one wanted at inflated prices.
One thing that we did sell that was nearly all profit was “discount cards.” I and some other parents would solicit businesses to be on the card for goodwill and folks who had the card would get something (e.g. buy one pretzel, get one free; buy a meal and get a free drink). The business got the goodwill of the school, the buyer of the card would get the freebie and the school got the funds from selling the cards. We made quite a bit of money that way and were able to keep the student/teacher ratios small for our school, as well as pay for art and music teachers to come into our school and teach our kids (they weren’t part of the regular school budget).
Our kids won the prize for selling the most cards one year (I think they each sold over 200 cards @ $10 apiece). They thought it was a good deal and convinced others it was as well. The cub scouts now sell a similar discount card around here.
After a few years of private nursery school, I was relieved when S1 started kindergarten at our local public school. No more tuition payments! I was shocked when his first field trip came up and we were required to pay for the bus taking the kids there. Why don’t our taxes pay for all this??
Yes, I recall every field trip, the poor teachers had to collect (and parents had to provide) varying amounts of money, often currency AND coins. There was a fund for folks whose parents couldn’t afford these sums, but the kids/families had to ask. I don’t see why it wasn’t automatically provided for all kids on free/reduced price meals at our public school (IIRC, there are a lot of kids in our state on free/reduced price meals). Kids who didn’t bring back the permission slip and/or funds had to go to the school library or spend the day with some other (often lower) grade.
It sure would have been easier (for parents AND teachers) if we parents could have just been assessed some amount and have it cover whatever field trips the school wanted the kids to participate in, having the teachers and students figure out the budget.
I also remember the book fairs and how thrilling it was to be able to order one or sometimes even more books at it! Those were about the only books we possessed that weren’t library books.
Great thread! Private school here: sports are totally free, including uniforms and team hoodies the kids get to keep. We have to buy footwear for sports. For theatre you have to pay $35 to help defray the costs of meals which are served to the kids during tech week and productions. Debate costs thousands of dollars each year, depending on how far your kid goes, but we pay for everything–hotels, flights, entry fees, meals, gas, and if we can’t volunteer to judge twice (which is a nearly 15 hour time commitment each time) we also have to pay $250 per semester to hire judges. There are no buses to take kids to local tournaments, either, so we have to organize carpools, even for tournaments that start at 2:30. (There are buses for sports, of course.) Ugh!
@Midwest67 - That cracked me up :)) Especially because I’m in a tiny (appointed) role on a commission in my small town government and my husband always asks me when I’m going to be in a position that might get me some payola or kickback
Thank you to everyone who indulged my curiosity. It’s been really interesting to read about how different it is everywhere. It’s actually far more varied than I even imagined.
Had two S in NC public HS marching band. The “assessment” was typically just under $1000. This covered buses to the competitions (they used school buses for local competitions, but needed the tour buses for longer distance travel), housing, if needed, and food. All meals were supplied when on a band trip. The cost for Winterguard was similar. The band covered families who couldn’t afford. There were lots of fundraisers, including selling things, discount books, and gift wrapping during the holidays. Many families liked the ‘time for money’ opportunities, in which people would work at local college games taking tickets, and ushering or working food and drink booths at local events. You would earn some amount of money per hour, which went to your assessment.
Large public HS in Las Vegas. 30% of students on free or reduced lunch. No payment required, but everyone was expected to participate in fundraising activities.
Music, theater, and sports programs usually had strong parent organizations that tried to make sure no one chose not to participate for financial reasons.
Our son’s private school cost $52K/year. We didn’t pay an additional amount for sports, but they were hardly “free.” Baked into the cost of room and board would be a more apt description.
My D was in a private HS in CA. There were no additional fees to participate in team sports or in-school arts activities like theater, band, or chorus that were either arts electives or PE or that were considered club activities (e.g., Mock Trial, Model UN). Out of town competitions and optional field trips were pay-to-play, although there was funding for some of the competitions that came out of that activity’s budget.
For mandatory field trips or school-wide events (prom, senior dinner), students on FA were accorded the same percentage of their FA award toward the cost of the event, so, for example, if FA covered 75% of a student’s tuition, it would also cover 75% of the cost of a school event). If FA was requested for optional trips (e.g., spring break travel trips or community service trips), it was done on a case-by-case basis.
Public schools functioned similarly. Field trips cost $$, but, to the best of my knowledge, there is no fee to participate in team sports and arts activities.
In both public and private schools, food donations and potlucks are the norm and parents are sometimes asked for contribute money for dinner during theater tech week, etc.
