My daughter decided to try out for the HS cheer team and made it. At the beginning, we were given a list of what was expected....along with the costs. They told us at first it would cost in the neighborhood of $685. Pretty pricey I thought, but whatever, we would figure it out. It is something she has enjoyed doing and is good at.
Anyway...she has been practicing for the past couple months. The coaches haven't been exactly great with communicating with us. Also, the cost of this program seems to have gone way past the original $685. I have added up what I have paid and what I owe in the next couple of weeks. It will be over $1100!!!! I think this is getting out of hand. In the beginning, I did mention to the coach about the costs and she kept saying it wasn't going to be high and costs would be kept to a minimum. I think this is pretty high!!! I'm not sure if I should bring this up to her, the school, or if this sounds accurate for high school cheerleading. Please help! Thanks.
That is definitely a little out of line, and my suggestion is to find out who will come up with the eventual bill and make out a payment plan. My goodness, that is a months rent or a mortgage payment.
I teach high school in Texas, and I'm good friends with the varsity cheer coach at our school. The cost sounds about right (maybe even a little low), but the communication sounds way off. If they told you $685, then it should be $685 unless they are making major explanations about why there is such a huge increase in cost. I hope you get some answers soon.
Well we are in Tx and this is my daughters first year of cheer, she is in 7th grade. Right now it is costing us about $900 for start up cost and thats middle school. We were told $500 or $600. It is way too expensive in my opinion but we figured she tried out and worked hard so since she loves it we will figure it out. :)
I think $685 is actually on the low end of what it generally costs for a high school cheerleader so consider yourself lucky (for now). My daughter was a cheerleader and the base price for uniforms, camp, poms, etc. was over $1000. Then you add in on the "optional" extras that the girls "need" throughout the rest of the year for pep rallys, extra t-shirts, sweats, games, etc. It adds up really fast! In short, the cost for your daughter to cheer at the high school level does not stop at the $685 uniform/camp fee you were told.
I was a middle school, high school and competition cheerleader and at one point I did both high school and competition cheerleading at the same time...my poor parents. That sounds like an awesome deal to be honest! I would maybe bring up some kind of fundraising options for the parents and the cheerleaders themselves as well as maybe a team (including all cheerleaders and parents which is a great team building event). We used to work all Bearcat (big collage football and basketball team in the area) as well as the Bengals consessions. We raised a lot of money and had a blast doing it. One other really fun sounding idea was a lady at my work said her daughter soccer team had their soccer players be waiters at a local resturant and all money raised for tips they kept as a team fund which was split between all memebers and they received 10% of sales during the designated hours. Maybe if you bring the coaches ideas they would be more will to listen rather than just saying it's expensive. Honestly though, they should have been honest upfront...becuase these days that's not pocket change! Good Luck and I hope your daughter enjoys it as much as I did! :)
What are the costs for?
Typically for cheerleading the girls need good shoes and they can range from $30-100 depending on the shoe. It is important to get a good shoe, so it's worth the expense.
Cheer camp can be expensive, I'm guessing that's the main expense?
Does she need to buy her own uniform? Some schools do, some schools don't. Uniforms are also pretty expensive, you need the skirt, the shell, the briefs and sometimes a bodysuit. They can get up in the $250 range if the coach isn't careful.
Your team should be fundraising to offset costs. Car washes, bake sales, etc.
I run an All Star cheer squad and I keep costs down. They have $30 shoes and their uniforms were under $100. We don't go to camp, so they don't have that expense. They do have the expense of the lessons and the competitions. You CAN keep costs down if you want, the coach isn't trying so I would say something to the school and ask about fundraising.
Good luck!
Count your blessings! My 15 year old daughter who will be a sophmore made the highschool dance team. It is one of the most prestigious teams in the nation. They only took 8 new girls out of the 100 that tried out. So far I have paid almost 2000.00 for all her gear, football uniforms, camps etc. You can try to bring it up to the school but it probably won't do any good. Most likely they will tell you that is the cost of cheerleading and if you don't like it your daughter can find another activity.
I have heard that cheer costs, on average $1200 a year
Unfortunately that sounds like the cost here at our local high school. I think ours is closer to $1000. My older daughter played softball and it didn't cost her anything really. Just extras like the glove, knee pads, sliding shorts, etc. Stuff we already had anyway. I have never understood why cheerleading costs so much compared to sports.
I don't have a daughter old enough for HS yet but that sounds like a lot of money to me for a school activity. Even the $685 seems high. I'm sure there are many families who can't afford that, especially in today's economy. Are there any fundraising activities that can be done to offset the cost?
