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Eagle Scout Application Filing Fee


hikeoholic

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OFFICIAL NEWS FLASH!

My District Advancement Chair just called me to let me know that this motion has been officially DROPPED. Most districts never even heard about it, which is good seeing how short-lived the proposal was. Some people just jumped the gun though. In any case, the matter has been resolved, and they are exploring different alternatives. It seems our Friends of Scouting numbers kind of plummeted this year, which caused the need to look at new revenues - but luckily this idea was killed before it ever took off. 

So there we go! There are no Eagle application fees happening in the Orange County Council as of a few hours ago. :cool:

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Mine too, I just barely got it - looks like they will be adding a $12 "insurance fee" to the $33 registration fee. I think that's much smarter - still regrettable that we have to charge more, but sports groups and SAT prep classes charge FAR more than Scouting does, and we deliver just as much content to the kids in our programs. It's much better than punishing our top achievers with a pointless fee, that's for sure.

Edited by The Latin Scot
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18 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

as of now, they are officially only assessing the possibility of charging such a fee which,

Perhaps share with them that a fee increase will be easier to stomach if it is spread out over every scout as eluded to in my "$2.80" comparison instead of concentrated on such a small and select group of exceptional scouts.

Heck, they could probably even just jack up the price of merit badges by $.050 and still generate the same amount of revenue.

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2 hours ago, Hawkwin said:

Perhaps share with them that a fee increase will be easier to stomach if it is spread out over every scout as eluded to in my "$2.80" comparison instead of concentrated on such a small and select group of exceptional scouts.

Heck, they could probably even just jack up the price of merit badges by $.050 and still generate the same amount of revenue.

Well, hence the Council's decision to add a $12 insurance fee to every participant's registration, starting with new members this year, and all members in 2019. I know there will still be angry voices complaining, but considering it's still only $45 per year, I think that's a fair alternative. Certainly preferable to charging the one group of boys we most want to keep!

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19 hours ago, The Latin Scot said:

Well, hence the Council's decision to add a $12 insurance fee to every participant's registration, starting with new members this year, and all members in 2019. I know there will still be angry voices complaining, but considering it's still only $45 per year, I think that's a fair alternative. Certainly preferable to charging the one group of boys we most want to keep!

The one group of youth who I most want to keep are the ones who, for what they save by not registering, go hiking and camping independently with their mates.

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On 1/24/2018 at 7:38 PM, The Latin Scot said:

Mine too, I just barely got it - looks like they will be adding a $12 "insurance fee" to the $33 registration fee. I think that's much smarter - still regrettable that we have to charge more, but sports groups and SAT prep classes charge FAR more than Scouting does, and we deliver just as much content to the kids in our programs. It's much better than punishing our top achievers with a pointless fee, that's for sure.

What is the “$12 insurance fee”? Insurance is already in the fees National charges (and is why annual dues went up yet again). Is this a Council insurance policy, and if so, what does it cover?

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29 minutes ago, an_old_DC said:

What is the “$12 insurance fee”? Insurance is already in the fees National charges (and is why annual dues went up yet again). Is this a Council insurance policy, and if so, what does it cover?

Insurance that Summit Bechtel will keep getting all the money it needs....

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8 minutes ago, The Latin Scot said:

Here is a link to the full announcement:

http://www.ocbsa.org/news/2018-insurance-fee-announcement/

What insurance does your council provide that national does not?

The wording of the announcement seems odd. They spend the first part of the note discussing the rising costs of delivering service, none of which are related to insurance. It sounds more like the $12 is to defray THOSE (non-insurance) costs than anything.

Or is the council's insurance going up and they need to recover those costs? It was unclear to me.

Edited by Col. Flagg
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10 minutes ago, The Latin Scot said:

Here is a link to the full announcement:

http://www.ocbsa.org/news/2018-insurance-fee-announcement/

Not discounting the need, but curious how an increase from $11 MIN wage (employers over 25 staff in CA as of 1/18) to $13 MIN (same group in 2020) wage will cause the forecast "that council labor costs from our exempt to our seasonal employees will rise 50% by 2020"

Most seasonal staff (i.e. Summer Camp staff) are not hourly but paid weekly with housing and food included.  Also they are usually not covered by standard benefits.

Would be interested to see the math

 

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Related story: My council is changing FOS to some other acronym. Not only that but next year each unit will be sent a bill for $200/scout. They can donate the money or sell popcorn or any of the other council fundraising. So last night at our district council meeting we were talking about girls and I asked what the GS council charges each youth. They looked at me funny so I explained to them that there are all these great plans for adding girls but do they know about this charge? If money is an issue and they have to raise $200 per scout to stay in the BSA but could sign up for probably much less if they go with GS, I asked them what they think the parents will do.

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11 minutes ago, MattR said:

Related story: My council is changing FOS to some other acronym. Not only that but next year each unit will be sent a bill for $200/scout. They can donate the money or sell popcorn or any of the other council fundraising. So last night at our district council meeting we were talking about girls and I asked what the GS council charges each youth. They looked at me funny so I explained to them that there are all these great plans for adding girls but do they know about this charge? If money is an issue and they have to raise $200 per scout to stay in the BSA but could sign up for probably much less if they go with GS, I asked them what they think the parents will do.

$25 membership fee for the GSUSA vs.

$233 ($33 + $200) for BSA + your council

That sure looks like a disincentive to join BSA

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