Cost of Being a Scout

[NJCubScouter]

The National Forests are not exactly distributed evenly around the country.  The closest National Forest to me is 3 to 4 hours away.  With gasoline now back up to $3 per gallon, and multiple vehicles making the trip, how much are you really saving as opposed to the $100 fee for a site at our council camp for the weekend?  (I'm actually guessing at the $100 part, but it's probably somewhere around there.)

There are some "free" campsites.  I believe you can still camp along the AT basically for free, and a good stretch of it is within say 90 minutes of my home.  But I don't think too many troops go backpacking every month, either.

[TMSM]

37 minutes ago, shortridge said:

Does that include food, or just site fees + transportation/gas?

That includes food, transportation, camp site. Parents and scouters eat the cost of gas.

[blw2]

without getting too deep in the weeds, the OP's numbers are ballpark close to what our troop was....except for the uniform spread over multiple years, which has already been pointed out.

Also, I think we camped just a little less.  It varied but maybe more like 9 or 10 per year at normally $20 a pop, sometimes a little less or more.  

As treasurer, I hated that it seemed like we were forever asking for more money..... we need your dues.... we need your camping fee..... ah, we still have some unpaid dues.... time to collect the deposit for summer camp... and then the fundraisers which really end up in part a way to ask for more money from parents...

[NJCubScouter]

17 minutes ago, blw2 said:

As treasurer, I hated that it seemed like we were forever asking for more money..... we need your dues.... we need your camping fee..... ah, we still have some unpaid dues.... time to collect the deposit for summer camp... and then the fundraisers which really end up in part a way to ask for more money from parents...

That's one of the reasons why my troop can never keep a good treasurer for very long, especially the part about having to ask parents multiple times to pay dues.  Right now our CC is doubling as treasurer, which is not ideal, but on the other hand he just retired so he has a little more time available than most of us.

[Wëlënakwsu]

Regarding "... starting up a unit..."  

Budget for Patrol/Troop equipment like tents, cooking utensils, axes, saws, flags, rope and all the other assorted camping & meeting supplies. 

$40 annual dues might cover awards and some replacement of equipment but not the initial outlay.  Some Chartered Organizations might fund the initial outlay... otherwise start fundraising... 

PS:  Don't forget Boy's Life... optional at least !

[Terasec]

$1000/yr sounds like a bargain for the amount of activities involved

yes can save some bucks here and there,

if a family was to try to give a kid similar outdoor exposure on their own as a family cost would be way more than $1000/yr

 

[MattR]

We also have the added $200/scout fee that is replacing FOS.

As for all that money on the campouts, if the scout is going on every campout then he's having a ton of fun and it's not an issue. If he's typical he's only going on half the campouts, so cut that number in half. On the other hand, there are high adventure trips. I always pushed for a less expensive trip. It used to be $300 but now it's more like $500. I had a lot of scouts tell me how much they appreciated that.

@David CO, makes a point in that some sports are not absurdly expensive. Also, some scouts really do need to be thrifty. I always assumed there were scouts that needed to raise all their funds.

Part of this discussion should also be about fund raising. Scouting supports that better than other activities. Cutting lawns and raking leaves are also good.

[thrifty]

2 hours ago, Saltface said:

I’m surprised how many have said they have to pay site fees in order to camp. Do your local national forests not allow primitive camping? (Or are your groups too large for dispersed camping?)

only national forest in our state is over 3 hours away so not logical.  I'm not familiar with nat. forest costs.  Are you saying it's free to camp there?

nevermind.  just saw shortridge's response that they are free if camping is available.  thx

Edited June 11, 2018 by thrifty
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[Saltface]

2 minutes ago, thrifty said:

only national forest in our state is over 3 hours away so not logical.  I'm not familiar with nat. forest costs.  Are you saying it's free to camp there?

Generally, yes. There are some improved sites that charge (normally run by a concessionaire) and certain wilderness areas that require a permit/fee. The same goes for state land.

I must be spoiled. The only campsite we have to pay for is at our council’s summer camp. 

[ParkMan]

It's funny how council's do this different ways.  Usage of our council's camps are still free.  It's a nice benefit.

FWIW - the OP's budget largely matches the personal spending in our troop too.

[HashTagScouts]

State and local parks can be an option.  It all depends on your location.  In Massachusetts, you often are not going to find more than a very small number of state parks allowing free camping, and there can be restrictions on the seasonality of when you can use them.  Group sites at state parks can be relatively reasonable, but comparable in price to most scout camps.  There are some local parks in MA that do allow scouts permits to camp, some take a bit more lead time to reserve than others.  There also private trusts that manage conservation land that may allow you use for short-term, weekend camping, and may only require a few service hours as a "fee".  Again, not sure about specifics in your location, but some web searches can get you started on identifying some options.

Also look into US Army Corps of Engineers properties that might be in your area.  Some of their facilities have official campgrounds, others may not, but may allow scout units to camp - some even have designated "Scout Areas".  If you contact the rangers for the facility, they can tell you if it is an option or not.  They may have a small nominal fee, but my experience is that most will just ask you to do some light service work (picking up trash around some of the more heavily used trails, for example).

https://www.recreation.gov/campgroundDirectoryListByAgencyID.do?contractCode=NRSO&agencyID=70902

 

[HashTagScouts]

17 minutes ago, ParkMan said:

It's funny how council's do this different ways.  Usage of our council's camps are still free.  It's a nice benefit.

FWIW - the OP's budget largely matches the personal spending in our troop too.

Our council camps are "free" for weekend tenting, cabins cost $.  And it is "free", as they charge each scout an annual service fee added onto the national fees.  It is intended to drive incentive to use the camps for weekend campouts, but then you are somewhat enslaved by fitting your schedule around district camporees, OA weekends, cub weekends, chuckwagons, etc.  I'm also not a fan that the council camps restrict using facilities (the ranges and waterfront, for example, are not permissible to be used even if you bring the trained personnel that should allow you use of them).  Heck, they don't even want us fishing there.  There's probably another thread for another day here- does your council have  programming available to you in their camps outside of summer camp weeks? 

 

Due to the limitations of what we can do in the council camps, we are generally wiling to pay to use a neighboring council camp or go a non-scout camp route to give the kids what they need for the program they are planning.

Edited June 11, 2018 by HashTagScouts

[FireStone]

4 hours ago, David CO said:

I really wish you guys would stop putting down athletics. My CO has always made an effort to have the athletes and scouts all treat each other with respect. They even have a combined awards night that includes both athletics and scouting.

But if you insist on bashing sports, you should at least get your facts straight. I was the administrator for both the sports teams and the scout troop. I know that your lopsided comparisons of the costs/benefits of scouting and athletics don't really add up.

We should focus our efforts on making all extra-curricular activities more affordable to low income families. We shouldn't be pitting one activity against another. 

 

I didn't think I was putting anything down, this is just my assessment of a cost comparison to what we most often get compared to, which is sports. 

Scouting is often viewed as the more costly activity, which I think is unfair being that we're a year-round activity. I'm not pitting anything against anything else. I just get tired of hearing about how expensive Scouting is, meanwhile families are doing other things that I believe are actually more expensive on a cost-per-month basis. 

[HashTagScouts]

3 minutes ago, FireStone said:

I didn't think I was putting anything down, this is just my assessment of a cost comparison to what we most often get compared to, which is sports. 

Scouting is often viewed as the more costly activity, which I think is unfair being that we're a year-round activity. I'm not pitting anything against anything else. I just get tired of hearing about how expensive Scouting is, meanwhile families are doing other things that I believe are actually more expensive on a cost-per-month basis. 

 

4 hours ago, David CO said:

I really wish you guys would stop putting down athletics. My CO has always made an effort to have the athletes and scouts all treat each other with respect. They even have a combined awards night that includes both athletics and scouting.

But if you insist on bashing sports, you should at least get your facts straight. I was the administrator for both the sports teams and the scout troop. I know that your lopsided comparisons of the costs/benefits of scouting and athletics don't really add up.

We should focus our efforts on making all extra-curricular activities more affordable to low income families. We shouldn't be pitting one activity against another. 

 

I wasn't intending any bashing either.  Like @FireStone I often hear the comments that 'Scouting is expensive"- but like any organized activity, there is going to be costs and the cost of a full year, all-in scouting experience doesn't feel too overly inflated when compared to what many parents are willing to spend for athletics.  For a 12 year old playing town soccer, for example, it may only cost $100 per season, but if playing two seasons, plus cost for cleats, uniform, that might be another $100.  Then, if the kid wants to go to a weekend soccer camp, that might be another $150.  Play on a club team as well, there is another $300.  It does add up, and I don't think many parents do the math to annualize what they are spending.

As others pointed out, scouting gets more expensive if you are throwing in HA activities, NYLT weeks, OA weekends, etc., but those are not going to be what every scout does. 

  

[qwazse]

I have seen that private schools like @David CO's tend to have a synergy between the balance sheets of service organizations versus band/theatre versus sports. Parents bare the brunt of expenses, facilities included, one way or another. So they want to see as many groups getting as much utility out of those facilities.

Harsh reality example: when the jr/sr high school installed in a climbing wall on the taxpayer's dime, the differential cost of Venturing was notable. I could see the calculus rolling in the kids' heads: "Why devote time and $ to mastering a skill in my crew when I can go to my school gym and do the same thing?"

Never mind that that there is no comparison between a gym used by hundreds and the number of hours of individual training and breadth of experience that a weekend on location a small group can provide, the short term differential was huge.

Suddenly, it was the boys in the adjacent district who kept pushing for cope and climbing weekends.

Now, if kids at our school had to pay even a nominal fee for "wall time" or fund-raise for more experienced trainer's, we'd see some of that interest swing back to the scouts.