Summer Camp Expenses

[yknot]

52 minutes ago, skeptic said:

Yep, every year we see sticker shock discussed and screamed about relating to the cost of summer camp.  Compare it to most other group type camps and it is a bargain.  If you took the family to an amusement park for one day you would pay close to half that amount.  experience.

 

Scout camp isn't cheaper when you have to take time off to volunteer to help staff the camp. I'm self employed, so that's a big expense right there. The group camps around here are more, but they offer a whole lot more. The draw for scout camp isn't that it's cheaper, it's that you get to spend a week with friends. 

[MikeS72]

8 hours ago, InquisitiveScouter said:

Go to camp locally with your kids as part of a Provisional Troop (is that the Maverick program you were talking about??), with you "volunteering" as the Provisional Troop Leadership.  

Every camp we have attended in recent years offers both a leader discount and gives 2 free leader slots based on the number of registered Scouts.  Most are for having at least 5 registered, with additional free slots available for larger units.  We take the total number of adults attending and subtract the free slots from the total adult fees, divide by the number of adults, and that is what we pay.  Some years we have reimbursed leaders for gas costs, other years we have chosen to drive without being reimbursed to keep the per Scout cost down.

As for attending as part of a provisional unit, every camp I have ever attended offers provisional units, which are staffed by paid camp staff, not volunteer parents.  So allow parents to attend (Woodruff Scout Reservation allows parents to attend with their provisional Scouts, at $155 per adult; our local camp discourages parents but will allow them based on medical conditions but houses them away from the provisional area).  You could register your son and daughter, along with your wife and yourself at your local camp as a unit of 2 & 2 and share a campsite with another unit.  (unless you can fill a campsite, or come close to filling it, you will usually share that campsite anyway)  

Here is hoping you are able to come up with a way to make this work for your Scouts.

[5thGenTexan]

So.,..,,.   Our GT was going to try to coordinate with the Boy troop and go to the same Summer Camp because siblings and adult leaders, etc.  The Boy Troop still hasn't gotten it together to even get a firm week or location.  The GT tonight decided to go to a Council Camp 3 hours away.  Scouts are $315 and adults $190 with teo free adults.  

[T2Eagle]

That sounds much more reasonable.  Hope the other troop makes a similarly reasonable choice, even if it's not the same camp.

[SiouxRanger]

On 1/3/2022 at 10:57 PM, Eagle1993 said:

our Troop does not charge adult leaders to attend summer camp.

I have always paid full price for my attendance at summer camp not being interested in scouts and their families paying my way.  And I am self-employed, and the sole income producer in my business, and it costs me not only the camp fee, but also all my office overhead, and loss of all billable time for a week. About $5,000 a week.

[SiouxRanger]

Having 3 sons and having attended at least half their summer camps for the full week, and the rest for half a week, and 4 Philmont treks, Scouting is not inexpensive. It is a very expensive program and requiring a huge weekly time commitment certainly if one gets drawn into District or Council level work.

I grew up in the program having an older brother who earned Eagle and went on a Philmont trek.  Scouting was all I wanted to be involved in, and wanted my sons to participate in, and I participated with them-virtually every campout but 2 or 3.

I did not watch them from the stands for an hour as a spectator, I sat on a stump in the rain and shared their experiences and taught them how to cope as a participant and mentor.

It was clear that the time allotted to me, as a parent, to "pour myself into them" was limited and that the best place to do that was by involving them in Scouting and by me participating fully in their activities.  And I did. Not hovering, but there, mostly at a distance, but there were many "Teachable Moments" which I used.  Perhaps annoyingly so, but not burdensomely so.

One Eagle Scout in his speech at his Eagle Court of Honor mentioned that "Mr. SiouxRanger would always talk to us about history, scout skills, nature-birds, plants, and knots...during our rides to campouts, and such, and how it was tiring.

Well, perhaps.

Let the record reflect that that Eagle Scout got to about 7 months before 18 showing no interest in attaining Eagle, and was missing a number of merit badges not having made progress for half a year. At one troop meeting he announced that he wanted to earn Eagle. "Well, you need to call me and make an appointment and we will work through the merit badges, but I am not calling you to push or cajole. And he did call, and he worked diligently and he earned his Eagle. Every Sunday for months we worked for 3 or 4 hours. A scout of a single parent family of mixed race.  No one was in his corner but me.

I don't regret a cent of cost or a minute not spent anywhere else where I would not be with my sons and mentoring them and their friends.

Isn't this what Scouting is about?

 

[qwazse]

One time I missed the sons’ summer camp to earn a couple grand instead. Hated every minute of it.

[Oldscout448]

I missed a dozen summer camps with my sons because I couldn't afford to send both of us while losing a weeks pay.  Sometimes I managed to make it to the closing campfie.

[Eagle94-A1]

I've had to miss a few summer camps because my work would not allow me to take off, despite having the time. One summer I was fortunate in that the camp was 30 minutes away from work, and I was able to commute to and from camp. The one that irked me was when I found out that one of my coworkers asked for  second week off at the last minute and got it. When I asked for a second week, to go to summer camp, I was told no. It worked out in the end: I had to take 8 weeks off for surgery and recovery.

I am at a new job, and I do not have a lot of vacation time, especially since there are 2 weeks, 1 in summer and 1 in winter, where the job shuts down and vacation is mandatory. So my troop takes summer camp that week now.

[Jameson76]

Moving to remote work has helped with vacation / time off

Setup a hotspot and work away in the morning while the Scouts are out and about.  We also advised that if they need something, to please come over and quietly asked as some of us may be working.  Most of our Scouts understand the remote work process.

When we had our own camp in 2020 the price was about 30% of the council camp costs.  Of course no staff (volunteer leaders) and some parents did not seek reimbursement when they provided group meals.  That being said, it was a lot of work.

Camps can be pricey, but if your Scout is there, think of the food costs savings at home.

[Anj]

I am also at a troop in Texas and we alternate near & far camps.  One of the things we look at is total cost of the camp (fees, rentals, gas $, shirts, etc) and total it up.  When they boys have asked for an expensive camp - we total up the cost & they have to plan to fundraise as a unit to get the group costs down to a reasonable level.  One thing I have seen is that sometimes you have a group of parents who are willing to write a check for a high dollar adventure (which is fine), but as their scouts move through the program, the new scout families coming in might not feel the same way, and the change needs to be discussed openly.  I consider it a good teachable moment for the scouts.  So maybe you plan to do the expensive "dream" camp/trip and start saving money & fundraising towards that, but in the meantime, they pick a more affordable camp.

[gpurlee]

Welcome to the forum Anj

[5thGenTexan]

Summer Camp is almost paid for, for my two Scouts.  As I said above it was $315.  Our Council offers an incentive through popcorn... if you sell $250 then you get $100 credit for a council summer camp.  We did that.  So, only $215 each for my kids.  With the free adults, we are just going to dive the adult total out among us all and have to pay a lower amount.  I think there was a $15 fee here and there for a couple of MBs.

 

 

[InquisitiveScouter]

Camp here in Northeast is $485 per head, plus a $50 round-trip bus ride, plus supplies fees for certain MBs

[Jameson76]

Southeast - council camp is $350 for the week / $360 out of council.  Includes most MB fees and off site whitewater rafting