Poor Economy Forcing Pay To Play At Public Schools

• Tweet
• Email

Pay to play, as it is commonly called, is not new. But the number of public schools that impose it is growing, and with the nation’s economic downturn showing no signs of ending soon, many high school athletes aren’t getting a chance to participate in team sports.

According to an article that appeared in USA Today in July 2004, pay to play programs began in the 1970s and grew in the ’80s and ’90s. Scott Smith, assistant professor for sports management at Central Michigan University says “Now, as education budgets shrink, more and more schools are trying them.”

Smith studied the issue of how much participation rates fall at schools charging user fees.”When the fees are small, $50 or $100, participation rates don’t go down much,” he says. “When fees are high, more than $300, they drop noticeably.”

A recent report on Lou Dobbs Tonight found pay to play user fees have increased over the past five years. Some public schools charge as little as $150 while others have fees reaching $1900.

To offset the lack of funding many high school athletic programs face, local businesses have donated thousands of dollars to keep football teams, bands and other extra curricular activities from being eliminated.

Take a few minutes to watch this video clip of the report that aired on Lou Dobbs tonight.