Public schools have always encountered the short stick when it comes to funding. Whether it’s the woods tech building or the gym, something is always needing to be mended or fixed. When it comes to the school’s activities, it begins to become a large price tag. This leads many clubs and sports to fundraise to help offset their share of the costs. 

School fundraisers have become a tradition over the decades. Many people like to help show their support for the students and their interests, over the last couple of years, the requirements for these have become more elaborate and extreme. 

So when does it become a burden rather than a chance to help the community? 

Many activities are starting to include fundraisers as a mandatory part of the year. This is on top of the annual dues that they have to pay each season. If someone doesn’t help, they aren’t allowed to be a part of the team. This can lead to a lot of teens having to pick activities that don’t have high fees, even if they wanted to join others. 

Numerous students take on after school jobs in order to pay the fees, when fundraising is mandatory, it tends to not help the individual’s payments. This is more cash that the teens have to find, oftentimes without a parent’s help. With having practice, work and homework on a daily basis, fundraising adds to the stress of trying to make it all fit. This could cause anyone to become overwhelmed, let alone a young person in the workforce. 

Even when students have support from their family, there’s only so much they can help. A good rule of thumb is that a teen can only reach out to extended members of their family once a year for school fundraisers. One can’t ask the same people for assistance multiple times in the year for different clubs that all have campaigns. 

Even if they are contacting people for different reasons, they can still be seen as haggling for money. Other activities even require multiple events along the year that teens have to reach out to others about. This oftentimes can put them in an awkward position with their relatives. 

Helping raise money for a shared goal can help teens connect more with their peers. But when the check writing campaigns and the bake sales become an obligation, it can take the fun out of helping out. Instead of requiring fundraising to be a part of an activity, school funding needs to be increased to offset expenses. Not only that, if each club explains the cost of the activity and any fundraising requirements before the students commits to joining, this could better allow teens to manage their finances.  Schools need to recognize that they can’t have their cake, and eat it too, funds simply need to be budgeted so that all students can have equal opportunity to participate in activities.

Contact Bridget Nye at [email protected]