[mwilbur]

Our team charges students $100 team dues each year, payable by the beginning of November. The dues cover the cost of the team uniform -- 3 T-shirts and our rally towel -- and the field trip costs for the Virginia Regional, which we consider to be our "home" regional. The team dues started during the first few years of our team and were instituted because we had students that would come all fall, go through the team-provided training and work their way onto one of the subteams, then disappear in January. This put the team in a bad position because we didn't necessarily have the proper skill mix. The dues were instituted so that the students and their families became more invested in the team (dues are non-refundable if they drop out) so that we could minimize the number of team members who suddenly disappeared. This seemed to work well for us, as the number of students dropping out dropped sharply after the dues were required. Over the last few years we have had much less of a problem with drop outs than in the early going, but the dues have persisted because it helps with an early infusion of cash into the accounts.

I will stress that our team is big on "inclusiveness, not exclusiveness," so students unable to pay due to family financial hardship are routinely provided a "scholarship" by the team to cover costs.