shostahoosier Posted March 14, 2007 Share Posted March 14, 2007 I've stated this many times, but I'll do it again:My daughter is doing a six-day engineering camp at KU this summer for $350 and a 5-day space camp at Cape Canaveral for $1,500. Eleven days for $1,850. My son gets (99) days of winter camps, spring training, and tour for $1,875. My daughter's activities are $168.18 per day. My son's is $18.94 per day. Tell me again how drum corps is so ridiculously expensive? I can barely feed him for less than $19 per day at home!! And he get a brand-new King mello to play, uniform, shoes, world-class music instruction, about 14,000 miles of travel, he gets to perform in some of the greatest stadiums in the country, etc., etc. Its great that you send your kids to summer camps...I wish there were more parents like you...but I had to pay all of my corps costs on my own (and I know there are many in the same boat I was) including traveling to camps and buying things on tour. Drum Corps IS expensive. $2000 is $2000. I agree with you...it IS a deal for travel, instruction, performance, etc....but thats still a lot of money. If someone offered me a shining, brand new 2008 Mercedes for $3000...that would be a heck of a deal...but that wouldnt make it cheap...at least not for me. If you dont have the money you dont. And from what I hear...there are more have nots then those who can afford to take a summer off and tour. It took me months of working and saving just to be able to pay the $640 that it cost me to march a Div III corps in the mid 90s. Marching open class the next summer was more then that and created an even bigger headache. I just SHRIEK thinking of paying $2000. Thats half of what tuition costs for some public schools. Also, the measurable price of drum corps isnt just about the fees...what about the money NOT made while marching? Why is it that Sr. Corps have managed to keep their fees down, but Jr. Corps fees are rising...yes...RIDICULOUSLY!!! Would I replace any of the experience for any amount of money? NO WAY! But could I afford to get that experience now? Thats an even bigger no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kansasDC Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Why is it that Sr. Corps have managed to keep their fees down, but Jr. Corps fees are rising...yes...RIDICULOUSLY!!! Uhhhh, how much time do Seniors spend on the road? How many vehicle miles do they have to pay fuel for? How many meals do they make for their members each summer? How many days and nights do they have for spring training? There is absolutely no comparison in the numbers. As I stated, my son will be fed, transported, housed, etc. for a total of (99) days this year. That's $18.94/day. As I stated, I can barely feed him at home for that amount! If we go out to Applebees for dinner, the total with tip is close to that per person just for one meal. He gets four meals a day. What is your grocery bill per week? Bet it is at least $100 per week. His total tour fee comes to $132.58 per week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shostahoosier Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 (edited) Uhhhh, how much time do Seniors spend on the road? How many vehicle miles do they have to pay fuel for? How many meals do they make for their members each summer? How many days and nights do they have for spring training? There is absolutely no comparison in the numbers. As I stated, my son will be fed, transported, housed, etc. for a total of (99) days this year. That's $18.94/day. As I stated, I can barely feed him at home for that amount! If we go out to Applebees for dinner, the total with tip is close to that per person just for one meal. He gets four meals a day. What is your grocery bill per week? Bet it is at least $100 per week. His total tour fee comes to $132.58 per week. 1. My grocery bill IS less then $100 a week...and I live in Chicago. 2. Maybe touring so much is part of the problem. Maybe corps tour too much. 3. As the rest of my post said...I dont argue that corps IS A DEAL...my point is that corps fees are rising faster then inflation...and with the price being as high as it is right now...for a lot of kids out there...money for dues will be hard to come by. Not trying to start a flame war...never have been...I'm just giving my two cents. Edited March 15, 2007 by shostahoosier Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Medeabrass Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 Star of Indiana = $200 Adjusted for Inflation = $300 ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dcifan2002 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 3600 bucks...Jebus...which corps is that?Cadets. Crossmen $1570 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SkyRyder_FMM Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 1. My grocery bill IS less then $100 a week...and I live in Chicago.2. Maybe touring so much is part of the problem. Maybe corps tour too much. 3. As the rest of my post said...I dont argue that corps IS A DEAL...my point is that corps fees are rising faster then inflation...and with the price being as high as it is right now...for a lot of kids out there...money for dues will be hard to come by. Not trying to start a flame war...never have been...I'm just giving my two cents. This is not a fair comparison, because the Inflation you are thinking about is across the entire economy - not just the drivers of a drum and bugle corps budgets. If you simply look at the cost of fuel alone, you can see that it is 4 times what it was in the mid to late 80s. Overall inflation has not increased to that same degree, yet fuel costs are a major contributor to a corps budget. Fees are not 4 times what they were in the mid to late 80s. Consider how corps are fed now compared to they way they were fed in the mid to late 80s. Corps now have food trucks - complete mobile kitchens, preparing food that is substantially better than corps ate back then. There is a cost associated with this - and it's a worthwhile cost. Corps should not have continued to eat the way many of them did back then. If the average corps dues are about $2,000, you are looking at 10 hours a week for 9 months in a minimum wage job to pay for it. It can be done. I pay my daughters dues, but when I marched, I paid for everything myself (starting when I was 12). It is possible to do if you are resourceful, and frankly, as other have pointed out, it's a bargain for what you get over the amount of time you spend in corps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carl306 Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I haven't read each post, but of the ones I've seen, something which seems to be completely overlooked is insurance. I'm not sure of the minimum coverage that corps must have, but I remember hearing or reading somewhere that it's around one or two million dollars? I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate, but a plan like that is a HUGE expense Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noneofyourbusiness Posted March 15, 2007 Share Posted March 15, 2007 I haven't read each post, but of the ones I've seen, something which seems to be completely overlooked is insurance. I'm not sure of the minimum coverage that corps must have, but I remember hearing or reading somewhere that it's around one or two million dollars? I'm not entirely sure if that's accurate, but a plan like that is a HUGE expense From other activities I am involved with, I do know that many school districts now require anyone using their facilities who is not a direct program of the district to have at least a $1,000,000 liability insurance policy. Can you also imagine the cost of insuring the vehicles like the trucks, buses, vans, etc.? It's amazing there are any corps left that can operate in today's economy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX 1138 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 ...I wish that more kids who come from marginal backgrounds could be able to participate. I'll argue that those kids would get more benefits from the experience than kids from good middle-class homes. Totally agree with you 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THX 1138 Posted March 16, 2007 Share Posted March 16, 2007 This is not a fair comparison, because the Inflation you are thinking about is across the entire economy - not just the drivers of a drum and bugle corps budgets. If you simply look at the cost of fuel alone, you can see that it is 4 times what it was in the mid to late 80s. Overall inflation has not increased to that same degree, yet fuel costs are a major contributor to a corps budget. Fees are not 4 times what they were in the mid to late 80s. Consider how corps are fed now compared to they way they were fed in the mid to late 80s. Corps now have food trucks - complete mobile kitchens, preparing food that is substantially better than corps ate back then. There is a cost associated with this - and it's a worthwhile cost. Corps should not have continued to eat the way many of them did back then. If the average corps dues are about $2,000, you are looking at 10 hours a week for 9 months in a minimum wage job to pay for it. It can be done. I pay my daughters dues, but when I marched, I paid for everything myself (starting when I was 12). It is possible to do if you are resourceful, and frankly, as other have pointed out, it's a bargain for what you get over the amount of time you spend in corps. It's really hard to convince some parents that the benefits of letting your child march in a DCI corps is well worth the monetary investment. College will always be there but the opportunity to march in DCI will not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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