All-Star Does Your Gym Offer Special Payment Plans?

[Getyourcheeron]

Cheer can be really expensive with gym, music, uniform, competition and travel fees, going from the low to mid thousands. Does your gym offer payment plans/fundraisers? Because I know not everybody can just shell out 200 bucks every month for cheer. And i'm trying to look for new ways to pay for cheer next season! Any ideas/comments?

 

[CheerBank]

Our gym offered a discount if you paid in full for the season; a smaller discount if you paid it in 3 payments; or a regular 10 payment option. This included everything but the uniform and mandatory clothing.
There are a lot of great fundraisers out there but usually the parents organize them on their own. The first gym we went to would keep 50% of the fundraising which I thought was shady and pretty much illegal, but they somehow managed to get away with it (I did minimal fundraising because why would I want to give them more money?)

 

[L5cheermom]

We have done just about every fundraiser that you can imagine. Probably the most organized is the relationship that our booster club has with Centerplate, the food service provider at the area convention center. Our booster club works the food vending area and other concessions for commission that is divided among those who work. There are several people who pay for cheerleading this way. You can make as little as $30 a night working a small hockey event to $100 or more working a large concert. The people who do it regularly have a good time doing it for the most part. Perhaps you could contact your local events centers and see if they have similar arrangements for booster clubs. If your gym doesn't already have one you may need to establish an official not for profit booster club because these organizations may consider these charitable contributions for tax purposes.

 

[12stepCheermom]

L5cheermom that's what a bunch of our parents are doing all weekend, working the Charlotte motor speedway in the skyboxes for the coca cola 600. We also have events at timewarner cable arena and the wells Fargo golf championship. According to our parent assoc pres, parents working those events earned over 25k last year that they could use for any expenses.

Our gym will discount if you pay in full up front, or it will split competition fees, choreography, music etc into three smaller segments paid through the year. Uniforms you pay half at the fitting and half when they are ordered (about a month apart but it spans across a pay period).

 

[UEAcheerchick]

My gym offers a sibling discount, a high school discount, and a loyalty discount. If you cheer in high school you only pay like $140 a month or something like that and the loyalty discount is if you've been with the team for 4 seasons or more you get $25 off a month. The way that I lower my cost is I work with the minis team so they give me a discount. : )

 

[kaliangel01]

My Cheer gym also does alot of fndraising at local events. MOst people make money working charger games and other local events doing concession stands. Last year I had a great type working concession stand s for the disney on ice. She moved up a level so the price went up , so i will work more.

 

[Eyes On The Prize]

When I cheered, both of my gyms had food stands at the Carrier Dome (Syracuse University's Sports Center) that you could work. My last gym also had a stand at our local Minor League Baseball teams stadium. I loved working there cuz I was around some of my team mates but you also got to know the parents very well, which you don't get to really do at competitions or practices. My last one and a half years of cheer, I fundraised ALL of my gym expenses (tuition, gym fees, practice uniform fees, competition fees, make up fees, warm ups/ clothing, etc) plus more which I got back after I aged out. This was on top of doing 2 teams and school things and getting ready for college. My parents only had to pay for travel fees for the comps b/c that wasn't through the gym. To say only parents can pay for cheer is false. I think, once their old enough, the cheerleaders should be responsible for contributing some of their time to paying for their sport. It's very possible to do if your gym has these options for fundraising.

 

[BuegeSmalls]

The team that I was on for a day (lol) took money off your monthly tuition for every person you recruited to sign up for a tumbling class, camp or joined a team. The different classes and stuff depended on how much you got. So the more expensive the class the person signed up for the more money you got off your tuition.

 

[Trolldance]

The gym we are soon to start out has a sibling discount. We have 3 so I believe it is 10% off the 2nd and 20% off the 3rd. I've seen some gyms out there that are 50% off for child #2 and the 3rd child is free. Not sure how they manage that, but it would be nice.

 

[newcheerdad]

We do a lot of the same things mentioned above:

-there's a 5% discount if you pay in full
-there's a sibling discount; not sure what it is but I think it's been 5-10% in the past
-there's tuition assistance available through our booster club to low-income families as well as United Way assistance (although I think the United Way assistance doesn't cover all-stars, just tumbling classes)
-there are numerous opportunities to get breaks on tuition by doing work at the gym (cleaning crew, etc.)
-we put on a competition every year and if you work the competition you get money in your booster account
-we do the convention center/arena/baseball stadium deals where the pay goes right into your booster account
-we have a million paper fundraisers going on as well as scrip programs with local stores
-we also have a sponsorship program, where you can solicit donations from local business to help defray the cost of cheer (and I believe those donations are tax-deductible)

I guess the best way to find out how to save money on cheer is to ask your owner! In my experience, most gym owners want kids in the door and will work with you to allow your kid to cheer without causing you to go bankrupt.

 

[FamUsM0m]

FAME offers sibling discounts too. (unless the sibling is a male or a tiny tot because they are already discounted)
We get a discount on uniform if we purchase before May 1. (early bird special)
We also have a booster club which you have to apply to be a member. They only take up to 60 people per quarter. We have a set number of events we have to work each quarter. We work at sporting events such as Norfolk Tides (minor leage team for Baltimore Orioles) and Norfolk Admirals (ice hockey) we do their concession stands and beer portables. We also work at Ntelos Pavilion Harbor Center for concerts such as Phish and Janet Jackson (those two were my favorites to work We work at beach events for music festivals and art shows...whatever happens to be going on at the oceanfront. We get a percentage of all sales plus donations. All proceeds are divided amongst everyone in the group. We get a payout every quarter. One year I believe I only had to payout my first month tuition plus uniform and $88 dollars at the end of the season. The rest was paid by FAB. It's hard work but definitely worth it.

 

[FamUsM0m]

FAME offers sibling discounts too. (unless the sibling is a male or a tiny tot because they are already discounted)
We get a discount on uniform if we purchase before May 1. (early bird special)
We also have a booster club which you have to apply to be a member. They only take up to 60 people per quarter. We have a set number of events we have to work each quarter. We work at sporting events such as Norfolk Tides (minor leage team for Baltimore Orioles) and Norfolk Admirals (ice hockey) we do their concession stands and beer portables. We also work at Ntelos Pavilion Harbor Center for concerts such as Phish and Janet Jackson (those two were my favorites to work We work at beach events for music festivals and art shows...whatever happens to be going on at the oceanfront. We get a percentage of all sales plus donations. All proceeds are divided amongst everyone in the group. We get a payout every quarter. One year I believe I only had to payout my first month tuition plus uniform and $88 dollars at the end of the season. The rest was paid by FAB. It's hard work but definitely worth it.

Oh yeah...Jane's Addiction and Justin Beiber were fun too!

 

[CoachMandiCF]

My gym offers discounts if you pay in full by June and then another smaller discount if you pay in full for the year by July. I believe it's 30% off the yearly cost (last year's prices) if you pay in full by June 1 and then 15% if you pay in full by July 1. We also have a boosters and our parents work at the Nissan Pavilion at the concerts and make some amazing money!! Some of the families have all of their kids (ages 16+) and spouses/significant others work too so they can double/triple their money! We have fundraisers (usually 2-3 per month). Most of our parents don't have to pay a dime out of pocket. We also offer referral incentives - if you bring in 5 people to the gym you are free for the year, etc. The kids and parents get rewards for it

 

[angie]

My gym does that if you get 10 new people for the season you get the entire year free you just have to pay for competition/uniform/extras. They also cut down the price for boys joining and sibling discounts and if your a crossover you only have to pay for one team and only 50$ more for choreography

 

[Cheerlegal]

Not sure if Twisters offers a discount if you pay in full up front, but I do know that there is a sibling discount....

A LOT of us parents fundraise out the waazoo to pay tuition, uniforms, competition fees etc... Many work events such as Orioles, Capitols, Navy and Ravens games, as well as concerts at Jiffy Lube Live~Nissan Pavillion.... Our booster club also does 1-2 fundraisers a month... Joe Corbies; candy boxes; entertainement books; gift wrapping stand at arundel mills for chirstmas season etc.. so everyone who wants to can fundraise for their child to participate at Twisters....