Children’s extra-curricular activities aren’t cheap. Parents pay for lessons, teams, clubs and sports because they believe their children will benefit from these experiences. An informal parent survey provided the typical, minimal costs of several popular activities.
· Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts: $600 per year
· High School team sport like soccer, baseball, football, tennis: $600 per season
· Club Basketball: $2,000 per season
· High School Band: $1,000 per season
· Skiing: $1,200 per season
· Club Swimming: $2,400 per year
· Cheer, martial arts, gymnastics and dance lessons $2,500 per year
· Club Ice skating and Ice Hockey: $3,000
· Private music lessons: $4,600 per year
· High School Cheer or Pom/Dance squad: $5,000 per year
If your child is involved in a sport at a competitive level (versus a recreational level) those expenses skyrocket. Competitive programs require extra funds for private lessons, specialized equipment, travel, and uniforms. Ten thousand dollars per year, or more, is common for children competing at the competitive level or playing on more than one team.
Cost of Mathnasium of Parker
Mathnasium of Parker families have several different options available. We have 5-week and 8-week summer memberships, year-round memberships on a month-to-month basis or prepaid for 4 or 6 months or longer, test prep, and private tutoring. Most of our prices ranged between $30-$35 per hour. For example, if your 5th grade child came twice a week during the 9 month, academic school year, the total cost would be about $2,890 including registration, instruction, ongoing assessment and reevaluation, all materials and help with your child's current math homework. If your 10th grader came in twice per week to work on geometry and prepare for algebra II, the 9-month school year membership would run about $3920 and that's for 135 hours of work because high schoolers come in for 90-minute sessions due to their more extensive homework load. Comparing the cost of Mathnasium to sports and other activities, Mathnasium is quite affordable.
Financial Benefits from Sports
Kids benefit from sports and activities by increased confidence, character building, sportsmanship, improved health, and great friendships. Do any of these activities have a direct bearing on their adult earning power? That’s difficult to say. Some say these skills do translate to better jobs, but the correlation is complex.
Financial Benefits from Mathnasium
Math achievement does have a direct impact on earning potential. Even students who drop out of high school earned $1.66 more per hour if they have completed geometry or algebra II than if they had dropped out having only taken pre-algebra or algebra I. Of course, doing well in high school makes getting into college and completing college easier. College does have a huge impact on earning potential.
What About Scholarships?
Sports scholarships are almost impossible to get and difficult to keep. If your child will not get recruited by a Division 1 school for their chosen sport, any scholarship they get will only be a partial scholarship. Full ride scholarships are only given to the top men in football and basketball and the top women in basketball, gymnastics, tennis, and volleyball.
Academic scholarships are easier to get and keep than athletic scholarships. Colleges and private foundations annually award $50 billion in academic scholarships versus $3 billion of athletic scholarships.
Cost of NOT Getting Academic Help
No colleges require minimum athletic abilities to graduate. Most colleges do require minimum math skills to enter. Students lacking these skills end up in expensive remedial courses.
Your Choices
Investing in our children’s well-being and future success requires choices. Constraints in time and money limit children from participating in every beneficial opportunity which arises. How you choose to invest in your child now impacts their future. We thank the many families in Parker, Lakewood, Morrison and Denver for trusting us to prepare their children for a great future.
Give us a call today if you would like to find out how we can make a positive impact on your child's future! 303-840-1184.
Outside resources referenced to write this article include:
https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=parkplace
https://www.businessinsider.com/high-school-math-performance-may-predict-your-future-salary-2013-11
https://www.businessinsider.com/how-college-impacts-earning-potential-2014-10
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/8-things-you-should-know-about-sports-scholarships/
Recommended Mathnasium of Parker articles:
Tell Your Kids Math Makes Money
The Careers of Tomorrow will Look Different
Top 5 Math Classes to Take for 21st Century Success
To Take Advantage of Emerging Opportunities Students Need Math
Get Inspired in Math by Olympians Wilma Rudolph, Jackie Joyner-Kersee and Cody Miller
I'm Never Going to Use Calculus After High School!
Is Mathematical Understanding Really Necessary?
Is Your Child “Math” Ready for College?
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