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Do School Trip Fees subsidise non-payers?
nodiscount
Posts: 631 Forumite
Hi
Just had a letter asking for £8 voluntary contribution to visit a local museum.
The museum is free but they are going via coach. Is £8 too much for such a trip? It feels like it to me and a few other parents at the school.
On a related note, do trip fees subsidise those parents who won't pay/can't be bothered or does the LA pay for them?
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Just had a letter asking for £8 voluntary contribution to visit a local museum.
The museum is free but they are going via coach. Is £8 too much for such a trip? It feels like it to me and a few other parents at the school.
On a related note, do trip fees subsidise those parents who won't pay/can't be bothered or does the LA pay for them?
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coach + liability insurance + food .. could that add up to £8?0
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how many children are going....and whats the coach hire rate...
I assume the fee is to cover the cost of the coach...they can be more expensive than you think.
Whilst the museum entry may also be free,many have donation boxes which the school may wish to contribute to...also sometimes a workshop is set up for the children this again may attract a small fee.frugal October...£41.82 of £40 food shopping spend for the 2 of us!
2017 toiletries challenge 179 out 145 in ...£18.64 spend0 -
I don't believe that the LA pays and I don't believe that the school pays. I may be wrong, but I believe that the trip needs to pay for itself.
So if the trip costs £160 in total (coach, insurance, extra staff members, etc) and there are 30 children going on the trip of whom they expect 10 won't (for whatever reason) pay then they need to charge £8 per child to cover the costs.0 -
Coaches are expensive. I remember paying £12 for a school trip five years ago, to a (free) local forest about 3 miles from the school, which many families visit on a regular basis. The cost was purely for the coach and insurance; drop off at the forest was not permitted.
At our old junior school, trips always needed to pay for themselves. Trip costs are calculated based on how many the school expect to pay, given years of experience. So if the coach costs £100 for a trip for 24 children, but years of history suggest only 20 will pay (the school will work with a percentage), then the voluntary contribution would be set at £5/head. We were also told that there is often a shortfall overall, which is covered by the PTA/monthly voluntary contributions that the school request on an ongoing basis.0 -
nodiscount wrote: »Just had a letter asking for £8 voluntary contribution to visit a local museum.
The museum is free but they are going via coach. Is £8 too much for such a trip? It feels like it to me and a few other parents at the school.
On a related note, do trip fees subsidise those parents who won't pay/can't be bothered or does the LA pay for them?
If you're concerned about the price, ask the teacher what it covers.
The voluntary contributions shouldn't be used to cover non-payers. No money comes from the LA for this kind of trip. Most schools have some kind of school fund which will be used to make up the difference. This can be an amount which is kept back from overall funding and/or the result of school fundraising events.
If too many parents refuse to pay for the trip, the school has to decide whether to cancel the trip or to use these funds to cover the expenses.0 -
nodiscount wrote: »Hi
Just had a letter asking for £8 voluntary contribution to visit a local museum.
The museum is free but they are going via coach. Is £8 too much for such a trip? It feels like it to me and a few other parents at the school.
On a related note, do trip fees subsidise those parents who won't pay/can't be bothered or does the LA pay for them?
£8 isn't too much for a trip that includes a coach, they are expensive.
The shortfall is met by the school, they usually have a small budget to cover those who cannot pay, once this runs out they can ask the PTA if they would like to contribute towards the shortfall.
If too many parents refuse to contribute the trip is likely to be cancelled altogether.Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear0 -
ExSchool Governor here. There are usually little pots of money tucked into the accounts that can be used to help top up school trips. We usually required a trip to be wholly self funding, but would use various pots to help specific families. So the school budget subsidised specific unable-to-payers.
Persistent non-payers of various sorts tended to get a personal invite for a chat, which established where the problem was. We had one family who refused to have anything to do with zoos - once we knew, we were able to have either /or options built in.
We would have been utterly sunk without our Bursar!0 -
I feel that £8 is a reasonable cost for a coach trip. Wait till your child comes home with a letter for a ski trip to Canada and says "It's only £1750"0
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ringo_24601 wrote: »coach + liability insurance + food .. could that add up to £8?
Food isn't included. School say the cost is already subsidised by them so no idea why it's still £8.
I know it sounds mean but I don't want to be paying for the non-payers. I don't think it's fair but I understand that sounds selfish to some.0 -
nodiscount wrote: »Food isn't included. School say the cost is already subsidised by them so no idea why it's still £8.
I know it sounds mean but I don't want to be paying for the non-payers. I don't think it's fair but I understand that sounds selfish to some.
Don't pay then, but don't grumble if the trip is cancelled and the school stop arranging further trips due to lack of parent interest.Accept your past without regret, handle your present with confidence and face your future without fear0
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