More and more NH schools using user fees

Pat Corbin, executive director for the New Hampshire Interscholastic Athletic Association, said pay to play is becoming more prevalent in the Granite State. There are currently 30 NHIAA schools that have user fees. "It's actually more than I would have anticipated," he said by phone recently. "It's growing, but it's far more widespread in Massachusetts. I've spoken with some Massachusetts athletic directors who have said if they didn't have it their program would not exist."Corbin said some schools, such as Class I foes of Kennett Hanover, Souhegan and Hollis-Brookline have them for every sport. "Hanover has had them for years," he said. "Salem (High School in Salem), for example, has a user fee of $200 for freshman basketball. At Pinkerton (Academy), it costs $450 to play hockey. Trinity (High School in Manchester) charges $250 per sport. I believe Hollis-Brookline (in Hollis) has recently started with them. A lot of the schools that haver user fees are from the more affluent communities. I do know many districts provide (financial) scholarships."A former principal in Nashua, Corbin faced user fees in 2006 at that school. "We were given a mandate that we had to come up with $200,000 through user fees," he said. "We were in an economically challenged community and there were clearly kids who could not afford the fee. Fortunately, we had an anonymous donor come up with the entire $200,000 to fund the program. I'm not sure what we would have done."At Souhegan High in Amherst, the 2007-08 Student Athletic Handbook, states, "The school board and the finance committee have agreed upon charging the athletes $55 per individual, per season. This fee will be collected by the athletic department. Times when money will be collected will be announced to coaches and will be posted in the newspapers."At Hollis-Brookline, the user fee is $40 per sport while ice hockey has additional funding to raise.Kennett High and Kennett Middle School did have user fees for one year in 1996-97. Students paid $50 for fall sports or their first sport of the year. If they participated in a second sport, they will then paid $30 for that sport. Anyone who participated in a third sport paid $10 for that sport.