Use of Participation Fees Rises Slightly
August 20, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Nearly 57 percent of Michigan High School Athletic Association high schools assessed participation fees to help fund interscholastic athletics in 2013-14, according to the most recent survey taken by the MHSAA – indicating a slight increase in use of fees compared to the previous school year.
Of 405 high schools that responded to the 2013-14 survey, 229 – or 56.6 percent – charged fees last school year compared to 55.3 percent of member schools that charged in 2012-13. The percentage of member schools charging fees crossed 50 percent in 2010-11 and remained at 50.5 percent in 2011-12 before making a nearly five-percent jump two school years ago.
There were 758 senior high schools in the MHSAA membership in 2013-14 – the most recent survey generated a response rate of 53 percent. This was the 10th survey of schools since the 2003-04 school year, when members reported fees were being charged in 24 percent of schools.
The largest surge of charging fees in 2013-14 came at Class A schools, with 77 percent reporting fees after 71 percent reported using them in 2012-13. Class B schools saw a one percent increase to 62 percent with fees, and Class D schools saw a two percent increase to 39 percent. Class C schools, however, saw a four percent drop to 46 percent assessing for participation.
Charging a standardized per-team fee for each on which a student participates remains the most popular method among schools that assess fees, with 41 percent of schools that assess doing so in this way. The median fee among those schools was $85 in 2013-14, an increase of $20 from the previous year.
Building on a trend that emerged during the 2011-12 survey, the use of fees incurred by students who paid once for an entire year of participation increased for the third consecutive school year, this time to 33 percent of schools that charge – although, on a positive note, the median fee for students paying once for a school year dropped $25 from 2012-13 to $100 in 2013-14.
The survey for 2013-14 and surveys from previous years can be found on the MHSAA Website.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
MHSAA Reports 2020-21 Participation; More than 240,000 Participants Counted Despite Pandemic
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
November 4, 2021
While COVID-19 surely played a part in reduced participation in sports at Michigan High School Athletic Association schools during the 2020-21 school year, a total of 244,012 participants continued to take part in athletics across the 28 sports for which the MHSAA sponsors postseason tournaments.
The overall MHSAA participation totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
Generally, the MHSAA provides as part of its annual participation release a comparison of totals, both overall and per sport, to the previous school year. But a comparison of the 2020-21 overall participation total to that from 2019-20 cannot be considered relevant because the Spring 2020 season was canceled due to COVID-19 before the start of competition, which likely affected participation counts from those spring sports. Similarly, the Fall 2020 season saw a number of schools put some sports on hold for that year, including in the highest participation sport football, which also affected identifying participation trends in those sports. Enrollment reported by MHSAA member schools did see a 2.1-percent decrease from 2019-20, to 444,085 students overall.
The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to submit to the National Federation of State High School Associations for compiling of its national participation survey (although the NFHS has not compiled national surveys for 2019-20 or 2020-21 amid the COVID-19 pandemic). Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website.
The following chart shows participation figures for the 2020-21 school year from MHSAA member schools for sports in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament:
|
BOYS |
GIRLS |
|||
|
Sport |
Schools (A) |
Participants |
Schools (A) |
Participants (B) |
|
Baseball |
656/11 |
16,035 |
- |
-/18 |
|
Basketball |
728/5 |
18,806 |
722 |
13,285/15 |
|
Bowling |
421/25 |
3,465 |
413 |
2,414/51 |
|
Competitive Cheer |
- |
- |
362 |
5,191 |
|
Cross Country |
667/4 |
8,372 |
667 |
7,248/16 |
|
Football -11 player |
543/103 |
30,630 |
- |
-/115 |
|
8-player |
104/18 |
1,737 |
- |
-/23 |
|
Golf |
531/51 |
6,075 |
358 |
3,585/108 |
|
Gymnastics |
- |
- |
102 |
613 |
|
Ice Hockey |
298/11 |
3,221 |
- |
-/13 |
|
Lacrosse |
174/8 |
4,497 |
121 |
2,777/13 |
|
Skiing |
121/0 |
818 |
115 |
778 |
|
Soccer |
504/16 |
13,129 |
486 |
11,130/60 |
|
Softball |
- |
- |
647 |
11,389 |
|
Swimming & Diving |
274/18 |
4,051 |
279 |
5,111/56 |
|
Tennis |
310/16 |
5,879 |
339 |
7,125/25 |
|
Track & Field |
702/0 |
17,390 |
692 |
12,739 |
|
Volleyball |
- |
- |
720 |
18,430 |
|
Wrestling |
491/158 |
7,296 |
- |
-/283 |
(A) The first number is the number of schools reporting sponsorship on the Sports Participation Survey, including primary and secondary schools in cooperative programs as of May 15, 2021. The second number indicates the number of schools that had girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys.
(B) The second number indicates the number of additional girls playing on teams consisting primarily of boys and entered in boys competition.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.