Public schools generally do not charge tuition, but parents still have to pay fees for their children’s education. How much depends on which school you attend.
York High School in Elmhurst and Hinsdale High School District 86 have implemented a 1:1 student to mobile computer initiative recently. After an initial phase-in, students at York pay $300 and new students next year in District 86 will pay $400 for a Chromebook. The students use the devices at school and at home and keep them when they leave high school.
Certain classes carry additional fees, such as in the art department at Hinsdale South, where the fees range from $8 for digital imaging and design to $55 for jewelry-making; $10 for chemistry classes at both Hinsdale South and Central; or $45 for materials for a Lyons Township High School woodworking class.
Those amounts add up, but none are as hard to swallow as the price for textbooks, some parents said.
In District 86 and Elmhurst Unit School District 205’s York High School, students have to buy their textbooks, which often total hundreds of dollars.
When District 86 announced plans for a $250 technology fee this year, Ken Smith said that meant he would spend about $1,600 on textbooks and technology for his two children at Hinsdale South this year. District 86 subsequently changed the technology fee from an annual charge to the cost of a Chromebook which could be paid for over four years.
Textbook purchases
But the textbook prices are like what college students pay, Smith said. Even with online materials and his two children taking the same Spanish class, he did not save money.
The students had to complete assignments in an online workbook, Smith said. Since his children were filling in answers digitally, and not actually writing them on paper, he thought one workbook should suffice for both of them. But they learned the online workbook came with a special code and each student had to have their own.
In contrast, Lyons Township High School students pay a $75 textbook rental fee. Parents pay for some additional paperback books and workbooks, but Laura Reilly, president of the Parent-Teacher Council at LTHS, said she generally has spent about $25 for those materials.
“I do feel like they do a real good job of managing costs. You are not being asked to pay for a lot of extras,” Reilly said.
Jaimie Yeh of Hinsdale estimates she spent $600 per child per year on textbooks for her three children who went to Hinsdale Central. The only class where the school provided the textbook that she recalls was health.
“That’s six classes per year for four years” times three children, she said.
The Hinsdale Central Parent-Teacher Organization in 2014 started an online marketplace where students could buy and sell used textbooks. Yeh estimates 2,000 books were sold during the first two years she ran the book swap. Lynn Hare, who manages the book swap this year, said $15,197 worth of books have been sold through the website this school year.
Sellers can list any book that will be used in classes that year, set their own price and provide their email address, so the buyer and seller can arrange the pickup. The school supplied the PTO with the teachers’ list of required books.
Textbooks are probably the biggest expense for families in District 86, because, like LT, the school district does not charge students to participate in sports or musical groups.
Granted, there are sports-related expenses, such as summer football camp for $165 at Central, or high-performance swimsuits that can cost as much as $300, but those are optional.
Athletic charges
At York High School, students pay to play a sport or perform in the band or choir. York charges $65 to sing in one or more musical groups and $150 to play an instrument in one or more bands. For sports, the fees range from $125 for boys cross country and track to $200 for basketball and golf.
But those amounts only pay for about 20 percent of the cost to run the programs, said Christopher Whelton, District 205’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations. And they have not been raised in at least five years, he said.
The biggest operating expenses are the buses and the officials who preside at the sporting events, Whelton said.
When the fees were set, they were based on the number of participants in each activity, Whelton said. The fewer the participants, the more expensive the individual cost. The number of games in a season also affects the cost.
So girls and boys sometimes pay different fees for the same sport. Girls pay $150 for track and cross country, compared with the $125 fee for boys cross country and track. But boys pay $175 to play soccer, while girls are charged $150.
Miscellaneous costs
Most schools also charge smaller fees. LT charges a $25 student support fee, $10 for gym shorts and shirt, and $6 for a gym lock. The support fee covers technology support and use of the equipment, participation in any LTHS club or activity and free admission to most athletic events, plays and concerts, plus secondary student accident insurance.
At York High School, charges include a $20 admission/activity fee, $6 for insurance, $1 for a student ID, a $3 processing fee, a $50 technology fee and a student fee of $112 for seniors and $85 for the other three grades. Seniors also pay $27 for a graduation cap and gown. That adds up to $219 for seniors and $165 for underclassmen.
Seniors in District 86 have to pay a $50 graduation fee. There are slight differences in other fees between the two District 86 high schools. At Hinsdale South, students pay $14 for their ID and handbook, and $13.85 for their shirt and shorts for physical education class. Central students pay $10 for their ID and student handbook, and $8 for a lock for their gym locker, but do not have to wear a prescribed gym outfit.
District 86 students have the option of buying an activity ticket for $32, which allows them admittance to most student activities, games and performances, except for the school musical and playoff games.
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