A recent study, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health, showed that nearly 30 percent of parents making less than $60,000 a year indicated they cannot afford to enroll their child or children in a sport or after-school club activity.
As for parents with an annual household income of more than $60,000, roughly 12 percent of parents said that they could not enroll their child or children in a sport or after-school club activity for financial reasons, according to the same study.,
“Just look at what it costs for a kid to participate on a team or in a league,” said Jim Baugh, PHIT America founder, in response to the study findings. “It is not cheap. And, if the child is somewhat gifted, the costs to be a serious participant really get prohibitive for most families.”
Baugh believed the PHIT Act could be a remedy. This act is a joint legislative priority of PHIT America and the Sports & Fitness Industry Association (SFIA), and will seek to give families the chance to afford school sports for their children by allowing them to use their Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) or Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) to get reimbursed or to pay for sports equipment purchases, professional instruction and pay-to-play fees.
Another issue PHIT and SFIA see that can be impacted by the act is that while some school waivers help students from low-income homes to play sports, waivers based exclusively on income may fail to reach families who earn too much for program eligibility, but not enough to afford the additional costs of the activity fees.
