Does your high-schooler have a competition-related or educational trip on the calendar?

Join the crowd.

My co-worker Doug Donnelly has this story for monroenews.com, and page 1A of today’s print and e-editions of The Monroe Evening News about some of the trips that Monroe Public Schools students are taking this spring: Monroe students on the move.

A snippet:

This is typically the time of year a lot of school districts plan field trips and student learning trips, from day-long events at the Toledo Zoo or an art museum. At Monroe, there are hundreds of students who have the chance to travel this year.

“These activities are wonderful opportunities for our students not only to learn, see and experience other areas of our country, but also to represent their community,” Superintendent David Taylor said.

Now, how can a school district afford these outings for students?

Here’s the behind-the-scenes fact: students and parents usually foot at least part of the expenses through fundraising efforts and their own pockets.

Sometimes there is money in a department budget or booster club fund to contribute toward competition and academic travel.

But even in cases of financial need, students and parents are very often expected to contribute to the cause through volunteer efforts or fundraising projects. In some cases, these “individual student accounts” may have been months or years in the planning.

And today’s article focused on just the school-sponsored programs.

What about those sports travel leagues, summer dance camp, church youth group travel to international events, and in our case, Girl Scouts?

What can you do, as a family on a budget, when faced with these opportunties and no idea how you will pay for it all?

We set our priorities based on what my daughter really, really wanted to do and what could be done with any and all available funds.

Girl Scout service on Mackinac Island, yes. A student exchange with Monroe’s sister city in Japan, yes. Representing her school at Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competition, yes. Monroe High School choir trip, no. Participating in a sport that would involve pay-to-play fees, no.

Look, if you’re a family on a budget, you’re doing well to send your student on one major trip during the high school years. Careful planning, saving up part-time job money, limiting expenses elsewhere, a lot of time spent working at fundraiser events, and some luck in lining up grants or donations might allow your student to travel on two or three major trips during those years.

You can’t assume that if even if such an opportunity exists because of academic, musical or athletic talent, that someone else will provide the funding.

It’s particularly dicey right now, given the regional economy, to rely on traditional donation appeals to cover the expenses. A lot of potential donors just don’t have it in their budgets these days to contribute to student programs. You may need to get very creative, and put in a lot of time, on fundraising efforts in order to meet your financial goal.

So if you get a brochure in the mail, or a filer from the club advisor touting the wonderful opportunities for an academic or competition trip, you should plan to spend a lot of time on discussions around the kitchen table as your family figures out the financial details.