Summer camp is out of reach for many families, and a big reason is the cost.
A 2024 survey by the Afterschool Alliance found that more than 50% of families who wanted to send their kids to camp ultimately didn’t, and rates were even higher in the Gulf South.
Mississippi had the worst access in the country, with more than three out of four children missing out. Cost was the main factor, followed by location, transportation and availability.
The issues were the same in Alabama and Louisiana.
This summer, many families have had to stretch their finances even further.
Nearly everything costs more, from groceries to gas. Inflation reached its highest point in three years in May, and while it dropped in June, as the war in Iran continues, it may not last.
But families still need childcare or just want to send their kids to camp.
Here’s how two camps in Louisiana have kept their programs affordable.
Baton Rouge parks meet families where they’re at
Dozens of kids play dodgeball inside a large recreation center in north Baton Rouge.
In the same room, others scale a climbing wall or cartwheel across mats. There’s also a bounce castle and a wall of those basketball games you find at arcades.
“I do miss this chaos,” said Katrina Coots Ward, a former camp counselor who oversees summer programming for BREC, the parish’s parks and recreation system, which has about 6,200 children enrolled this year.
While tiring, Ward said spending the day with campers is incredibly rewarding.
“Imagine these kids would be at home, at grandma’s, inside watching TV,” she said.
Instead, they’re here, running around in the air-conditioned facility. When it isn’t too hot, they play outside at a splash pad.
Ward said her team tries to help as many families as possible and has a few systems in place to help.
Each session is a week long. The full price is $100, but many families qualify for a 50% discount based on income, and a foundation pays the balance.
Families are supposed to pay half the cost when they register online, but Ward said they’re flexible, as long as parents put something down to save their spot.
“Then we can work on payment plans,” she said. “You know, if the registration started in March, you can pay off every week.”
If a family earns too much money to qualify for the reduced price, but has multiple children, they can still apply for a hardship scholarship.
The camp fee covers everything from t-shirts to field trips, so there are no surprise costs.
“When we go watch a movie, everybody gets a popcorn and a drink,” Ward said.
The system subsidizes its camps, paying for staff out of its larger budget, and it owns its buildings, so there’s no rent.
Cultural learning at a discount
In New Orleans, Kuumba Academy has a similar arrangement.
It’s run by the Ashé Cultural Arts Center, a Central City nonprofit that celebrates the richness of the African diaspora.
The camp’s name — pronounced koo-OOM-bah — is a Swahili word that translates to “creativity.” It’s also the sixth principle of Kwanzaa, which calls on each generation to leave its community more beautiful and beneficial for the next.
The camp, which has been around for almost two decades, includes visual arts, drumming, dance and gardening.
“We are like a staple in the community for cultural practices and African tradition, even though we open our doors to everyone,” said Monica Millon, who works for Ashé.
Her 14-year-old daughter attends the camp, which is open to kids ages 5 to 15. It’s $100 per week and runs for a month and a half through the end of July. The price even includes hot meals — both breakfast and lunch — cooked by a chef.
“They only have maybe a week or two before school starts. So parents are appreciative of that,” Millon said.
Millon said the center fundraises and applies for grants to keep tuition as low as possible while still paying its staff and artists a fair wage. It used to be $400 for seven weeks.
On a recent day, kids learned about Mardi Gras Black Masking Indians, a tradition with African roots.
Staff used a call-and-response in Twi, another African language, to quiet campers. They shouted “Ago” to get their attention, and the kids responded, “Ame,” to show they were listening.
Then, Spyboy Knine of the Golden Blades danced for them in a red beaded suit.
There are different roles that people play, he explained. As a Spyboy, his job is to look out for other tribes to battle — whose suits are the prettiest — and report back to the group.
Campers learned how to dance while sitting from Cherice Harrison-Nelson, queen of another tribe, the Guardians of the Flame.
She also taught them to sing forcefully, using “their inside voice,” without shouting. It’s difficult to master when you’re in elementary school.
Ashley Hamilton has two kids attending Kuumba for the first time after a friend recommended the camp.
“Looking at the prices like, man, they really see us as parents,” Hamilton said.
Camp runs from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. with aftercare until 5 p.m. for $50 a week.
Jermaine Taylor has three kids who attend Kuumba. He said more expensive programs add up quickly, especially for bigger families.
“They know it’s partially childcare, so they’re able to charge whatever they want,” Taylor said of some other programs that charge hundreds of dollars a week. “They know we have to go to work and all of that.”
Taylor said Kuumba has lightened the burden.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
