Parents Resorting To Bribery For Summer Camp

The lengths parents will go to in order to get their kids into a good college has been in the news a lot lately, thanks to the recent college admissions scandal, but it seems college isn’t the only place parents are going to extremes to insure their kids get in. According to a report in the “New York Post,” some rich parents are resorting to bribery in order to guarantee their kid get into a good summer camp.

While summer camp is usually a fun time for most kids, for parents it’s rather stressful, since spots can be limited, and they fill up fast. And some parents just don’t want to risk their kid losing out so they’ll resort to offering counselors, and even other parents, hundreds of dollars to secure their kids a spot. 

“I’ve had everything from parents bribing me with money or free services if they own a local business, to parents finding out who is signed up already and trying to convince those parents to take their kids out, in order to free space so they can sign up,” counselorChristopher Tuccisays, “I had a parent in line, offer the parent in front of them $100 to change places on the line.”

  • And even before the bribery, summer camp will likely set parents back a lot. The average cost of day camp is $314 a week, while sleep away camp can cost anywhere from $768 a week, to as much as $1,500. There are also plenty of camps that specialize in things like STEM, robotics and more, which can cost up to $1,000 a week. Some camps will offer discounted rates to campers in need, but those spots are even more limited than the regular ones.
  • Just how hard is it to get your kid into a good summer camp? Well, just as an example, registration for Recreation Summer Camp in Summit, New Jersey, opened in early January and there are already more than 50 people on the waiting list. According to an office assistant at the camp, when registration went live at 8:30 in the morning, spots were gone in two hours. And subsidized spots go even faster. One woman said her town’s local camp had only 12 of those discounted spots available, and she missed out. 

Source:New York Post


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