Cost of (catholic) Sunday School?

WYEngTeacher

If you send your kids to Sunday School, does your church charge a fee? Especially interested in hearing from catholics. I went to sign my two girls up today and was shocked to learn it costs $150! Is that typical? I don't know why I was expecting it to be a much smaller fee...

MelissaRae1525

I'm not catholic but I have never heard of there being a cost for Sunday school. If there was I doubt my dad and his 5 brothers would have been sent because that is ridiculous.

LoveActually4

Ours is $25 per child.

NCMichelle

We pay $85 for our daughter (she's 3).  It's more if they are receiving a sacrament that year.  We send our son to the nursery and have to pay $50 for the year.

WYEngTeacher

They said it is to cover the cost of books/supplies, and I could see $30-$40... but $100 for one child?! ($150 for two). I'm floored. It is taught by volunteers. I'm reconsidering sending them now until the "required" years for receiving sacraments. My girls are only 3 & 5, and I sent/send them to a Christian preschool so that they receive some religious education, but I was feeling guilty because I went to Sunday School at that age... Now that I know the cost, I don't feel so guilty about just waiting til they're a little older. I'm sorry, but I think it's crazy! 

EMOmamma

We don't go but my family is catholic. Sunday school is free but they ask for a donation for supplies ($100 per year or $5 drop in). If you can't pay, or pay less you are not turned away and I don't think the teachers know who pays what since it goes to the office, so no one is treated differently.

LaCally4

Not Catholic but there is no fee for Sunday school in our church. It's included in the budget from offerings.

Maebb

I'm Christian but not Catholic, but didn't Jesus flip the tables over in a church for charging for things like that?

barnwife

Maebb said:

I'm Christian but not Catholic, but didn't Jesus flip the tables over in a church for charging for things like that?

No, he did not. 

We are Catholic. Yes, it is fairly common for there to be a fee for religious education classes. I know at my sister's church it's in the ballpark that you mentioned. I'd never even considered such a thing until my sister mentioned it (way pre-kids for us). Our church charges $20/kid per year with a max of $60 per family. 

Also, no one is turned away for inability to pay. 

Our parish uses it for books and other supplies, as well as for the teachers. (The religious ed teachers are called volunteers even though technically they are paid $10 per class. The parish had to start paying or there weren't enough volunteers.)

SandiaPinaMama

As far as I know, my parish does not charge a fee. I think, like you, that I would hold off until later if they charge.

lollitots

Our old catholic church charged $140 per kid (although it excepted hardship kids for free). It was run by volunteers and didn't run during the summer and took anything that resembled a holiday off (Mother's Day, Memorial Day Sunday, etc.). Frankly, it sucked. When I volunteered in there they were just showing Veggie Tales movies to the younger kids. We changed to a Presbyterian Church where they have a paid full time youth director, it is free, it is every Sunday, they are actually learning biblical stuff and the kids like going instead of complaining about it. It was hard leaving the catholic church but its youth programs really were bad! I had just thought it was our old sucky church until this post. I really don't get why churches do things like this. Don't they want the next generation?

This was for Sunday School only. Don't even get me started on the cost of religious education. I can't even begin to tell you the rift with the ILs since DD didn't get communion last year because we jumped ship (she gets it in third grade at our current church, and all the education if free).

littlemermaid

We're Catholic and our church charges $130, they attend once a week for 1.5 hours.

Rach21

I've been in church all my life and I've never heard of such a thing!!! That's bananas.

MirandaHobbes

I grew up Catholic and there was never a fee. In fact, tithing was never discussed, except a very vague reference once a year when the new envelopes came out.

I was then shocked when, as an adult, and after converting to a Protestant church, that the church required $100 per year or we couldn't maintain our "member" status. We ended up leaving. I thought it very strange.

Then a friend told me that at his Jewish synagogue, there are mandatory $50 monthly dues. I thought this was rather bizarre, although now that I'm a member at a much bigger, fancier church with lots of services, I can see how it makes sense to just call it dues rather than make it wishy-washy. My kid spends more time at church than the YMCA, and we pay hefty dues for the Y- so why not church?

But anyway I digress- at our new church they still do not "charge" for sunday school, although the children are asked to bring a donation each week, and from what I've observed, many of the kids are bringing coins, etc.

Rach21

Tithes =/= membership dues. No one should give $$ because they feel like they have to give to continue being a part of a community.

I guess on the flip side, though, a lot of folks I know think they can do whatever they want as long as they pay their tithes. Indulgences are sooooo dark ages.

Smootchy

I'm actually teaching sunday school this year and as far as I understand the cost of registration is $40 per student. (to cover books/supplies etc) 

WYEngTeacher

Update: I called two other parishes in our diocese just out of curiosity - one is $25 per child (this happens to be the church I grew up attending), the other is free + a requested $10 donation, total! So I called our religious ed director and explained why I was going to withdraw for this year. She kept trying to justify the cost by saying it covers books, supplies, etc. I was like, "Exactly how many books do you use for 3 & 5 year olds?" Then she said that they use a program called the "Catechism of the Good Shephard" or something that is so much better than what the other parishes use, but it's very expensive to train the (volunteer) teachers in it. I don't know... sounds like a bunch of baloney to me! Anyway, I will not be sending my kids this year, but I guess I will when I have to for the sacrament preparation years. Looks like I'll be putting about .50 in my collection envelope those years. :-P Oh, and she also informed me that it costs even more during those sacrament years ($145 per child), and they'll likely need to raise prices soon because they haven't in a few years. You know, "the economy." I crunched some numbers, and if I started sending both my kids this year and every year through 8th grade - as my sister and I went growing up - it will cost us a cool $1,730... that's at the current rate.

Then she pressured me to send my kids to their catholic school, and I informed her that DH and I are/were public school educators & we love our public schools, tyvm. It's sad that I now sound so bitter about the faith I was raised in. 

nixieknox3

ours is $50 per child