$100 Athletic Administration Fee information

Date Posted: Thursday May 27, 2010

New Fees to Be Charged for High School Sports Participation and Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Tests

The approved budget for the 2010-11 school year includes two new types of student fees: a $100 athletic administrative fee (AAF) charged per student, per sport for participation in Virginia High School League sports and a $75 fee for each Advanced Placement (AP) or International Baccalaureate (IB) test. Both fees are nonrefundable and will be waived for students eligible for the federal free or reduced-price meal program. Parents and guardians with children eligible for the federal program received the application form for the 2010-11 school year in August and are urged to submit the application authorizing their children to receive all eligible benefits.

Payment Options

Collection of these fees will be through a centralized billing process. Parents and guardians will receive an invoice by U.S. mail and will be instructed to send their payments to a post office box administered by Bank of America (not to the student's school). Billing for the new athletic fee (AAF) will take place three times during the school year after the team rosters are finalized (September, December, and February) There is no relationship between the AAF and a guarantee of playing time. Playing time is at the sole discretion of the head coach and his or her staff. The funds collected from the AAF will directly support the student activities and athletics program. Invoices for AP and IB testing fees will be mailed in November.

Payments can be made by check, money order, or credit card. Parents and guardians will also have the option to make payments electronically using a credit card, a debit card, or an e-check through a Bank of America website.

Information about the online payment option will be included on the billing invoice sent to parents and guardians. VISA and MasterCard will be the accepted cards for payment. Parents and guardians can access the website and then use the invoice number on the bill and the student’s date of birth to log on in order to initiate the online payment process. The payment process is similar to any other online payment method. A print receipt function will be provided to acknowledge payment for any of the online payment options.

A link to the new online fee payment website will also be added to the Especially for Parents section of the FCPS website (target launch date is September 15), which can be found at http://www.fcps.edu/parents.htm. The link will be listed as "Athletic and AP, IB Testing Fee Payments."

For more information, contact the Financial Support Team at 571-423-3636, option 2.