I'm a mom of 2, and sending my kids to camp could cost me over $8,000 this summer

• I'm a mom of two kids, and I'm raising them on my own in Oregon.
• I've started looking into summer camp and realized prices have gone up.

Sending my youngest to kindergarten was supposed to be the end of all my problems — no more daycare costs. But here we are in January, and I'm staring down the barrel of my budget, sweating about summer already.

Many summer camps are open for enrollment, and many are already closing their waitlists. Because of, you guessed it, inflation, many camps have higher operating costs and have had to increase their prices or close entirely. Because of, you guessed it, staffing shortages, many have reduced camp sizes or shortened the camp day.

One camp I researched indicated the day would now end at 3 p.m. or at 2 p.m. on Fridays. It added that "to support working parents" it would offer aftercare — for a separate fee.

Prices have gone up

In tracking my camp expenses over the past couple of years, I've seen prices increase significantly. An article about local camps in Portland, Oregon, from 2019 listed the price for one camp I had my daughter attend as $225 to $375 a week. My records show that I paid $425 for a week in 2022. This year that price is stable if you register early, but it's $475 after February 24.

Many other camps don't release catalogs until March 1, and the less expensive camps, like the ones run by Portland Parks and Recreation, which says they'll be $300 a week for residents, don't open enrollment until May.

Parents who need camp as childcare can secure it, but at a large cost. Parents can wait on less expensive camps, but the gamble is that you'll be without childcare right as summer is about to start.

Camp by the numbers

In my school district, there are 10 weeks of summer. Many camps are $300 to $500 a week, not counting aftercare.

Let's say I'm spending $4,000 per child on "full time" camp, which would mean about six hours a day of camp. I'd need to transport them to camp each day, and most of these camps are at least 15 minutes from my house, leaving me five hours a day to work between dropping them off and picking them up.

So for my two children I'd be paying $8,000 for 25 hours of care a week for 10 weeks. That's 250 hours, at $32 an hour. I would be better off hiring a nanny, but then my kids wouldn't get the enrichment and socialization that camp offers. They wouldn't get to put on a play or learn archery or make new friends.

My plan

I'm not going to put my children in camp for the whole summer, but I will for a few weeks. We'll take a few weeks off because of holidays and a planned camping trip, and because my daughter is desperate for a "free summer," which will get old fast.

I won't have to foot the bill solo because I'm divorced and, per our agreement, my ex has to contribute to work-related childcare. Planning and budgeting for these things is complex when you're not married to your kids' other parent, and they may not like the price tag even if it's out of your control.

If I get in a pickle, I can work less; I'm a freelancer. But last year, between the weeks the kids had off during the school year, the weeks I was home with my kids in the summer when we didn't do camp, and the weeks we took off for two bouts of COVID-19, I took three months off, all unpaid. I can't take the summer completely off if I want to have money.

And that's me, someone with a lot of privilege. With enough money to complain about spending it on camp. Who works from home and could, theoretically, let my children run wild while I try to form a cohesive thought on paper. What about the parents who work out of the house? I'm sorry; I don't have an answer. We're all doing our best in this broken summer-camp system.