Pathfinder Fees and Billing Information 2009-2010
The Basics
At Pathfinder, we try to keep things simple! Read on, and contact the camp director Mike Sladden if you have any questions.
When you are enrolling your son, click to and print the Enrollment form. Fill it out to send in with payment, but also make a copy! It contains the payment rates and options, the terms and conditions, and the payment due dates.
Once you've enrolled your Camper, you'll receive a Confirmation Statement. This will show you the tuition fee, taxes, and required tuck deposit amount.
At the end of the summer session, you'll also receive a Final Statement. This will detail all the expenses he had that are charged against your Tuck Deposit. The Tuck Deposit is part of your total camp fee, and is described below. Here's some detail about the expenses you'll see itemized on these statements.
Payments
The enrollment confirmation letter and the final statement show what payments camp has received from you.
Expenses
The confirmation statement and final statement both show the basic Camp Fee in US or CN funds depending on which currency your family paid. They also show the taxes charged for pst / gst. And, they show the Tuck Deposit amount.
PST tax
The PST is the Provincial Sales Tax. Pathfinder collects and pays 3% of fee for PST.
GST tax
The GST is the Goods Services Tax. Pathfinder collects and pays 5% of fee for GST.
Tuck Deposit
The Tuck Deposit is part of the total payment you make. It is held on account for your camper, covering his purchases and incidental expenses during the camp session. Those purchases and expenses are listed below, and they will appear on your final statement.
Tuck Deposit CreditThe Tuck Deposit Credit shows how much tuck money was on account for your camper.Various Expense Lines - all shown in Canadian funds on your statement.
Park Lease Tax - everyone is charged 4% of the basic Camp fee by Algonquin Park.
Permits/Tripping / Trucking* - when your camper goes on canoe trips, any vehicle transportation to or from the trip ("trucking") is charged equally among the members of the trip.
Any overnight camping permits are charged by Parks Canada to camp for each member of the party; your tuck bill will include your son's overnight fees (generally $4.50 to $6.00 depending) and a share of the guide staff's fee.
If your camper was given a special meal or program during the trip, this cost is itemized in 'Tripping.'
*Trucking charges can be quite high for older campers, such as Ottawas and AAs.
Their long trips often involve long truck transports or train fares with canoe freight.
Laundry - Laundry is offered weekly at camp. If the boys are in-camp they can drop off laundry at the Kitchen dock one morning, and collect it the next. Each camper's laundry is washed separately and kept with his own laundry bag. The service comes from Huntsville. We are charged roughly $8.50 per load washed, folded and delivered. A camper's laundry charge per bag may vary depending on its size. Most boys have a couple of laundry's per session. Older campers may only have one because they're on trip. Younger boys may not send out laundry during short stays.
Gear / Candy Store - Parents sometimes call Sladds, shocked that their camper ate $200 worth of candy! Actually, this account covers a multitude of things. Normally, high charges here mean the camper ordered sleeping bag and other gear.
Gear / Candy Store includes candy bars or lifesavers, letter paper and envelopes, postage, candy store dry goods such as books, pamphlets, toothbrushes and soap, batteries and flashlights, ball caps, t-shirts, sweatshirts, water bottles, Park maps, etc. etc. The Camp yearbook called Camp Trails is automatically billed to this account at $40cn and is mailed home in winter for each camper.
Of course any gear ordered for the camper, such as sleeping bag, life vest, dry bag, or paddle is billed on this account.
Transportation - this is the cost of any van or motor coach ride(s) the camper took to or from camp. For example, the bus trip from Buffalo to camp this year was $80.00cn per camper. Van shuttle to and from the Toronto Airport, or from Buffalo at Two-Weeker Changeover is billed similarly. Total cost is divided equally among riders for that trip.
Miscellaneous / Medical - this line is for medical bills such as doctor's visit, hospital treatment, or prescription med.s for your camper. Receipts from these are sent home so you can recover part or all of the expense from your medical coverage. The Misc. items here are generally tiny: a trip meal is bought at McDonald's, or an ice cream treat from Bartlett Lodge on Cache Lake. CITs may draw petty cash for their days off, and that is shown on this line as well.
The Misc./Medical line is also where any tax credits on GST will show up. In 2008 the GST rate was dropped from 6% to 5%, so Pathfinder passed that savings back to families who paid the tax prior to Jan. 1, 2008.
The Misc./Medical line also shows Sibling Credit. If you have multiple brothers attending, each sibling after the first camper is credited $100us at this point.
GST - This is the GST charged only on whatever items above are GST taxable.
Tuck balance (cn) - this is the remaining credit or balance owed in Canadian funds.
xUS conversion - each summer we set a conversion rate based on exchange rates for June through August. This year it was .00 or 'par' between US and CN funds.
If you're a US family or from overseas, we make this conversion to give you a final balance in US funds. If you're a Canadian family, we omit this calculation and show your balance in CN funds.
Balance Due Camp / Credit - it's one or the other: a positive balance you owe Camp, a negative balance Camp owes you. Amounts under $5.00 either way are waived.