How much have you spent?

It kinda depends on where you live, if you live in Atlanta, you don't have to spend money on hotels at Perfect Game Lake Pointe.

I trust you live in Chicago.  Personally I think there is no reason to travel far & wide until 15U at the earliest unless you are being recruited by SEC/ACC teams already.  And for some kids it is better to wait until 16U.  I see a lot of 7th & 8th grade kids from IA/MN/WI/IL traveling multiple times a summer to Grand Park in Indianaplois, the Cincy Flames tournaments, and other places far and wide, their parents spending $5000 just on gas/motels/food per summer (on top of travel team fees).

Those same kids often go to a Perfect Game showcase and a vast majority of them get graded a "7", or less, until they get older/stronger.  It is just completely unnecessary for them to be traveling so much that they are spending thousands of dollars a summer before they ever make high school varsity.

That money would be far better saved, or spent on academic tutors, hitting/pitching instruction, and speed & strength training.  Perfect Game showcases are a fantastic opportunity, but you shouldn't attend until your measureables are in line with college prospects.

you can spend little or as much as you want...just my opinion below.

Find good instructor for your son and get some individual lessons this winter. I don't care if he is a pitcher or hitter. get the basics down and locked in this winter (assuming you haven't already done so).

For my son starting at age 14 he pretty much did year round training with some breaks

Summer fees - mid may - early august 8 or so tournaments, practice 2 times per week, uniform - about $1,500.00

Fall- Labor day or late August - mid late October - 6 tournaments plus practice 2 times per week - 1200.00 or there about.

Winter - early December to - end of Feb - twice a week indoor - 650.00 or there about.

Cost of travel extra

oh boy,  I have never tried to sit down and figure how much we spent overall.   I really don't want to know to tell you the truth.  My son is one of the lucky ones, - I guess I shouldn't say lucky, because he worked his tail off and earned a scholarship.  But I am 100% positive that we spent more than his scholarship is worth.  We never considered it an investment for a scholarship, anyone that does I think is fooling themselves. 

I know this doesn't answer your question, and I'm not sure there's a good answer because there are so many variables that are dependent upon your situation. 

I'll share the following

Travel team fee, 800-900 a year (we were lucky, his organization was not a business, coach just passed along his costs to the parents equally)

Travel tournaments- depends on the tournament, but you can do the math for 5-6 tournaments a year, 2-4 nights in a hotel and food, as well as transportation.

Hitting instruction/personal trainer- I'll take some heat on this board from some for this, but my son did have a hitting coach, and once he turned 15 we found a professional trainer.  Hitting coach $40/half hour,   Personal trainer $50 per session  (1.5 hours normally). 

We went in to this with our eyes wide open on the costs, and made the choice to do this.   I wouldn't change a thing. 

If it makes anyone feel any better, at least it's not hockey, I'm finding out with my third son, it's much more expensive! 

All three of my sons played travel baseball at different levels.  Oldest son played on a national level team and got some national exposure that was helpful as he was considering national level college baseball and national level academics.  We probably spent $3 - $3.5K per year on average for travel baseball for him ending in 2009.  My other two sons played travel ball within the region and then played American Legion which is strong in our area.   Probably $1-$1.5K per year on average from the time they were 11-17 years old ending in 2015. 

I hope that helps.  I would agree with others that there is much more monetary rewards in academics.  Good luck.

Hockey is much more expensive, for sure.

PABASEBALLDAD: I'm definitely not somebody that will give you a hard time about hitting instructors or personal trainers.  To me that is smart money spent.  It can take the time to find the right hitting coach, but once you do they are worth spending on!  

You take a weekend traveling 3 states over to play in a 3 day tournament.  That can easily be $750 just in gas/hotels/food etc, for ONE weekend!!!  That money spent on development in training is going to get you further.

If I've learned anything from this website it is:

get your kid Bigger/Faster/Stronger

and Grades/Grades/Grades

nobody here ever gave me the advice to spend lots and lots of money on hotels.

Wow, I don't think I would even want to know

Typically a team fee will be $800-1500....more if substantial winter training is included...we never did because our teams were based too far away.  More at 12U if Cooperstown is involved.

10-12 tourneys/summer from 9U-14U....figure $4-500 weekend for hotel/food/travel if the family is going along.  

5-6 tourneys for 15U-17U...including a couple week long trips.  We used VRBO and split houses for those trips...actually saved a lot of money on lodging/food.  We usually got a lake house and made it a vacation in addition to baseball.

Like PAbaseballdad said, the money we spent over the years isn't being recovered by his scholarship $$$ but I'm fairly certain he wouldn't be playing where he is if he hadn't played travel ball all those years.  It prepared him to play against the best....and he worked hard to be able to compete with guys from all over the country.

We spent quite a bit:

$800 to $1,000 travel team fees

4 - 5 tournaments - Ryno usually went with other families, because we couldn't afford to go to all of the tournaments.  We probably went to half, so probably $2,000 per year.

Pitching & Hitting Lessons.  We paid for a lot of lessons, $50.00 per lesson, but we only did them for part of the year.  I would say total $2,000 per year.

Overall, we easily spent $5,000 per year for 6 years - 8 years.  So let's say $40,000 total.  We will actually be even, or ahead, depending on if he plays his Sr. year. (He most likely will.)

Once they hit HS and start doing doing showcase style tourneys the cost goes up. Most 14u and under tourneys are usually Sat/Sun. Most 15U and up are Thur-Sun, so depending on where you're playing and traveling you could be staying in a hotel Wed-Sun. It gets expensive even at $100 per night, plus you have to eat and the traveling expense. I would say a minimum of $5K a year just for summer, that's what our cost of 4 traveling has been. Doing individual showcases and camps will also add up. 

My younger step-daughter rarely ever leaves the house, stays on her computer all waking hours unless pried away.  She refuses to get involved in anything.  I guess I spend zero on her for activities.  But I have tried.

I've spent a lot on my son. Boat to fish off-shore, hunting lease, guides of all kinds.  (probably would have done those items son or not)  And lot's of baseball,  I'd double it looking back.  It is not a scholarship/ROI decision for me.

We are flying to Jupiter for two days, renting a car, staying in a PG hotel.   He will pitch two innings.  Then we will fly back so he can go to the homecoming dance.  It's for the experience. 

I so hope that the next Mike Trout bombs one off of him.  One of son's coaches went as a player some years back.  I asked him about it.  The first thing he says "Gio Gonzalez struck me out!".

It has been so much fun.  Wish it would go on forever.

So at the HS level I can probably expect to spend $3-5K a summer it sounds like. Over the first three years of HS that is pretty significant. No wonder people complain about the costs! And to think most of the families doing this won't even see scholarship $$$ on top of that!

Chicago643 posted:

So at the HS level I can probably expect to spend $3-5K a summer it sounds like. Over the first three years of HS that is pretty significant. No wonder people complain about the costs! And to think most of the families doing this won't even see scholarship $$$ on top of that!

We never considered that we were trying to earn a scholarship to cover the costs.  Summers were for baseball....but we also got away for 8-10 weekends to places all over the midwest and the country.  Sure, it was for baseball, but baseball wasn't 24/7 all weekend.  We spent time at lakes, pools, on boats etc....just like my friends who stayed home.   I spent money on those trips....and had fun doing it.  Friends spent money on pools, boats, golf, etc....and had fun doing it.  We weren't doing anything different or spending any more $$$ than my friends...we were just doing it in a different way

In the Chicago area we have a lot of quality baseball players for a northern city and are fortunate to not have to travel far to play good competition. Spend some time checking out top national college program rosters and you will find quite a few guys from the Chicagoland area. We also have a hand full of national travel teams and more quality regional travel teams. The easiest answer is you don't really have to spend a lot (typical regional travel baseball costs) to you can spend a whole lot (all of the big national type of events).

It really depends on what type of player your son is. If you have been told by a reputable person that he is an elite national type of player you will been spending more money going to Georgia and Florida to get national attention. If he is a good regional type of prospect you can find a team that has less travel expenses.  You can play a regional team and supplement that with some strength, speed, and agility training and do quite well. It has been mentioned above but if you find a team that only travels 3 hours to Grand Park in Indy you can get a lot of exposure to college coaches of all levels. Also for the regional type of player in the Chicago area we have a lot of "lower" division schools that have really good baseball teams and do very well in their national playoffs. You can easily go to an inexpensive camp to get in front of those coaches. You are also correct about the NCAA D? scholarship limits but cast a wider net and don't forget NAIA schools in this area. They can also give scholarships for athletics. There are some quality baseball programs in the local CCAC NAIA league that have done really well nationally for a really long time.

We never spent big money on my 2017 sons travel. If he plays more than 1+ years we will be ahead with just his athletic scholarship money alone. Their are a lot of decisions that have to be made at your sons age and a lot of guys willing to separate you from your money. Don't fall into the trap of being pressured to have to pay big money to do everything single "must do" event. If your son can truly play people will let you know and he will get the opportunities he needs. You will never be able to buy his way to play at a higher level.

Thanks for all the great replies! 

Last question for the day, I noticed there are quite a few events that occur in the fall, after school starts, that require kids to miss school time to go to these events. This week for instance we have a friend playing in the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship. 202 teams with probably 18-20 players each means 4,000 kids are missing two days of school to play baseball. Is this normal? Wouldn't it be better for the kids to end these type of events in August and not ask them to miss school? 

yes it would be better, yes it's typical.

my son that plays hockey is missing 8 frickin Friday's of school in the next 12 weeks.

I try not to even think about this.  But it it always makes me feel better after talking to hockey parents!  I live in Wisconsin and my son plays on a pretty good travel program here.  We pay $2,500/year to play which includes ~8-10 tournaments, 2-3 hours of professionally coached practices each week from mid-November - July (no dad coaches), one hour/week in the gym with a physical trainer from November-March, uniforms, etc.  Probably totals $5K for everything with travel.

It's a lot but we look at it as family time as well.  Time at the pool, rainy days means time spent catching a movie and having dinner.  It's more a lifestyle.  I am not banking on college baseball but I want to enjoy every second I can now.

Chicago643 posted:

Wouldn't it be better for the kids to end these type of events in August and not ask them to miss school? 

That is a plus size can of worms, as far as what would be better.

it just is what it is... Powers that be will simply say that nobody is being forced to attend.

Yeah, probably $3K - $5K all in, travel and everything. Though UVs can start blowing a hole in that if you're not careful.

At lot of the travel is up to you and your appetite. For example, Go44 charters a private plane, I think -- though I'm not 100% sure about that ;-)

But if you look at the big events you will notice that parents are, in fact, cognizant of the school situation. That big PG tournament in Florida has no teams from Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington -- it's just too far is my guess. Similarly, the Arizona Senior and Arizona Junior Fall Classic have mostly kids from the western third of the country. It's up to you, but I think it is manageable -- e.g., my kid will miss two days of school during the fall semester for baseball, and none in the spring.

I would ask. Wouldn't it be better for the kids to do these type of events in August when they are in better baseball shape from playing all of the Spring/Summer and not ask them to miss school and stay at peak baseball shape year round? 

If missing days of school takes away from your child's ability to max out the much more available academic scholarships then that makes it going worth a lot less.

Every player is going to have their own path.

For big showcases: Headfirst is $995 plus travel expenses to Long Island, Sacramento, or Jupiter.  Showball is $795 plus travel to NY, CA, FL .    AZ Fall Classic Academic Try out is $150.  The AZ Fall Classic Tournament with team around $250/player. College camps varies but around $250.

We have never added up the exact cost, but it is substantial. Like others have noted most of it has been money well spent. There are a few things I would do differently and I will include some thoughts on that later. 

My son has committed to a D1 Power 5 so we do feel like that part has worked out well so far. I get irritated at people who say you could have almost paid for college with what you spend on baseball. While in straight dollars and cents that might be true, I am confident he would not have develped as much as a player in order to begin to achieve his goals and would not have gotten the offers he received. I am certain we would have missed out on some incredible family experiences that happened to take place while traveling the country for him to play ball. I cant put a price tag on those memories, nor on how baseball has helped my son grow up.

Things I might have done differently to save money or use it more wisely:

-- Waited for travel team schedule until 14u or maybe 15u.  NOTE: This one is tough though depending on player level and quality of local competition. During the recruiting process the importance of the level of competition he had played against was a benefit.

-- Attended only one camp per university. Camps were beneficial to see if son had interest in a school and vice versa. In hindsight, we learned just because he may have gotten attention at a camp did not mean they were REALLY interested. Going back again was not a good use of our money. When they are really interested you know.

-- Research big travel tournaments and invite only events to see who is going and who has participated in the past.  This will help give you an idea of what to expect.  We turned down events we should have signed him up for and went to some that were duds before we learned that lesson.

I figure I have spent about this over the years!  But it's never been about scholarship just about the experience. 

But yes at least five grand a year is a good guess.  And heck we would have blown that money on something anyway and never saved it for a boat and an RV!

Chicago643 posted:

Thanks for all the great replies! 

Last question for the day, I noticed there are quite a few events that occur in the fall, after school starts, that require kids to miss school time to go to these events. This week for instance we have a friend playing in the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship. 202 teams with probably 18-20 players each means 4,000 kids are missing two days of school to play baseball. Is this normal? Wouldn't it be better for the kids to end these type of events in August and not ask them to miss school? 

I never looked at it like that, but I had a son that was a really good student.  I have always believed that plenty can be learned through travel, and he got to go to quite a few places, and he learned a lot.  I did have a few parents that thought I was the devil for letting my kid miss school for sports, but I believe it turned out well.  If I had a boy who didn't perform in the classroom, then I would have probably approached it differently.

Son's travel ball coach addressed the missing school part at a parent meeting with an interesting perspective.

1) Players need to have and keep good grades. 

2) If your player cannot miss a few days of school without falling behind you might want to reconsider if they will be able to be a collegiate student athlete. Players have to learn to manage time and workload or they are going to struggle. 

I had never thought of it like that, but it does make sense. 

Advanced baseball like most sports can be very expensive.  Prior to high school our yearly spending amounted between $8000 - $11,000 for anything related to baseball.  I won't classify this as baseball expense though because it was  much more than that (not monetary).  These trips became family vacations where everyone went, including my daughter who hated baseball.  We went to places we normally wouldn't have seen, experienced novel activities, and learned a few things about each other.  You would be amazed the type of conversations you were forced to have sitting in a car for 6 - 8 hours!  My son is playing baseball in MiLB so those days are long over.  Looking back I think I miss the quality family time more than the actual baseball.  Enjoy these times if your son is at that age.  So no, we didn't spend a lot on baseball, we spent a lot on being the type of family I always wanted.

All-in for the practices/games/travel/food/team/training is likely somewhere around $5K, as most have mentioned. Add in equipment (gloves/bats are expensive these days--and my son seems to eat his batting gloves, probably go through more pairs than MLB players!), and you will climb the price ladder. I don't actually set a budget for the season--just go in knowing that I'll be shelling out for things as we go. Although the boy's baseball expenses get more notice from the family, I think it's still less annually than my daughter's gymnastics career cost...and a whole lot less than my other daughter's 3 years of being a college freshman.

-42

Chicago643 posted:

Last question for the day, I noticed there are quite a few events that occur in the fall, after school starts, that require kids to miss school time to go to these events. This week for instance we have a friend playing in the PG WWBA Underclass World Championship. 202 teams with probably 18-20 players each means 4,000 kids are missing two days of school to play baseball. Is this normal? Wouldn't it be better for the kids to end these type of events in August and not ask them to miss school? 

Indeed it is normal. We found that the teachers were willing to give him the heads up as to what was needed to be studied and what was due when back in school.

I had my son and a teammate for a long weekend, and they were in the hotel room after games getting in their schoolwork. Not terribly dissimilar to what occurs at the collegiate level, so get used to it.

Wow... I just ran through some rough numbers and for fees, equipment, travel, lessons, yadda, yadda, yadda... It would be north of $30k for the last 6 years (8U - 13U).

Thank you for giving me a mild heart attack...lol

Big difference between:

1) A 15-16 year managing 5 AP/Honors classes and being out for 3-4 days of school junior year when at least in my son's school most teachers (and the administration) are NOT supportive of missing any school except for a college visit or illness

2) A 18-22 year old student athlete in college where in most instances there's a built in support system of tutors and counselors who are there to help them succeed and in many cases actually travel with the team    

2019Dad posted:

Yeah, probably $3K - $5K all in, travel and everything. Though UVs can start blowing a hole in that if you're not careful.

At lot of the travel is up to you and your appetite. For example, Go44 charters a private plane, I think -- though I'm not 100% sure about that ;-)

But if you look at the big events you will notice that parents are, in fact, cognizant of the school situation. That big PG tournament in Florida has no teams from Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington -- it's just too far is my guess. Similarly, the Arizona Senior and Arizona Junior Fall Classic have mostly kids from the western third of the country. It's up to you, but I think it is manageable -- e.g., my kid will miss two days of school during the fall semester for baseball, and none in the spring.

Yup!  And I'm bringin Granny on this trip!

Well lets think for a moment. as most know I had 4 playing travel baseball.  Sadly our last event is Jupiter this month... been a long run.

2013  travel ball at 13 then high school and college Chattanooga State , Columbia State, Tennessee Tech

2014, travel ball at 12 then high school and college Columbia State, Tennessee Tech  ( quit playing jr. year)

2016  travel ball at 12 and then high school and college Tufts University   ( quit playing freshman year)

2018  travel ball at 10  then high school     committed....Vanderbilt University

I would say that I am north of  100,000 total through the years on travel baseball and related expenses.

 2018 cost very little in relation to the other 3, pro bono pitching instruction,  personal trainer,  and so on..... the higher you go the cheaper it gets. 

Now if I count the scholarships , athletic and academic ( 2016 would not have gotten the academic at the D3 without baseball)  that total could be well over 325,000  for all four boys..

I always looked at it as an investment.  When they were 12 and wanted to hit better in middle school I spent the money on lessons.   If that meant raising their self esteem,  teaching them to work for what they wanted, to over come adversity then I did it.  I used what they enjoyed, what meant something to them to teach life lessons.  

Did I always see it as an investment to college scholarships ?  no , not even close. But  2013 over achieved and I would have never though at 14-15 he would end up where he is now.   played four years of college ball, won a conference ring, went to  a regional and is going to grad school. 

Anyway, for one player you can give your player all the opportunities he needs for 3-6k per year.   Use the money wisely, use baseball, to build the man , not the player and regardless of the level or for how long, yo will always be glad you did.

Coach_TV posted:

Wow... I just ran through some rough numbers and for fees, equipment, travel, lessons, yadda, yadda, yadda... It would be north of $30k for the last 6 years (8U - 13U).

Thank you for giving me a mild heart attack...lol

I had the same mild heart attack about a year ago when I added it up and came up with the very same number.  

I think the ironic thing to me is that the one team my son played on that actually got him in front of scouts and recruiters is the team that cost the least.  Fully sponsored, not even travel costs for the players. Even at that we probably spent at least $3000 on our hotels and food when we traveled to see him play.

Now here's crazy for you...  My son's girlfriend plays for a soccer club that is part of the national team development program. Absolute highest level of competition you can find.

Her team fees are more than $6000 a year. Plus coaching fees. Plus tourney fees. Plus travel.  They are out of town at least once, usually twice a month.  They are leaving today to play a couple of games in D.C. over the weekend. They were in Tampa last week. Played in a tournament at Disney a couple of weeks before that.

Now with all that - she's not even planning to play in college. Wants to be an engineer, and doesn't want the stress of trying to handle that major while worrying about soccer.  Her parents really don't want her playing in college either for the same reason.  

Chicago643 posted:

 

With only 11.7 scholarships at D1, 9 at D2 and none at D3, and D1 capping those on scholarship on the roster at 27 and most schools not funding all their scholarships, it would appear more college baseball players are paying their own way than are receiving athletic aid. My son is in 8th grade and is a good student and hopes to play in college. 

 

This generally is not true. Not sure where you came up with that assumption.

It really has a lot to do with how you approach the process. True,  many parents are not as well informed and educated as they are here on the HSBBW, in the recruiting process. 

You do not have to spend a lot of money to get a scholarship. You do so because your son enjoys playing, and someday wants to play in college.

Start reading past topics and follow new ones, you will learn a lot about recruiting.

When your son enters HS, you can begin to formulate a plan based on his grades, his ability.  

The timeline  located to the left, (HSBaseballweb.com) is a bit outdated but you can get a good idea how to formulate a plan.

You can’t look at what you spend in terms of getting a financial ROI. It may happen (with a D1 partial). The money spent has to be evaluated in terms of does the player get where he wants to be. 

Travel team (17/18u) post soph and junior year - $1,700 (all expenses covered) each summer, team traveled from MA, NJ, OH, NC, GA and FL. We think the team was partially subsidized. 

2 individual regional showcases - $1,000

Refine swing hitting lessons winter before junior year - $1,000

Private SAT prep - $500

None of this includes my expenses following the team. It’s optional to attend. It cost more for me to travel to watch than my son to play. 

Post freshman year travel was relatively local including inexpensive local college camps (a couple at $150) done for experience.

Before high school travel was $500 per summer. We had three different tournament organizations within an hour. 

RJM --- how long ago was that?  Extremely rare to find that kind of pricing these days.  Time are changing quickly....

For older boy (2015):

Until he was in 14 I had got to coach he and his friends.  Only travel that we did was to Waco for state LL tournament.

14U year we were on a "local" travel team.  Only travel was to Colorado for Triple Crown WS.  Cost was about $700 for fall and $1,600 for spring.   We made the trip to Colorado our family vacation so that money was going to be spent either way. 

15U year we moved organizations and were on the "travel" 15U team for that org.  We played mostly local in DFW, but did travel to Lubbock and College Station I believe for a couple of long weekends.  About $2000 for the summer in team fees and uniforms.

16U and 17U were about the same, with travel to Georgia (2), Florida, Missouri (3).

18U year was mostly local trying to get to Farmington.  Went to Enid 2 times, and then to Farmington.  $1500 in fees and uniform.

Lessons were off and on, but probably less than $500/year.  Summer "baseball strong" was $600/year for 3 summers.

No showcases (as we had nothing to showcase other than getting kids out) and only 1 camp at Baylor.

So I'd estimate before travel we were in about $15K.  Most family vacations have become baseball vacations, so whatever we spent on trips would have probably been spent on the family vacation.  After 4 years at school we will come out ahead, and the memories are worth it even if we didn't.:

Youngest (2022, or 14u now):

Started in an organization at age 10.  Fees for the fall were around $600 and $1500 for the spring.  No travel that "required" overnight stays, although if we had an 8am game the next morning, I usually could be talked into spending the night, as everyone always slept while I drove anyway.  Uniforms were 300 or so.

Stayed in that org for 3 years until 13u season.

Last year (13u) and this year he is on a "funded" team and the only expenses we have are travel related.  We went go Georgia once last year, and will be going back 2 times next year and at least 1 time to Florida.  All other tournaments next summer will be local.  But next year's travel will also be our family vacations.

We have him in yoga ($50/month unlimited classes), speed/training ($200/month), batting 6 months a year @ 120/month (once a week) with older boys ex head coach.  So we are in for about $4000/year.

Anticipate that it will get more expensive the next few years in training and lessons, and a showcase or 2.

But the bottom line, both kids don't get in trouble, realize that we are helping them live their dream, appreciate everything that we do for them, and wake up every morning feeling good about themselves and their relationship with their mom and dad.  

They will be and are good kids/men from the lessons that they've learned on and off the field dealing with success, failure, friends, opponents, parents, coaches, and adults.  They are both mature beyond their years, and have experienced alot in a short time (relatively speaking).

Somehow I always think that some of this s/b tax deductible, but that is just the CPA in me thinking.

In Wisconsin there are 4, arguably 5 travel teams that regularly put players into D1 programs.  The cheapest of them is $2500 per year, the most expensive is $4200.  And that is before travel costs, and not including any extra classes or training sessions. 

3 of those 5 teams have B teams or C teams that don't usually put players into D1, and two of them will put you in the "trap" where they tell you that you made the team but you don't find out if you are on the A or B team until after you've put your money down and practiced with the team for 2 months.

If you don't make any of those teams there are a half dozen or more other teams that cost $2200 plus travel costs and mostly put players in D3 and mostly play in tournaments against other D3 bound teams or the dozen additional Daddy Ball and independent teams that still cost $2000 plus.

Depending on where you live, I really don't think the advice to "play for the best team you can" is the best advice in terms of development and getting recruited, if you don't make the top teams.

I didn't really view whatever we spent finding the best college baseball fit for our son as a financial investment with a return in the form of reduced college expense.  We just wanted to find a college with the best combination of top level baseball with highest possible academics that wanted him. To find a college that wanted him involved some camps and showcases and all the usual stuff. But I never thought of it as a cost/reward type of equation.

Rob Kremer posted:

I didn't really view whatever we spent finding the best college baseball fit for our son as a financial investment with a return in the form of reduced college expense... But I never thought of it as a cost/reward type of equation.

On target here! It's not cost/reward equation at all.