Breaking to Finals or Breaking the Bank?

Besides 1-3 competitors who come and go, I am the only competitor on my school's team. I am from a rural school in West Virginia where the speech and debate team didn’t even exist four years ago. I’ve had minimal formal coaching, and the only resources we truly invest in are debate briefs. At the start of this season, my team had maybe $11, give or take.

For a small, rural team in a state that already has a declining speech and debate program, with less than ten schools having NSDA memberships, competing hasn’t been easy. It’s taken intense amounts of time and dedication to get to the point I am at, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities and help I’ve had from my coach and peers that helped me get to this point. All things aside, despite our team being around for a few years, there’s still one thing we struggle with above all: money.

In the past, we’d held several fundraisers, with limited success. Our most profitable venture was a tournament we hosted this year, which brought in several hundred dollars that will be used for travel and entry expenses. 

Even though we’ve made a tremendous amount of progress in our financial journey, we still lack adequate funding. As a competitor, I have to pay for my own entry fees for tournaments, and I typically have to travel to out-of-state tournaments as an independent entry, as we wouldn’t have the money for me to compete otherwise. Although I’ve been able to compete at a few tournaments on the national circuit that way, the cost of travel, judging, entry fees, and even school fees has probably been one of the biggest downers on my forensics career.

I love speech and debate. Not to be that sappy speech kid, but I wouldn’t be the person I am if I didn’t join speech and debate my freshman year of high school. Speech and debate has had a profound impact on my life, aspirations, and perspective on various issues. If you can, I highly recommend anyone in high school at least set aside some time to learn about their school’s program, if there is one, and maybe try it.

Even if it’s not your cup of tea, speech and debate is arguably a largely beneficial extracurricular, as it helps you learn time management, improve your writing and rhetoric, and become comfortable with public speaking, which are vital skills applicable to a wide range of careers. In any case, speech and debate is an amazing experience, but for lots of disadvantaged competitors, an egregious invoice is what discourages a lot of kids from competing.

According to DebateUS!, tournaments can cost upwards of several thousand dollars. Using DebateUS!’s numbers, this is roughly the cost of attending one national tournament for one competitor who has to hire a judge: entry fees will be around $20-$90; a judge will be around $75; transportation is up to $1,000 per day for a bus, or $350 dollars per flight, if you fly — keep in mind, if you fly, you’ll have to rent a car out to travel to your hotel, which will be approximately $300 per car for one weekend; and lodging can be anywhere from $50-$75 per student. Assuming the tournament is three days long, Thursday-Saturday, and you take a bus each day, one national tournament can total to around $3,240 ($90+$75+$1,000(3)+$75).

That’s how much competing at one national tournament can cost — it’s important to note that that doesn’t even factor in NSDA memberships, resources, like briefs, travel expenses, including gas, or even food and other essentials. Not to mention it’s not calibrated to any specific tournament, meaning entry fees, the cost of a hired judge, and travel expenses can be much higher. Competing at the national level isn’t cheap; and, for many competitors from financially disadvantaged teams, success at that level is hardly realistic simply because of the monetary hurdles one has to face.  

Obviously, not every national tournament is thousands of dollars. Still, that's a possible figure one school or competitor may have to pay for a single tournament. 

Besides financial stress, this has several implications:

1. Disadvantaged competitors, whether they’re from low-income or rural backgrounds, who can’t afford to compete at the national level lose representation and opportunities. Rarely do we see competitors from such backgrounds in final rounds. Within the last three years I’ve competed in forensics, my state has only had three competitors advance to the final round of a national tournament. These competitors are extremely talented, and worked hard to succeed at the level at which they did; but can you imagine how many opportunities they missed by being unable to compete at other national level tournaments due to the financial constraints their team faced?

For teams in rural states like West Virginia, fundraising is a constant; most teams lack adequate funding from their schools, and the little funding they do receive only goes so far. Between entry fees, travel expenses, and lodging, among other things, competing at a tournament out-of-state can be costly — hence why many teams do not venture far from the local circuit. So, not only are less and less financially disadvantaged competitors represented at the national level due to the cost of competition, but the ability to gain those experiences of competing at such tournaments, alongside earning bids and recognition, is all but a dream.

2. Competition at the national level is discouraged. When you consider how much it costs to compete, added with the issue of gaining the funds for such a mission in the first place, it’s easy to understand why many teams are hesitant of competing at the national level — it’s not cheap or accessible.

Even if you, as a competitor, can afford to travel to out-of-state tournaments on your own, the lack of acceptance of independent entries at the national level, coupled with the burden of school fees, is daunting. Independent entries could be a temporary solution, but it glosses over the real issue with money and forensics. If you are not financially privileged, competing in speech and debate is costly, overwhelming, and troublesome. Instead of worrying about breaking in your event, your career becomes more focused on not breaking the bank. 

As someone who regularly competes as an independent entry, it’s arguably harder and more expensive to compete that way as opposed to competing with my team. I have to cover my own fees, judging is extremely time consuming, hotel rooms don’t get any cheaper, and driving often takes longer, as we have to drive further for tournaments that allow independent entries, as they’re often barred at local tournaments and completely outlawed in West Virginia (though, since my team goes to every local tournament, that isn’t as huge of an issue for me).

Furthermore, coaching in debate or speech is pricey, at times being hundreds of dollars for a few sessions. Above all, where does this leave the little guy? Where does this leave competitors, who have so much potential, but can’t afford to attend national level tournaments or receive coaching they would have access to if they had the funding to do so? 

Forensics is an amazing activity, but sometimes the costs of competing end up outweighing the benefits. The most important thing is to not give up hope; it may take a while and a lot of hard work, but any money you are able to receive, whether it’s from donations or fundraisers, is better than nothing.

It’s a terrible card disadvantaged competitors are dealt; no matter what, the financial barriers to compete in forensics are a hindrance to all, even if they don’t totally debilitate one from competing. As someone who went through an adjacent experience, my advice is to firstly, keep trying and work on current initiatives to receive more funding, but secondly, to make the best of what you have. I know it’s corny, but as disadvantaged competitors, there is only so much one can do to overcome that financial obstacle. Even if it’s not a lot, attending free tournaments, such as the NSDA Springboard Series or Equality in Forensics’ Free Weekly Scrimmages, is a tiny way to compete at a lower cost. Finding someone who will judge you for free, including a coach, a parent, or a former competitor, removes the worry of having to hire a judge.

If you’re not in that situation, I urge you to appreciate the time you have in forensics. Many kids don’t get to compete due to the financial barriers they face, and it’s easy to overlook the privilege we have in being able to compete without having to worry about funding. I’m not saying you have to donate to your friends or fellow competitors if they lack appropriate funding (though that would be nice), but support your friends who are in that situation, whatever that may look like.