Camps with financial help

There are a wide variety of camps available for kids of different age groups. While many overnight and day camps are expensive many camps go out of their way to make fees affordable or even cheap for parents with several children or who may just be cash-strapped.

There are cheap and affordable summer camp under many different types, including sports, music, dance, art, technology, languages and much more. Parents faced with the challenge of finding camps that are enjoyable, reasonably priced, and valuable for the money have a wide variety of options.

Camps listed below offer financial aid making them affordable for families. Many camps offer some sort of financial assistance to families and these affordable summer camps cover a portion or all of the camp enrollment fees. Although assistance of this type is usually awarded based on need, parents need to apply early for the same. We also list camps offering sibling discounts.

There are a number of other ways to find reasonably priced camps

Fees to attend camp vary widely and some ACA-Accredited® camps have truly low fees. Among resident camps, one out of four camps has weekly fees between $100 and $300 only. You can search for low cost camps by finding the type of camp you want in our advanced camp search then sorting through the camp details column to find camps with low fees.

Grants and sponsors allow some summer camps to be free for kids. Art, writing, theater, math, science and reading are some of the themes of these free camps. You can find camp scholarships listed in our financial aid listings. 

In fact, many good camps are subsidized by arts and education funding. We provide a list of charities and government subsidies to pay all or part of camp fees. You should also note that government subsidies are available for things like learning ESL, for which you may be eligible if you attend an ESL summer camp. 

Day camps are an affordable option as compared to weekend camps or week-long camps. Campers can enjoy similar activities to those they would experience by going away and the costs are much more within your means. Fewer hours or less days can also help slash costs without taking away from the camp experience.

Other ways to get deals or save money on camp fees
A large number of summer camps offer discounts for early registration, full-season enrollment or multiple enrollments. Group or family enrollments are particularly beneficial and the large discounts can give you an affordable summer camping experience. There are also tax breaks for children's fitness offered by some provinces, including Ontario. The amount of the credit is based on adjusted gross income and applies to federal taxes only. Transport, meals and accommodation may also be subsidized at many of the reputed summer camps in Canada. Several nonprofit organizations run inexpensive and affordable summer camps each year, allowing kids to have a great camping experience in less money.