MEET FEES EXPLAINED
1. What charges are included in "meet fees"?
Individual event fees - this can range from $7.50 to $20.00, depending on the level of the meet. Meets designed for 8 & under swimmers tend to have lower fees ($4.50-$6.50 per event). Most common for in season meets is $10.00 per event. These fees are paid to the host team by TIDE in one check. TIDE then invoices individual members' accounts for the charges.
Relay event fees - each swimmer in a relay is charged 1/4 of the team relay fee. A relay event fee can range from $3.50 - $5.00 per swimmer for most in season meets. These fees are paid to the host team by TIDE in one check. TIDE then invoices individual members' accounts for the charges.
Virginia Swimming per swimmer fee - This is a fee charged ONCE to all swimmers in a meet. It helps the host team cover meet overhead and is usually set at $2.50 per swimmer. For championship meets sometimes the host team will add perks like online heat sheet / meet program access in which case the per swimmer fee may be higher. These fees are paid to the host team by TIDE in one check. TIDE then invoices individual members' accounts for the charges.
Tide Swimmer Surcharge ($7.50) - This is a fee collected by TIDE to help defray the cost of staffing meets. Meet staffing costs include not only hourly wages but mileage, per diem, and lodging costs for coaches who have to travel. This fee is invoiced with the meet fees above to all TIDE athletes participating in a given meet.
Total meet fees invoiced to a swimmer are then:
indiv event fees + relay fees + VA Swimming athlete surcharge + TIDE swimmer surcharge
2. When are meet fees invoiced to swimmer accounts?
Once we send TIDE's entries in to a host team, swimmers who have committed to the meet are obligated to pay the meet fees that correspond to their meet entries. Once payment has gone out to the host team, meet fees are NON-refundable.
Individual event meet fees + both per swimmer fees (Virginia Swimming + TIDE swimmer surcharge) are invoiced to your Tide account BEFORE the meet, based on our team meet entries.
Relay event meet fees are invoiced to your Tide account AFTER a meet and are based on ACTUAL RELAY RESULTS. That way, only swimmers who swam on relays pay relay fees.
Here is the confusion! Team Unify uses a formula when meet fees are batch invoiced that looks like this: 4I + 2R.
Please just IGNORE that formula! When we invoice individual event meet fees we will add "indiv" to the meet name like this: Nov2018: CGBD (indiv) (4I + 1R). Team Unify adds the equation in parentheses and we cannot prevent or remove that. Just ignore it!
When we invoice RELAY fees we will indicate it like this: Nov2018: CGBD (rel). So just look for the "indiv" or "rel" to know what the charges are for.
You will pay your meet fees on the first of the month after they are posted to your Tide account. So, if a meet occurs in the middle of, say, November, the meet fees will be charged to your credit card with your swimming dues on December 1.
3. How can I find out what the meet fees are for a meet?
Go to the Meet Page on our Team Unify (member login) website. A list of all of our meets and events is housed under the Meet & Event Sign Up menu tab.
Simply click on " Meet & Event Sign Up" and you'll get to the list of meets and events. For a given meet, simply click on its title and you'll arrive on a page like this:
At the bottom of the page will be a link to the Meet Invitation (circled above). This document contains information about the meet, including meet fees and the Order of Events (who swims what when). Click on the link and you will then be able to open the document. Scan down for "Fees" and you'll see the per event fees. YOU DO NOT SEND A CHECK TO TIDE. We charge your Tide account for your fees. The instructions about check payment only applies to TEAMS. Teams pay meet fees for their swimmers in one grand total to the host team.
4. My swimmer is a USA Swimming Outreach Athlete. When do I get the meet fee credits applied to my account?
We are required to send a special form along with printed out meet results for all participating Outreach Athletes to the Finance Chair of Virginia Swimming after the meet. He then approves the request for reimbursement and sends the information to the Treasurer of Virginia Swimming who cuts a check and sends it to TIDE. When we receive the reimbursement check we apply an account credit for the individual event meet fees that were charged to the Outreach Athlete accounts.
Curious about USA Swimming's Athlete Outreach Program? Click HERE. The information is on our team website at tideswimming.com
