Most parents sign an agreement at the beginning of the year agreeing to pay your tuition and other expenses every month, just like you signed the agreement to pay your mortgage company every month. A family's financial burden shouldn't be a gym owner's financial burden. That being said, a gym shouldn't be tacking on random crap throughout the year that is a requirement to buy. All mandatory practice wear and other fees should be put in writing up front, and everything else throughout the year should be optional. You can't just "spontaneously" decide to buy $500 worth of practice wear throughout the year because you've "spontaneously" decided to go to dallas. A plain black sports bra, black spandex and black soffees does the same thing as a blinged out, sparkly, personalized sports bra, spandex and shorts set. Then again, usually bad finances aren't usually just thrown upon you. How many of these parents use coupons when they shop, are rooming with as many people as possible at comps, bringing their own snacks to comps, passing on the memorobelia shirt their cp HAS to have, etc. I feel like it's probably split down the middle: half of these cases the gym owner asked for it, and half the parents were irresponsibly spending to begin with.