Money, Money, Money, and I’m not referring to an Ed McBain 87th Precinct novel.

Last week, I received copy of a survey Oak Harbor High School is conducting regarding athletic fees.

The survey requests information on the grade and gender of students, how many and what sports they participate in and how many and what sports they plan to play next year.

Also, the survey asks if the district was to increase the activity fee to $100 per player, per sport next year, would students continue to play multiple sports. And if not, which ones would they give up.

I spoke with several parents of OHHS students that play multiple sports and they are upset about the proposed fee increase.

Let’s take a look at the facts and figures for a moment.

Say you have a boy and a girl in your family and they are both three-sport athletes. Believe me, there are quite a number of students who don the Wildcats’ purple and gold in the fall, winter and spring seasons.

Your son plays football and baseball, and also swims, while your daughter plays soccer, basketball and runs track.

Do the math, that’s $600 you have to come up with in addition to $25 each in ASB fees.

Six Benjamins and a half-yard, that’s a considerable amount of money for some families to fork over. Particularly for families who are struggling with the price of everything else going through the roof.

That amount doesn’t take into account all the other expenses a student athlete and his family incur during a particular season. Stuff like football, soccer and basketball shoes, warm-up jerseys and hoodies, mouth pieces, swim goggles and all the other little items required to take the field, step on the court or dive in the pool.

In a recent article about Camp Moran one of my colleagues wrote, which, by the way, will cost an estimated $100 for a two-night stay next year, he made mention about school staff contacting community groups to provide scholarships for low-income families.

He wrote that “this year, 54 students received a full or partial scholarship.” This year, the camp was for four nights and cost each student $125.

Has anybody given consideration about doing the same thing for athletes?

Permit me to leap upon my soapbox for a moment and rail about equal opportunity. It would sure be a tragedy if athletic competition boiled down to only those kids whose parents could afford to pay being the ones who put the uniforms on.

Everyone from the President on down is screaming about how America’s children are overweight and out of shape so what do you think is going to happen if dollars dictate participation? You can bet your last money more video games will be sold or rented and more potato chips and hot pockets will be consumed.

Most of us received our “stimulus checks,” courtesy of George W. Perhaps this money could be used as “economic stimulus” through high school athletics.

But then again, your wife would have to wait until the next time the economy goes belly up to receive another stimulus check to be able to purchase that new refrigerator she has been wanting.

In life you sometimes have to make hard choices — athletics or appliances.