SR540Beaver; "A neighboring council came for $1800. However, they spent 27 hours on a bus driving straight thru and went minimalist in their gear to get it all on the bus........They slept on the ground for 10 days in Eureka Timberline tents and their flies were basically tarps with four lightweight poles. The guided their own touring."

Finally a council that gets it. Of course they could of cut the cost more if they went with $40 Ozark tents, instead $150 Eureka Timberline tents.

SR540Beaver; "BSA standards call for 32 sq ft of space per boy for long term camping and sleeping up off the ground if I recall correctly."

I've never heard of this please point us in the right direction on where to find this information.

GM,
that's a national standard for resident camping, of which Jambo is considered, if memory serves.

Gary,

AS far as the BSA has come in moving into the 21st century, finding any pertinent information on their website is darn near impossible. It seems they work on a needs to know basis and evidently most of us don't need to know. I googled and found this 2008 document from meritbadge.org. Look at M-42 on page 11 of this PDF document. It calls for 30 square feet per scout and comfortable bedding. In 2005, we used 8x8 BSA wall tents and that is where I came up with the 32 sq ft claim. So, we exceeded the standard by 2 sq ft. In 2010, we used 10x10 Alps Mountaineering tents.

http://meritbadge.org/wiki/images/e/ee/2008_Resident_Camp_Standards.pdf

Editted to say: Gary, you could of course go cheaper by going with lower cost tents like the Ozark tents. That being said, you often get what you pay for and when that is your only shelter for 10 days, you want it to last. Previous Jambos have had remnants of hurricanes blow thru and many tents were lost. Our council took orders to sell the tents before we ever left for Jamboree. Many troops and individuals took the opportunity to purchase good tents that had only been used for 10 days at a great discount. While we did not pay the full price of $270 per tent, we sold them for $95 which helped keep our end cost low.(This message has been edited by sr540beaver)

I wasn't able to find any reference to sleeping "off the ground" at long-term camp.

The applicable standard for tenting appears to be:

Each camper is provided with a minimum of 30 square feet of sheltered space for sleeping and storing personal gear. This does not apply to outpost or off-camp camping or unit-supplied tentage.
All camp-provided and unit-provided tentage used in the camp meets or exceeds fire-retardant specifications by the manufacturer (CPAI-84) and no flames in tent is marked on, or adjacent to, each tent.
All campers have clean quarters reasonably safe from inclement weather, and comfortable bedding. - Standard M-45 (Mandatory)

http://nerbsa.org/filestore/regions/neregion/program/campschool/visitation/2010_Resident_Camp_Standards.pdf

Our contingent (my older son went, not me) charged $1500, and I felt it was slightly on the high side.

It covered: Jamboree fee; overnight bus trip from northern Massachusetts (about 12 hours), and return trip (3-day tour); housing at a Cub Scout resident camp, near Philadelphia, for two nights; tour trips to Independence Hall, National Constitution Museum, Dorney Park (an amusement park) and the Eastern State Penitentiary. Jamboree clothing and equipment: a windbreaker, hat and neckerchief. Two Jamboree patches, one t-shirt (more available at extra cost). Small and large duffel bags. All patrol equipment (tents, flies, cooking equipment, etc). One training weekend.

The one major thing I don't like: the contingent fronts the cost of the equipment, but the council auctions off the used equipment afterward, and as far as I know, pockets the cash. I've heard it is to offset expenses, but since these expenses (or even the budget in general) are never disclosed, I'm not sure now the balance works out. I did hear that the council scrapped plans for a DC tour so that the overall cost per scout would not change.

Guy

LETS GET Back to the Topic...............

We paid $1500. Youth and Adults paid the same price. Included was the following:

Jambo Fee
Daypack,2 tee shirts, water bottle, patches, hats
Bus transportation to and from Long Island
2 nights in a hotel + meals with 1 1/2 days in DC (No formal agenda).
Basic Council owned Jambo gear (tents, patrol boxes, stoves, tables, tarps, etc....)
Gear transported both ways by volunteer driven rental trucks.

shortridge,

The only thing I see is "comfortable bedding" and that is a relative term. Because the buses were picking us up at 6 AM the last day of Jambo, we had to totally pack up camp into our semi-trailer the evening before. I had to give up my "comfortable" cot and self inflating thermarest pad for a piece of plastic on the "uncomfortable" ground. I'm 53 and have a bad neck and shoulders. If I'd had to spend the whole 10 days on the ground, I couldn't have made the trip. The summer camps our troop has gone to in recent years are beginning to provide cots or actual beds inside the wall tents they provide. Hence my comment about bedding off the ground. It all depends on what one considers long term "comfortable bedding".

Our council cost was $1650. That covered attendance, bus transport to/from (roughly 10 hours each way), T-shirt, hat, patches/necker, new jambo tents for the contingent (sold to interested participants at cost, at the end).

No matching luggage and no touring included. That choice was made based on local economic conditions (lousy in MI) and families' budgets. I'm ok with that. The boys used the same packs they'd use to go to regular scout camp, which they all owned already. And as for touring, the DC area isn't so far away that this might be a once-in-a-lifetime trip for our kids. From the sound of things, while they had a very positive jambo experience, most of them were ready to be home after 10 days anyway.

Anybody west of the Mississippi want to chime in? The cost goes up the further west you are from AP Hill.

As a visitor from Iowa, I'd ballpark my cost at round $800 for just one day, round trip tickets, food for 6 days as trains take a while and $60 on site spending for food, drink and two shirts and 8 patchs. Only place I saved was housing as I stayed with family.

Our contingent fee was $3000. It included airfare from Anchorage to Washington, six nights in a motel in DC, five days of touring (with a tour company), meals, bus to A.P Hills & back to airport, Jamboree fee, large duffel bag, two JSPs, two jamboree troop numeral patches, patrol patches, two polo shirts, a hat, & a visor. The council bought tents and pre-sold them at half price to parents & troops (to be given to the new owners after the Jamboree). It did not include the airline baggage fee ($50). The scouts were required to bring two Class A uniforms and their own sleeping bag, cot (if desired), mess kit, etc. It seems like it should have been possible to reduce the fee but I know the council went over budget. Like others, there hasn't been any accounting and I probably won't ever see one.

C

Our contingent fee was $1500. This included the Jamboree fees, two t shirts, a baseball cap, neckerchief, two sets of CSPs and Troop numbers plus position patches where applicable, a hydration day pack, foot lockers, wall tents, the bus trip to and from Michigan, a day tour thru Gettysbug, 4 nights in DC (staying at a military base), 3 days of touring DC, and all meals to and from as applicable. Camp kitchens, rain flies, and cots were all borrowed and tents went to the council when we were done. All in all, I think we got quite a good deal.

My son's old council in GA cost $1750 or so. That was bus up and back, three days hotels and meals, two days touring in DC/Mt Vernon, new tents sold afterward, patrol boxes and gear, duffel, hat, windbreaker, necker, some patches. On top of that we had round trip from Germany, but my husband's frequent flier miles covered that.

I do know that Heart of VA, right there in Richmond, charged similar or higher, even though they were only 1-2 hours away depending on where the bus departed. I heard some mutterings about that at a family picnic.

Those of you who traveled from a good distance away, glad to see you all got to take in some sights on the way. I hope you enjoyed it.

I can't remember how much Jambo cost for us, but it wasn't as much as what you all are throwing out. That being said, it must be taken into consideration my council is only about three hours away driving distance.