In June, the Framingham School Committee voted 3-2 to bump its athletic fee to $250. The $50 increase was the latest in a series of hikes dating back to 2008, when the fee was $100.

Ashland's fees have climbed even higher than Framingham. The costs now range from a low of $259 per athlete for sports like track and cheerleading to $335 for more expensive programs like ice hockey and gymnastics.

Several districts in MetroWest have also scrapped the concept of family caps, which spare families with multiple athletes from having to pay the full combined price of the fees.

The fact that towns like Arlington are now charging $720 for a single hockey season raises fears they could rise again.

"We're sticking it to the parents, who are willing to pay," she said. "The last thing I want to see is us at L-S filling the school's budget cuts on the backs of athletes' parents. It's not fair."

L-S's fee is now at $300 per sport, a $175 increase since 2001. Fees now account for roughly 60-65 percent of the athletic department's budget, O'Neil said.

Fees at Algonquin Regional High School pay for about 25 percent of athletic director Fran Whitten's budget. The school's sports fee has been incrementally bumped from $50 to $100 and finally to $200 over the past few years.

Many officials have defended athletic fee hikes as an alternative to cutting the areas of the budget that will directly affect classrooms. Even some athletic directors said they would rather not have their programs be spared if it means hurting students' education.

"I don't think we're going to see the school budget playing any larger role - if anything we're going in the opposite direction," said O'Neil. "But I don't feel like going over $300 is the solution either."

To stave off further fee increases, many athletic directors said they rely more on coaches, booster groups and parents to shoulder the load of running their programs.  "Booster groups are going to become much more pivotal," said Leone.

O'Neil said schools may even have to start looking beyond their usual fundraising groups.  "Personally, I think we should be exploring corporate sponsorships," she said.

Fees per sport by high school:

Algonquin: $200; Ashland: $259-$335; Framingham: $250; Holliston: $200; Hopkinton: $125; Hudson: $100; Lincoln-Sudbury: $300; Marlborough: $150; Natick: $150; Wayland: $225.