Parents upset by dramatic increases in the athletic fees at Arlington High School are demanding answers about how their money is being spent, and why the school district has done away with a cap that prevented payments from spiraling into thousands of dollars for some families.

Doug Fagan is one of several dozen parents upset by the athletic fees approved by the School Committee last spring, when they went from a range of $235 to $315 for one sport to a range of $408 to $720. The committee also dropped a discount for students playing a second sport, as well as the policy of charging no fee for a third team, and a cap that prevented any family from paying more than $850 per year, said athletic director Ted Dever.

Surrounding communities charge much less for athletics, with Woburn having no fee for participating in sports; Belmont charges $450 for a high school student’s first sport, and smaller amounts for subsequent sports, and Lexington charges $300 per sport, with a family cap of $600.

Arlington’s fees were increased to avoid cutting the athletic program in a year when the district was facing a $4 million budget deficit, said Diane Johnson, its chief financial officer.

Fagan, whose son Sean is a high school senior hoping to get a college scholarship for wrestling, said that about a month ago a handful of parents got together at the Sons of Italy to discuss their frustration with the athletic fees. By the end of last month, several dozen parents attended one of the meetings. “It’s snowballing,’’ he said. “I couldn’t stop this if I wanted to now.’’

Fagan said parents want to know why they are paying so much money and what their money is being used for, especially for sports such as cross-country that do not have a lot of equipment costs, but still require the $480 fee.

The parents, Fagan said, also want the district to reinstate the family cap for athletic fees before some students are forced to stop playing because they can’t afford it. Without a cap, families with two or three children playing high school sports could be hit with several thousand dollars in fees.

Karen DeAlmeida, whose son is a high school senior, said the total fees for her son to play basketball and football have doubled to about $1,000.

DeAlmeida asked school officials whether she could pay $200 of the $528 football fee initially and provide the balance in installments. But DeAlmeida said she was told she had to pay the full amount upfront.  “We were forced to shift around money and these are hard times,’’ DeAlmeida said. “It’s almost double the cost, so it’s a huge adjustment. Everybody is feeling it.’’

But Johnson said the school district must charge the higher fees to pay for the athletic program. Fees are expected to cover about $430,000 of the district’s $550,000 athletic expenses, Johnson said. Last year, fees only accounted for about $179,000, she said.

Johnson said the fees “are a pain to collect’’ and make people angry, “but it’s a necessity at this point.’’

Dever said he expects the district will see a drop in the number of students playing sports in the spring, when three-sport athletes have to pony up for the third time.

Sports such as gymnastics and junior-varsity hockey that have a fee of $720 could also see a decline in the number of students who try out, he said.

Athletic director Dever said one of his biggest concerns is that the expensive fees will create a system in which only the students who have money will play sports, and other students either won’t play or will move to another school. “When you have fees as high as this, that is not necessarily creating a level playing field,’’ he said.

Curro said the district doesn’t want to eliminate any sports, but the schools have to pay for the programs somehow, and that has meant higher fees.  “If times get better,’’ he said, hopefully the district can “pull back the level of fees we’re asking parents to shoulder.’’