On Monday, March 12, 2018 at 2:10:30 PM UTC-4, wrote:

The USA may be the "richest country" in aggregate, but the vast majority of young people are far poorer than in Northern Europe, due to low paying jobs (if any) and student debt.


In some clubs with modern training fleets, older people pay higher fees compared to the younger people in the same club. Clubs that fly fully depreciated trainers charge much lower fees.

Here are the 2017 fees at Sugarbush
http://sugarbushsoaring.com/doc/rate-sheet-2017.pdf

On top of the fees, there are gifts of cash, professional services and the usual volunteers. Some members that only fly occasionally (or not at all), still pay their dues. A number of people make tax-deductible contributions to FEFY which funds youth programs like Line Crew, scholarships for Youth Camp, and training scholarships for CPL-glider.

Bottom line: A lot of people put in more than they take out. (This is also true of youth members.)