Is your club running short on cash? It can be tough on college students to bear the costs of travel, hotel rooms, indoor court time and equipment. Many clubs charge dues of more than $200 a year, and $200 can be tough to round up when you have books, food, clothes and nights out to pay for. So what can you do to alleviate these costs to your players?

1. Give group tennis lessons to students and the community. Charge a decent rate of $10 per person for an hour and a half group lesson, or charge a higher fee for a series of lessons. Example: You get 20 people to take lessons, and have them pay $50 for an hour and a half for 5 straight Sundays. 20 people x $50 is $1000. Have each of your players pick a weekend to teach, with 4 instructors per day. If you don't think students would pay for this, reach out to the community. Many parents would love to get their children tennis lessons at an affordable rate. If it got popular, you could even do 2 clinics.

2. Apply for a grant from NIRSA, ITA or USTA. They all have grant programs that are designed to help club tennis programs out. Also, if you register your club for USA Team Tennis with the USTA, they will grant you funds. See your USTA Sectional Coordinator for more details.

3. Look into a fundraising organization. You could sell Coupon booklets, credit cards, or even popcorn. www.prettygoodpopcorn.com/ had plenty of products that you could raise funds with. Check http://www.fundraisingdirectory.com/ for many opportunities.

4. Host a tournament for students. Market the tournament with fliers all across campus. People love getting involved at the beginning of the year. If you charge an entry fee of $10 and get 50 students to play, that'll be $500 right there. Make it a double-elimination tournament with 8 game pro sets over a weekend.

5. Offer to clean venues after varsity sporting events. Penn State offers their club sports to clean Beaver Stadium after football games. Propose this to your athletic or club sports department.

And if any of these fail, go to your student government. They should have programs designed to help out clubs.