The studio I go to, and I haven't many choices where I live, has always charged students participating in showcases the same entry fee as non-participants. Many of us don't appreciate this since our efforts contribute to the success and income for those evenings, but like I mentioned, we don't have many options to exercise, or we would. I would be curious to hear what experiences others have had with this if at all.

You could try declining to participate, on the grounds that it doesn't seem to be a good investment and see if you get a better offer.

I agree with your suggestion. The answer would be that they would feel sorry that I'm not going to be in the program, and it would also be a social disaster for me at the studio. Many of us have nowhere else to go for lessons, practice, or otherwise in our area unless we can afford to travel a few hours away. I still participate because I can't afford to compete at this time, and the shows allow me a venue to perform in front of an audience. This allows me to test how well I do under pressure. I still think it's not the best practice to charge the people who help make your show the same admission fees you charge the general public. (Charge me to cover your cost of having me there, meals, etc.) So, I allow myself to feel this frustration, but have others been in the same situation? Believe me, if there were somewhere else, decent, to go nearby I'd be there. I fully beleive in shopping for a better deal.

The best thing you could do to control costs would be to form an amateur partnership - that opens up not only lower cost competition opportunities, but the possibility of doing performances out in the community away from the studio.

But a partner can of course be difficult to find in some demographics and locations.

Right now it sounds like you are kind of dependent on the studio - which means they can charge whatever they want.

When you talk about "entry fee" I want to make sure I am not confusing that with the cost to just attend the event and watch it.
By entry fee, I am assuming you mean a cost to actually dance in the showcase, since your subject line asks, "Charging participants?"
The only thing students at our studio have to pay for is the costumes. Not sure what the non-students have to pay above and beyond that.
Quite often, we get in showcase dances that don't call for a "costume" and we can just wear our nice dance clothes (suits for men, nice dress for ladies). But we have done cha-cha and others in which we had to rent costumes.
For the major studio production of "The Nutcracker" the cost of costume rental has actually been too much for us to be able to participate at this time, as much as we would enjoy doing a Viennese Waltz as part of the opening party scene.

" Entry " fees for students dancing "in house " has been around forever.

2/3 reasons. Teacher compensation, Studio cannot utilise floor space for teaching, and, sundry costs as in.. refreshments, DJ etc.

Studios are a BUSINESS,, why does no one ever seem to get it ?.

If you dont like the system , then find alternates ( or dont enter ) .

I do realize the business aspect of a dance studio, and I want the one I attend to be successful even though I disagreee with their practices. I often attend a social dance for a very short time, and they haven't wanted to take payment from me, but I insist because I want them to stay in business. Showcases are shows, and people pay a fee to attend and view the show. There is frequently dining, as well. All of this costs money. I get that. The students dancing in the shows are charged the same fee as the patrons viewing the show. I pay for my lessons leading up to the show, I pay for my costume, and more. If you are participating in the show, you rarely get to eat or even see much of it, but you are charged the same fee as those who get to sit down and do all of that. I am just curious if this is a normal experience for others.

I attend an independent studio with no pressure to buy packages, etc.

Yes, they charge showcase participants the same entry fee as non-participating audience. We all eat the same hot buffet.

Well, it is quite normal at several of the studios "(franchise or independent) that I was/am part of. Look at it this way, if you were to compete - you would be charged admission to the session your competing in, typically it is the same admission the viewing/sitting audience is charged. If you were to compete in a different session, e.g., nighttime or a different day session - you would be charged again..and the same amount for the viewing audience.