Do you need a USCF membership to join chess tournaments?

I am starting a chess club at my high school, and of course I'm interested in my club joining tournaments!  However, upon research, many of the tournaments show their USCF rating restrictions. Sadly, for $25 a year to create a membership I feel that not many club members might be willing to pay simply to play. I would really appreciate those who can point out how I can join chess tournaments with my club for free, with these tournaments having any prize at the end whether it be a trophy or gift card (cause of course you want to win something for winning at a tournament ). What would be even better if some how USCF works with high school chess clubs and we all can get a discount? If not, I'll just keep looking for non-USCF tournaments, or maybe do fundraising to get memberships for those who want them. Thanks!

Edit: I forgot to mention my high school is in New York, Long Island. My club probably can travel up to anywhere in the 5 boroughs. 

My first tournament in HS was $31, all in. that included USCF, state affiliation, and entry fee.

And we thought that HURT.

(back in 1985 or 1986, I think)

lol having a tournament against each other is probably what we will do, but it's also fun playing people you've never met before and going out traveling rather than stay in one room all the time . Varelse, lol I guess maybe because prize pools got larger the fees get larger as well xD

You can hold unrated tournaments. Though, you may not get many outside players that way. But for scholastics, in many areas, that is fine.

If you want to run rated tourneys, you need a sponsoring USCF Affiliate, a certified TD, and every player will have to have a current USCF membership.

no, I was in a local tournament a long time ago, and I wasn't in USCF

There are also ways affiliates can get discounted USCF memberships, outside of the $3 commission they can use as a discount for selling the membership directly to the members.

They have a scholastic membership program where the cost is discounted. As mentioned, they have to be bought through an affiliate, are only good for K-12, and prices depend on how many you buy. Unused memberships expire in 9 months:

https://secure2.uschess.org/voucher/

lets say I did not want to run a rated tournament, then all I need is the USCF membership to play other tournaments right?

If you wanted to run a rated tourney, under the USCF, then you need a certified TD (who has to have a membership), a sponsoring affiliate (which is $40 a year membership if you can't find one that exists to sponsor your event) and every player has to have a membership.

Once you have the membership, you can play in USCF rated tournaments until your membership expires.

thanks for the help!

If you (or your team) personally want to play in USCF tournaments you all need individual memberships that's usually it. $20-$40/year isn't much at all. That's the only barrier to entry, but then you'll have to pay to enter each tournament as well. That's just the way it works. Fees cover costs and prizes.

To play matches hosted by local clubs that advertise as "USCF Rated" you must have an active USCF membership because the club will report the results to USCF for rating and if you don't have an account it will screw up the whole thing. Some clubs require their own membership fee, but often not to play in tournaments. They are generally open to public and will have a unique Entry fee for the event.

If you want to run a club/ host a tournament:

You can run a free USCF rated tournament ie: without charging players to participate. but you'll probably want to cover your expenses. It's not unusual for tournaments to have entry fees. You can set the price to whatever you want from $0 - $1,000,000+.

To run club that uses USCF: (this is posted here already but i'm updating as of 2024)

1. You'll need a TD who runs tournaments with USCF rules. This can be you or someone else. A TD is a USCF member who signs up to be TD at almost no extra cost (however, there is a "SafeSport" bullying and sexual harassment course they must take as of June 1 2024 which is $20 first time $9/yr there after. Larger events require more certification but anyone can start with small stuff any time).

2. You'll need to register an affiliate (a club USCF membership just like an individual. $40/year. takes two minutes to set up)

3. After an event, you'll pay $0.50 per game to have the results and ratings updated and published. (say, 20 players 3 rounds, = 30 games = $15)

4. You'll need chess sets and clocks or you can tell people to bring their own.

That's it. if you can find a space for free, your costs will be minimal.

NOTE: Non USCF tournaments require none of the above. They are just fun internal functions and you can do what you please. Just call yourself a "TD" and supervise the proceedings.

I'd be interested to know what you ended up doing after all this time.