HOW much money does it take to train like a champion? Lots.

At the competitive level, ''figure skating is one of the more expensive sports to participate in, depending on what vigor you want to approach the sport with,'' said Craig Maurizi, director of figure skating at the Ice House in Hackensack.

Group lessons for beginners run $100 for six one-hour sessions. But competitive skaters require much more frequent and more personalized coaching. At the Ice House, private lessons cost about $30 to $46 for 30 minutes, not including ice time, for which skaters have to pay the rink $10 per hour, Mr. Maurizi said.

A competitive skater who is training on the ice two hours a day, five days a week probably spends about $400 to $500 per month in ice fees, plus coaching fees. And that's not including off-ice training in conditioning and ballet, plus sessions with a choreographer that can cost $70 to $80 an hour

Equipment jacks up expenses further. A single pair of skates is usually enough, said Mr. Maurizi, but a competitive skater can't get by with any old model from a toy or sporting goods shop. Top-of-the-line skates run about $250 a pair. Add $80 to $100 per skating outfit, plus $300 for a competition-caliber skating dress or outfit, plus accessories.

The family of Lori Moran-Ditchkus, the former director of figure skating at the Ice House who was killed in the Swissair plane crash in 1998, has set up a scholarship fund to help defray costs for skaters in training.

Despite the hefty cost of pre-competition training, the Ice House is not lacking for skaters with lofty ambitions. Although most skaters -- about 750 -- take recreational lessons, 141 are in the competitive program. Six of these skaters are expected to take part in the U.S. National Figure Skating Championship in Cleveland in February. (Hockey skaters outnumber the figure skaters, though. Mr. Maurizi estimates there are more than 1,000 skaters who participate in youth hockey leagues at the Ice House.) MARY ANN CASTRONOVO FUSCO