The drama club is printing t-shirts for its members. The printing company charges a certain amount for each shirt plus a setup fee of \( \$ 40 \). There are 21 students in the drama club. If there are 21 students in the club, and the \( t \)-shirt order costs a total of \( \$ 187 \), how much does each \( t \)-shirt cost? \( \$ 5 \) \( \$ 7 \) \( \$ 11 \)

Let \( x \) be the cost of each t-shirt. The total cost for the t-shirts can be expressed as: \[ \text{Total Cost} = \text{Setup Fee} + (\text{Cost per Shirt} \times \text{Number of Shirts}) \] Given that the setup fee is \( \$ 40 \), the number of shirts is 21, and the total cost is \( \$ 187 \), we can set up the equation: \[ 187 = 40 + 21x \] To solve for \( x \), first subtract the setup fee from both sides: \[ 187 - 40 = 21x \] \[ 147 = 21x \] Next, divide both sides by 21: \[ x = \frac{147}{21} \] Calculating the right side: \[ x = 7 \] Thus, the cost of each t-shirt is \( \$ 7 \). The answer is \( \$ 7 \).