Congratulations. Today you figured out that startup accelerators, incubators, hubs, conferences and hackathons are just businesses trying to make money out of your enthusiasm and efforts. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to turn a profit.

To answer your question, some of them take equity and others take cash. Either way, you're getting screwed. Unless, of course, you just keep finding investors to pour money into it. If that's your objective, the price is usually worth it.