Class tuition?

Korppi76

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I teach in two clubs and few different arts and we have fees for 6 months: 110€ to 130€ for adults and 75€ to 100€ for kids. Or if you like 3-5€/class. You get family discount per members of family in same club.
Prices depends of MA you want to practice.(Aikido, Judo, Taido, Jujutsu or Kali)

Practices are 6-7 times per week.

Test fees are 15 to 20€ ( if you pass test) for lower belts and Black belts are tested by national MA federations and they have their own fees.
Seminars are usually 10-20€ per day and there is usually 1-3 per half year.

We require all students have some sort of insurance and we recommend federations licenses which contains insurances.

I don't get paid for teaching except if I teach on seminars (usually only one per year). Although I get free food on parties :).

For private classes I teach those only if I have time and usually I don't ask money from them.



ps. Sorry for all language mistakes
 

marques

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I'm curious and just trying to get an idea...

Teachers, what do you charge for tuition? Is it monthly, weekly, by the class? How many classes/hours are offered? If you are part of an organization or teaching under another instructor, are there any licensing or certification dues for teaching?

Students, what do you pay for tuition? Is it monthly, weekly, by the class? How many classes/hours are offered?

What is generally the cost of seminars an/or grading?

What is the cost for private lessons?

Is there any sort of annual or organizational fees?
  • Portugal, essentially monthly payments. Should be about 30€ these days. I payed also insurance, yearly.
  • France, mostly yearly from 250€. Or overpriced monthly options.
  • UK, often per training (from £5/hr, more expensive on the South) or monthly.
Gradings, about 20€/£ which may include belts, documentation...
 
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Balrog

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How many classes per week are included under those different levels? Are there testing or organizational fees as well?
The Basic program is 2-3 classes a week. BBC gets an extra class per week, Leadership gets two. Both of them include weapons training.

We have a flat rate color belt testing fee of $65. Black Belt testing fees are set by ATA and work out to be rank x $100.
 

Dirty Dog

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Our YMCA-based program is $40/month with scholarships available for those who can't afford the fee. We offer two 1-hour classes on Tuesday and Thursday and one 90-minute class on Saturday.
Testing fees start at $42.
 

JR 137

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Just wondering why do you charge $65 for testing fee? Do you need to open your school on a special day? Or is it an extra training or is the test during a normal class?

Our school €25 a month, 2x 90 minutes lessons a week, no tests no belts no annual fees for some sort of organisation who does nothing for their members :)
Some schools use testing money to supplement their cash flow. In other words, they charge $x per month in tuition and $y for testing. When you add those up, it equals $z which is what the school needs to stay afloat.

Some schools pay testing/certificate fees to an overseeing organization. My CI pays per certificate given, which come from our honbu (headquarters dojo).

And some charge it just because they can. And everything in between.
 

Gerry Seymour

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Our YMCA-based program is $40/month with scholarships available for those who can't afford the fee. We offer two 1-hour classes on Tuesday and Thursday and one 90-minute class on Saturday.
Testing fees start at $42.
I'd be interested in chatting with you sometime about how you handle that scholarship program, DD. I've considered offering one (perhaps only if I offer teens' classes).
 

Gerry Seymour

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Some schools use testing money to supplement their cash flow. In other words, they charge $x per month in tuition and $y for testing. When you add those up, it equals $z which is what the school needs to stay afloat.

Some schools pay testing/certificate fees to an overseeing organization. My CI pays per certificate given, which come from our honbu (headquarters dojo).

And some charge it just because they can. And everything in between.
I think sometimes adding testing fees is the least painful way to raise overall tuition. It has the least impact on existing students (the longer they've been training, the longer between tests, usually).
 

Tony Dismukes

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I think sometimes adding testing fees is the least painful way to raise overall tuition. It has the least impact on existing students (the longer they've been training, the longer between tests, usually).
I dislike testing fees as a revenue stream because I think they create perverse incentives for instructors and students.

Instructors have a financial incentive to promote students whether or not they are ready.
Students have a financial incentive to avoid being promoted.
Students who work harder to progress faster are financially penalized.

If rank is going to exist in a system, I'd rather it be as much as possible an indicator of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the practitioner rather than a reflection of someone's finances.
 

Balrog

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Just wondering why do you charge $65 for testing fee? Do you need to open your school on a special day? Or is it an extra training or is the test during a normal class?

Our school €25 a month, 2x 90 minutes lessons a week, no tests no belts no annual fees for some sort of organisation who does nothing for their members :)
ATA does a lot for its members. I guess that's the difference. A chunk of the fee goes in to HQ and that is the primary source of funding for the operation. We keep the rest. I could have been raising the testing fees as I personally promoted in rank, but we didn't for the last two promotions.
 

Gerry Seymour

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I dislike testing fees as a revenue stream because I think they create perverse incentives for instructors and students.

Instructors have a financial incentive to promote students whether or not they are ready.
Students have a financial incentive to avoid being promoted.
Students who work harder to progress faster are financially penalized.

If rank is going to exist in a system, I'd rather it be as much as possible an indicator of the knowledge, skills, and abilities of the practitioner rather than a reflection of someone's finances.
I go back and forth on this. I agree with your points, but I do like the idea that it puts less strain on long-term students. And I probably like it because I meandered through the ranks. If the fees aren't very high, it's not much of a difference to the folks who move quickly. Whether you pay $50 once a year or three times, that's not a huge difference.

As for the incentive to promote, there's a conundrum. If you collect whether they pass or not, but they only pay once per rank, you put in more time without more pay (financial incentive to promote). If you collect at every test, there's an incentive NOT to pass them - and an incentive to the student not to test until they are certain they'll pass. For me, it becomes a non-issue, because my curriculum puts such a long distance between ranks (similar to the concept in BJJ), so there's not really an opportunity to increase income appreciably. If I reverted to the traditional NGA testing criteria and kyu ranks, it would be more of a factor.
 

Dirty Dog

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I'd be interested in chatting with you sometime about how you handle that scholarship program, DD. I've considered offering one (perhaps only if I offer teens' classes).

The YMCA offers it for all programs, including the Y's membership fee.
 

Gerry Seymour

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The YMCA offers it for all programs, including the Y's membership fee.
Ah! So it's not your thing - you're just able to use what they have in place. Do you know how they handle it? I need to ask around and see if the Y's in this area have a similar program. It was never mentioned when I was teaching at one here, even during the period when I was allowing them to handle payments for my program.
 

Dirty Dog

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Ah! So it's not your thing - you're just able to use what they have in place. Do you know how they handle it? I need to ask around and see if the Y's in this area have a similar program. It was never mentioned when I was teaching at one here, even during the period when I was allowing them to handle payments for my program.

I don't pay much attention to it, honestly. I don't even check to see if people have actually paid. We teach for free, so I can't pretend to really care if the Y got paid.
The only income the program sees is from belt tests. We use those fees to pay for supplies and equipment.
 

Gerry Seymour

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I don't pay much attention to it, honestly. I don't even check to see if people have actually paid. We teach for free, so I can't pretend to really care if the Y got paid.
The only income the program sees is from belt tests. We use those fees to pay for supplies and equipment.
That was the model I used originally at the Y. I stopped it because they couldn't handle people joining mid-month. They had originally agreed to use the fees to purchase some equipment that would benefit the program (mats, mostly), but didn't follow through on that, either. So, I switched to collecting the fees, myself. I still don't bother to check to see if folks have paid.
 

Anarax

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I'm curious and just trying to get an idea...

Teachers, what do you charge for tuition? Is it monthly, weekly, by the class? How many classes/hours are offered? If you are part of an organization or teaching under another instructor, are there any licensing or certification dues for teaching?

Students, what do you pay for tuition? Is it monthly, weekly, by the class? How many classes/hours are offered?

What is generally the cost of seminars an/or grading?

What is the cost for private lessons?

Is there any sort of annual or organizational fees?

$50 a month for one program that is 7 hours a week of class time plus open gym and free equipment use

$65 a month for two programs that equal 13 hours a week of class time plus open gym and free equipment use.

No testing, grading nor organizational fees
 

Danny T

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Basic Workout membership (no instructional classes) $80.00 per month
Any single Instructional Class $110 monthly (Muay Thai, Wing Chun, Kali, Combat Submission Wrestling, BJJ)
$130.00 unlimited Classes
Ranking Fees are $25.00 for Color ranks up to Brown, Red is $100.00 & Black is $150.00
No one is required to pay any organizational fees unless they want to be ranked within the organizations we are affiliated with.
 

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