Class tuition?

Bino TWT

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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?
 

Headhunter

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Pick a number between 1 and 1000...that's basically the question you're asking.

Every single place is different. Most places have a monthly payment and a drop in price and you can choose what you do. If you train 1 time a week drop in Is better if you train 5 days a week monthly will be better.

I pay monthly at both Muay Thai and Jiu Jitsu as I train twice a week and three times a week. Jiu Jitsu is 40 a month with classes 7 days a week and 7 pound drop in.

Muay Thai is 35 a month with classes 5 times a week and 5 pound drop In.

No 2 places will be the same
 
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Bino TWT

Bino TWT

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Yeah I understand that no 2 places will be the same. I'm just trying to get an idea of a range across the board.
 

Tony Dismukes

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Our school (www.4seasonsmma.com):

Rates: $100/month for unlimited classes. Cheaper plans are available for those who want fewer days per week.

Classes are available 6-7 days per week. The number of classes available varies from month to month, but we currently have 40 classes scheduled per week.

We are a Carlson Gracie Jr. affiliate. There is an annual fee for gyms to advertise that affiliation, but it's paid by the gym, not by individual instructors. There is no fee for instructor licensure.

There is no fee for belt promotions. Every so often we have a mini-seminar (around $25) open to all Carlson Jr. affiliates in the area. which also doubles as a rank evaluation. However attendance at these seminars is not required for promotion - it's just an opportunity to make sure the instructors are taking a look at you and where you're at. If you just come to regular classes you will still get promoted when you're ready.

Carlson Jr. comes in for seminars once or twice per year. Those seminars are typically $75 for affiliate members, $100 for non-members. These seminars are not required, but we typically do a lot of promotions at these events with Carlson's input.

No annual fees or organizational dues. There is a one-time signup fee for new members, but I don't know how much that is.

I personally charge $50/hour for private lessons, with discounts available if you pay for multiple lessons in advance. Other instructors at the gym may charge more or less than that. I know my instructor charges more.

Note - we are located in Lexington, KY. Rents here are pretty cheap. I would expect schools in cities where real estate is more expensive to charge a bit more.
 

Gerry Seymour

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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?
Here's my layout. I'm an independent (no organization at present). I have monthly, quarterly, and annual plans available (the last two are really just for folks who decide they want to save money over that time - I don't really talk about them, but they are on the price sheet I give everyone). I also have per-class pricing.

I honestly don't know what my quarterly/annual fee is - I'd have to go grab a price sheet and look. Stanard fees are currently $50/month or $10/class, and have started offering 10-class prepaid packs. Students can switch back and forth between monthly and per-class from month to month. I offer up to 3 classes a week (I travel some for work, so sometimes only 2 classes a week), and classes are 90 minutes each.

I have some Groupons running for 3 months + free uniform and 10-class prepaid, both at about 50% off whatever my normal fee is for those. I charge nothing for testing, and anything I'd charge for promotions would be to recoup the cost of belts and stuff (at present, no charge). I might consider charging for instructor certification, because that would require a lot of my time (I have a full instructor training curriculum I'd require they complete).

For private lessons, I think my fee is $50/hour (my general rule is a private lesson costs what a month of lessons costs - I don't really like teaching them as much as I like groups). When I do seminars, I customize the price every time, so the following is what I tell myself is my "standard", but I usually give a price before I remember I have a standard. If an organization wants to pay for me to come in, they're probably going to pay $250/day. If individuals are paying, I usually specify 10 people minimum and $25 each (so, the same $250). If it's for another school, I usually work out a way for them to use it as a fundraiser for the school ($40 per person, $20 of which goes to me, for instance). If I have to travel, that complicates things. I don't do a lot of seminars, so I don't really know if I'm happy with my own pricing on that.

My prices are set so as to sustain a small program with little overhead and let me buy more stuff for students (and me, of course) to play with. I take home very little money, unless there's a seminar, then I take home a little more.

A side note - the association I used to belong to only charged $40 registration, and that was only when the student first started.
 

Midnight-shadow

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I pay £6 per hour class and it's pay-as-you-go which is pretty standard for where I live. Gradings are £20 and seminars, depending on how long they are for cost between £10 and £50.
 

kuniggety

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Old BJJ school I went to in Japan was $60/mo for 2x a week, $80 for 4x or $90 for 5x. Classes were M-F at 1800 and Tues/Thurs had a lunch time class.

Now I go to a UFC gym which is $90/mo which includes unlimited BJJ/any other classes which is a great rate and so I go there despite not using the gym as a gym. Most other places here in Hawaii run about $150 for unlimited and that's just for BJJ.
 

Flatfish

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TKD was $110/ month with classes 5 days a week. Add another family member for $50, add another for $30. Testing was usually $30 for the first family member, $20 and $10 for 2nd and 3rd (I trained with my kids).

Gym I train at now offers BJJ 5 times a week, Kickboxing, Self Defense and Judo and is $150 for unlimited classes in anything you want. Or $125 for just BJJ or Judo, $75 for KB, and $125 for SD.
Again, my kids are going as well so we have a family pack for 1 adult and two kids for $225 for everything as often as we want.
Oh I forgot, no testing fees.
 

JR 137

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We don't have options at our school; the price is the price...

Adults: $55 per month
Children: $45 per month
$10 off each additional family member
- The $10 off doesn't mean additional $10 off for each, it means the first person pays full, and the rest are $10 off their tuition, i.e. I pay $55, my wife pays $45, and each of my 2 daughters pay $35 for a total of $170 per month if we all attended.

No contracts, no pay per class, no private lessons. If you ask my CI or another instructor to come in early to go over some stuff, I'm sure they would if the can, and I doubt they'd take money for it. Repeatedly asking would probably be another issue.

We pay a fee to our organization...
$25 per year or $45 for 3 years

Classes are 4 weeknights and Saturday every week. Usually 2 classes per night - 1 adults and one kids' class.

Testing fees average $50. Black belt testing is far more expensive and done by the head of our organization. He's about 5 doors down from the Flatiron Building in Manhattan, so his monthly lease has to be at least double what my CI's yearly lease is.

The average in my area works out to be about $150 per month for commercial dojos. With contracts, high testing fees, and/or "black belt plans." A few places will only do black belt plans.

I've seen most non-commercial schools charge around $75-$100 per month.

We're by far the cheapest. And we're by far the best :) so long as you're looking for actual MA and not kids' entertainment, child care, crazy gis, backflips, etc.

Different areas have different costs of doing business. A dojo in Manhattan could run you $200 a month with 200 students paying and still struggle to pay the bills. A dojo in Albany, NY could break even at $55 a month with 40 students paying if the lease is cheap enough.

Price should be primarily determined by the market - overhead, competition, etc.
 

ShortBridge

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Monthly dues, no contracts, no grading fees or uniforms or anything else.

Everyone is month-to-month, but students can't (and don't) come and go. If you're in your in, if you're out, you're out. I teach two classes a week, but there are a few keys to the kwoon with me and seniors in the school and students can train with me or one another any time it can be arranged.

We cover expenses and have a tiny bit of rainy day money and we focus on training.
 

CB Jones

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We pay $80 per month for unlimited access to the dojo.

$25 per color belt test (belt and certificate included). Fee is transferred to next test if test is failed.

$150 black belt test fee. $50 of which goes to students instructor (Most Sensei in our org waives it)

Seminars range from $30-$50.
 

JowGaWolf

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That's pretty good price average. I'm too lazy to actually work out the price average but it looks like are within the $45 -$100. With everyone being from different places I was expecting the range to be larger than that. From at a glance I think I saw one that was near $200. Makes me wonder if there is an average that is based on the type of system or the location (high, medium, and low income areas).
 

JR 137

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That's pretty good price average. I'm too lazy to actually work out the price average but it looks like are within the $45 -$100. With everyone being from different places I was expecting the range to be larger than that. From at a glance I think I saw one that was near $200. Makes me wonder if there is an average that is based on the type of system or the location (high, medium, and low income areas).
The $200 per month was Balrog. He's in Houston, TX which I'm assuming is a major metropolitan area. With an area like that comes high property value, therefore high tuition. My organization's headquarters dojo is a few doors down from the flatiron building in Manhattan. The lease is probably about $25k a month. How much should tuition cost?

For reference, here's a space for rent a few buildings down from my organization's headquarters dojo. 1,000 sq ft smaller, and estimated $30,500 per month...

49 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, New York, NY 10010 | SquareFoot
 

Gerry Seymour

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The $200 per month was Balrog. He's in Houston, TX which I'm assuming is a major metropolitan area. With an area like that comes high property value, therefore high tuition. My organization's headquarters dojo is a few doors down from the flatiron building in Manhattan. The lease is probably about $25k a month. How much should tuition cost?

For reference, here's a space for rent a few buildings down from my organization's headquarters dojo. 1,000 sq ft smaller, and estimated $30,500 per month...

49 West 23rd Street, Chelsea, New York, NY 10010 | SquareFoot
Yikes. And I don't want a space because it'd cost a couple thousand a month...
 
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Bino TWT

Bino TWT

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Here's how it breaks down at my kwoon:
I charge $110 per month. I do five 2 hour classes per week and an advanced class on the weekend. I also do weekend classes for the kids for $15.

I also do $20 pay by the class, up to $120 per month. That's the most you'll ever pay per month regardless of how many classes you attend.

There's a $60 annual organizational fee, and your shirt is included in that fee.

We have quarterly seminars which are generally 5 hours long. It's $50 for the seminar, and $75 if my Si-Fu comes to town to do the seminar. There's no additional cost for grading, but grading is done at the seminars.

Private lessons are $25/hr with me, or $40/hr with my Si-Fu.

Our tuition is on the lower average for this area, and the private lessons and seminars are less than half of what most people around here are charging.

At one of our locations, the kwoon is inside of a gym, and the students are required to have a membership to the gym for insurance purposes (and to get a key card). But with the $25/month gym membership, they also get 24/7 access to the full facility.
 

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