Cost and contracts

[Xue Sheng152 6]

I am old, been at this martial arts thing since 1972, and I have never paid more than $80 per month and I have never had to sign a contract to train. And for the last 305 years I have mostly trained CMA

Recently I checked out two other martial arts schools, one Okinawan the other Korean and the cost seemed high to me, one was $140 and month, the other $170 per month and both required contracts, and you could only attend 2 days a week. The current Wing Chun school I go to is $65 a month and you can go to as many classes as you want, and there are 4 a week,

Admittedly I am an MA dinosaur, but is this how things are these days?

Prices that high and required contracts, is that the norm?

 

[skribs161 182]

That would be on the cheaper end in my area.

The local TKD school that I tried for a few months was $165/month for 2 days per week. Because I was a 3rd degree black belt I got a deal for something like $500 for a year. (Then I only stayed there for 3 months so it was a wash).

My BJJ gym is around $200/month on the 2-day/week plan, up to $250/month for every day. We don't do contracts, but do require 30 days notice to cancel the payment plan. There's also a deal where if you pay for 6 months you get a free month on top of that.

It's going to depend on your area. But yes, things are more expensive these days.

 

[Tony Dismukes160 57]

My gym charges $109/month for unlimited classes 7 days per week, no contracts. But we're pretty much the budget gym in our area. I think everyone else charges more and some of them require contracts.

 

[J. Pickard2]

So, as a school owner, I can tell you those prices are actually on the middle to low end. I charge between $130-$200 depending on the program and even then, with ~40-50 active students tuition alone doesn't even cover all of my expenses. I haven't been paid in all of 2026 and I have to do extras (events, seminars, special item sales, walk in weekend classes) just to cover all of my expenses. With insurance, rent, marketing, upkeep on equipment, utilities and internet, website costs, payment processing fees/costs, office supplies, toiletries, and my annual LLC filing (thats pretty negligable actually, only $30ish). My monthly cost is over $7K just to stay operational. After crunching the numbers, our average tuition is $144 and we have exactly 47 students which is $232 shy of meeting monthly costs just from tuition. If I didn't do extras we would be shut down. If I increase our rates we would lose half of our students and shut down. Its kind of a viscious cycle too, because our max capacity at one time is about 40 people on the floor at once so we don't have a lot of room to grow without getting a new location, but we cant get a new location without growing our client base.

We do not use contracts and the amount students can train is dependent on rank and program, but we offer discounted prices for extended training periods. If you agree to train for 12 months in a row, your monthly rate is discounted, if you leave before that time, just pay the difference.

 

[Holmejr3]

My school is $40 bucks a month. Really just a donation. We only attend on Sunday afternoon 1:30 to 5:00 and Thursday nights 7:00 to 9:00. It’s out of my instructors garage or at the park sometimes in the summer.

 

[Kung Fu Wang162 193]

$20 per month that was 52 years ago.

 

[Gyakuto162 171]

My partner’s Shotokan dojo charges £30/month ($40.23) for unlimited access. It’s a nice, bright, well-maintained, matted dojo, the teacher is an experienced full-time, 7th Dan teacher with ‘open to all’ and Dan grade only classes including during office hours for shift workers and school holidays. These prices are quite normal in the UK because anything more would be beyond the salary of the average person.

I’m amazed at the high prices of membership in the USA but you have better salaries than in the UK.

 

[skribs161 182]

$20 per month that was 52 years ago.

View attachment 34748

That's approximately $135-$145 today.

 

[jks9199129 4]

Very much depends on the setting. A stand alone school or program will charge more than one hosted by a Y or Parks program. A club meeting in a rented space may be more or less depending on the rents. Traini g with someone in the backyard;