Discounts and scholarships

[tsdclaflin]

Do you give family discounts? Why? Does it work for you?

Do any of your students train for free? Or at a special rate designed just because of there specific situation?

I charge $50 per month. Second and third family members are half price and additional family members are free. In other words, once a family pays two full prices, the rest of the family gets to come for free.

This is working very well for me. Years ago I trained with my three sons and with the family discount we were paying over $200 per month. I never want someone else to have to deal with that pressure.

I have 20 students. Two of them are on a full scholarship. They are kids and are financially unable to pay. I also have one adult who is handicapped and on a fixed income--I charge him 1/2 price. I try to be discreet. I am not full-time and I know this goes against all the business wisdom that is out there, but I'm having fun and so are my students, so I don't care.

(I hope my students don't read this.)

Any body else "giving away the farm" out there?

 

[BrandiJo]

the school i attend is very lax on their payment, college students can get it cheeper if they need it they have a family plain and if you are unable to pay on tie you just let them know and they will let oyu slide till you can come up with the money. I dont know if htey have anyone going for free its not my place to ask

 

[7starmantis]

We do have a family plan that includes everyone in the family, and that works great as its quite a deal. We do have some students paying less because of specific situations, but I have found for the most part, that students who attend for free dont value it and either end up quitting pretty quick or not really wokring hard and just sliding by. They will come and go and then they always expect a break...money wise or otherwise. I was reading a good article about it not too long ago that was saying the biggest mistake school owners are making is trying to make their classes affordable rather than valuable.

7sm

 

[Grenadier]

I'm going to be rather blunt here. What I say may sound callous in some ways, but I will stand by what I say.

At various points in my training / teaching, I've seen my school hand out scholarships to the needy. The way it worked, was that the monthly fees were waived, and that the student could train all they wanted. We'd even give them a decent free student uniform (God forbid, I wouldn't wish the Century paper-thin uniforms on my worst enemy...). The only thing they would have to pay for are testing fees. That's it. The way we figured, 30 bucks every three months should be quite doable for even the neediest folks.

While the intent of the program was noble, not many of these scholarship students stuck with it. Sometimes, the students would simply end up not liking it, and quit.

Often times, though, it wasn't the students themselves, but rather, the parents who would balk, once they found out they had to pay testing fees. These are the same parents who refused to let their child test for their next rank because they didn't want to pay. Sometimes they would make excuses such as "Oh, I don't think my kid is ready" or "my kid behaves rotten at home" even though I saw nothing in their training that would indicate such things.

At one point, a boy on scholarship, who had been a white belt for 5 months, had learned everything he needed to know at that level, and I spoke to his parents, telling him that he really did need to test. Their response was the same canned "he ain't ready." I tried to explain, that there was nothing further to be gained by holding him back, and that he should test. I even offered to let them pay for the test in monthly installments of 10 dollars / month, if needed, but the parents said in a snotty manner "He ain't ready, and we don't want him testing until we think he's ready."

I tried to explain, that he was too advanced to be held back at white belt (9th kyu). I even brought in one of my blue belts (6th kyu) and compared them side by side, to show the parents that their son was already good enough, but they would just keep making up excuses. I was that tempted to simply tell the chief instructor to deduct the kid's testing fees from my paycheck, but I knew what he would have said, that it comes down to the parents.

I may sound a bit harsh here, but anyone can save 10 bucks each month, and these same parents who were trying to come up with excuses to not let their children test, were the same ones I'd see buying fast food at the local McDonald's or Burger King on an almost daily basis. I'd even see some of them buying liquor from the local liquor stores as well. I would think that someone who could go through a 30 dollar bottle of Jim Beam in a week, could ration his / her alcohol consumption to make it a 1 bottle / 8 days, instead of 1 bottle / 7 days.

No, it's not my business to tell someone how to spend his / her money. If someone wants to blow his money on cigarettes, hard liquor, or God forbid, controlled substances, that's his choice, but that doesn't mean that I have to like it.

I won't go any further than strongly urging the parents to pay the fee and let him test, even if I think that the parents are being rather uncooperative. I can only hope, though, that such stingy attitudes won't hold back a good kid.

In the end, the kid got tired of his parents' stinginess, and signed up for a paper route. He ended up paying for his own testing fees by hiding some of the tips that the locals would give him, since his parents kept taking his money. The parents never came to visit him in class once I had that conversation with them about the testing fees.

He took a few tests, and eventually got his green belt (5th kyu). Once his parents found out that he was "hiding" money from them, they yanked him out. I think we can all guess what was going through my brain at the time, other than my rocketing blood pressure.

Fast forward to years later.

That kid is now a young adult, moved out of his parents ramshackle trailer once he turned 18 (thank God), working as a machinist, and came back to the old dojo. It's because of him, that I still support (albeit pessimistically) giving dojo scholarships to the needy. Sometimes, people who really want it will rise to the occasion, and if it can bring one more dedicated martial artist into this world, then maybe it is really worth having to deal with the headaches of the majority of scholarship cases.

I won't sugar-coat it, though; if you're going to offer scholarships, don't be surprised if most cases end up in disappointments.

 

[Kacey]

I have a couple of different perspectives here. I teach for a YMCA, and the facility provides scholarships for a number of reasons, and I have nothing to do with that; the student pays a reduced rate, and the YMCA makes up the difference (they pay me a percentage of the dues collected). I have had some problems with students being less committed when they were on scholarship, but not always; in general, it hasn't been a problem. Scholarships are available for a wide variety of reasons, such as handicaps, age (under 25), status as a student, income, and so on.

Every so often, someone will contact the Y or me directly and say something like "I can only come one day / week - will you prorate the cost?" Now, because this is a Y, not a private gym, I only teach 2 days / week - so that's half the classes in any session. I have done this a few times, and always been stiffed - the students who ask for this up don't come regularly even on the day they pay for, don't understand why they're not progressing, want free private lessons to make up what they're missing (I'll work with any of my students any time that's available for both of us if they want extra help, no charge... but not for students who want 2 or more classes a week and are only willing to pay for, and commit to, one). I won't do this any more. If someone wants to pay for the session and only come once a week, there's not much I can do about it. Sadly, I used to prorate (or let a student come for a session free) for financial problems, because my instructor did that for me when I went through a rough patch, or I wouldn't still be here - but I find it to be detrimental to the rest of the students, and I won't do it anymore.

The students who have had test fees reduced or waived (since the money goes to the class, I can reduce them if it's a financial hardship) are the ones who expect to get things for free and leave when they don't get it. So for newer students, I no longer drop the rates; for students who have been around longer and are having a hard time financially, I have offered to reduce the testing fees - but I have never yet been taken up on it - every student I've offered it to has turned me down flat.

 

[IcemanSK]

I'm in a unique situation a bit like Kacey's. I teach for the community center where I work. I get paid by the Center to teach these classes. If I didn't teach, I'd be doing something else at the Center. In other words, I make the same $$ whether I teach or not. There is a nominal fee for my program. If they can't pay it, its picked up by the City. But, we've discovered that if the students don't have some kind of finanial investment, its less important to them.

I don't envy you instructors who run comercial schools in this regard. Its a balancing act between helping folks & putting food on the table for your own families. I heard of a program that helps students who can't afford to go to comercial schools pay the tuition. But for the life of me, I can't recall the name of the organization.