I've had wildly different experiences with the payment model in BJJ as I have in TKD. My experience in TKD was that you were charged for what services you used. If you came twice per week, you paid the standard monthly fee. There were make-up classes (my joke was always that those are where you "work on your foundation") that you could take for free if you missed class, but if you were regularly attended 3+ classes per week, there was a small surcharge. Then there were special classes or private classes that were extra as well.
In BJJ, it's been the complete opposite. There's a monthly fee, and then I can show up to as many classes as I want. The only extra things I have to pay for are any equipment I buy through the school (which is encouraged, but not mandatory) or private lessons.
In both cases, we've had monthly auto-pay agreements, with the stipulation that if we don't give enough notice prior to quitting, we may be charged for an extra month. This is compared to some schools I've seen online that have massive 1-year or even 2-year contracts that should be paid upfront.
I don't know what the payment models were when I did martial arts as a kid, because I didn't even realize we paid for it.
So I'm curious, what is the payment model of your school? I'm not interested in the exact numbers (notice I didn't post any dollar requirements), but are you charged a la carte or buffet style? And what art(s) does your school have, or at least which art is the primary?
The place I'm training right now (Arnis) is free for the regular group lessons, ~2 hours/once a week, and then there's a fee by the hour for private lessons, with different rates depending on factors (like travel) that I haven't looked into yet. No other fees, or charges of any kind. It's not a commercial operation obviously, the commercial school closed during covid before I started my training. The instructor says that if he takes on the expense of opening a store front location he'll have to start charging again to defray those expenses but I'm almost positive there were no testing fees or contracts with his previous operation so I doubt there would be in the future.
The Tai Chi I was doing before I left Seattle was very cheap and straight forward. It was through the Parks and Recreation department so you paid a nominal fee for each season's class. It was 90 minutes once a week for the class in north Seattle, but you could also join the same instructor's class in Shoreline (city just north of Seattle), also through their Parks and Recreation department, and add a another 90 minute class/week. There was also a 90+ minute push hands meetup once a week for free. Officially there was no instruction at the meetup but a lot of experienced people showed up and you could definitely learn a lot (and get some unofficial instruction) and work on push hands with people from other schools and styles of Tai Chi. So, I think to get 3, 90 minute classes/week (if you count the push hands) it was something like $40/month, but technically you paid ~$60/season up front for each class (thinking about it, it might have only been $45/season, not $60. Either way, it was cheap for anywhere and
super cheap for Seattle). No other fees or commitments, unless you wanted to pay for private sessions.
Before that I did some straight barter of strength training for Aikido instruction with one guy and boxing with another. I was also paying $10/session (1-3 hours, once a week) with no other fees or commitments for what was basically group MMA classes out of a garage with a fantastic instructor. I say basically MMA because that's not what he called it, but he had a BB in BJJ and a really strong background in Muay Thai and other things so that's the easiest way to describe it.
If we go back to the last time I was in a store front school, I was paying monthly, no contract, for unlimited Hapkido classes. There were 4, 90 minutes classes on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, 1 morning and 3 evening. If you wanted (and were physically able) to go to all 4, all 3 days, that was included in the standard monthly fee. There was a small belt testing fee that was just the amount that the international Hapkido organization charged and there might have been some initial fee to join the organization, but I can't recall. The school would also sell you equipment, but there was no requirement to buy from them. Either way, the belt fees and the registration, if there was one, were very inexpensive and you didn't pay the testing fee if you failed.
Actually, I forgot a store front Aikido school that was after the Hapkido school. It was the same kind of deal, they offered 2, 1 hour classes a week and you could go to all of them for a flat monthly fee, no contracts. There may have been some modest testing fees but I don't remember them, so they were small if they existed.
I've seen a lot of other payment models, from paying annually up front, to various long term contracts, discounts if you paid for 3, 6 or 12 months upfront or signed a contract, fees for testing, fees for advanced classes, etc., etc. For the most part I just walk away from any place that requires a long term contract without even bothering to find out if they're a good school or not. If they offer a reasonable trial period before committing I might be willing to try a place out, but I'd be hesitant. I prefer the unlimited model, but I'm not completely against the model skribs described, where you get 2 classes, or whatever, per week and get to make up those you miss. I just feel like that's a lot of headache for everyone involved.
