Thread: class cards, session fee, pay as you go - how do you charge?

How do you charge for your classes?

Right now I have my students paying per session and each session is 6 weeks, but I'm wondering if there is a better way. I know some teachers do class cards, but I'm not exactly sure how they work, others do longer sessions, some do drop in fee only. I'm wondering what the advantages of each are.

Please share what you do.

my students pay per session, and sessions vary in lenght, but are usually 10 weeks. the first term of the year sometimes is 12, the last sometimes only 8.

i am starting to allow drop ins, in some classes, as the demand for it is increasing, but only in some of the classes, and i charge extra for it. NO class cards. my groups are too full for that and some of the studio's too small, and i would loose all control over how many people there are in each group

I offer 3 options at the moment: prepaid (full term), parttime (say on beforehand how many classes you take of that term and pay for those in one go) and drop-in (pay as you go)

Pre-paid sessions are cheapest, and students that have prepaid for a full session but miss a few classes can make up for those in one of the other groups.

The prepaid session costs 8 euro per hour, 'parttiming' costs 9 euro per hour, and drop-ins are 11 euros per hour

Usually a session is 10 weeks, but the next one for instance is only 7 weeks, because in July-August we'll have a separate summer term.

For technique classes, we do sessions, with the very rare exception. For drill or conditioning classes (usually 30 minutes long) we allow drop in.

I am sure we lose money over the decision not to allow drop-ins for the technique classes, but we opened our dance studio to provide training for students who can concentrate on learning to dance. That is the 'market niche' we go for.

All of my group classes are taught through Park & Rec Districts, which require the entire session to be paid in advance for all programs. Since my preference is to not do drop-ins in the first place, this works just fine for me.

With my privates and semi-privates, I allow students that I have a former or current relationship with to pay by the class. But if someone is coming to me as a brand new beginner, I require them to pay up front for a 6 week session. I really hate reserving time for people who may or may not show up, and I find that having them pay in advance weeds out the flakier ones.

I do a drop in or per class rate and then have class cards which are 4 classes at a discount. The class cards don't have to be used for in a row so if they miss they have a credit (I only have 1 class a week so no make-ups)

I modeled my sessions after the place where I teach Pilates. They already track local school calendars etc, so I don't have to worry about that sort of thing. I have 4 sessions per year, ranging from 10-13 weeks.
Lowest price is for signing up for a full session of course. That encourages more learning. They get a bigger discount if they sign up for two classes.
There is a slightly discounted price for signing up for a partial session (7 out of the total) - which makes it easier for people with varying schedules to sign up and come whenever they can.
The drop in fee is higher.
I don't have it in a card system. For each session I print up attendance forms with notation if the person signed up for the whole session, 7 classes or if they are drop in.

Originally Posted by SamiraShuruk

Lowest price is for signing up for a full session of course. That encourages more learning. They get a bigger discount if they sign up for two classes.

Same here!

I have a combination of drop-ins and prepayment. If you want to drop in an pay it costs the most, I give a discount for prepayment. My classes are organised round terms of 12 weeks, which I split into 2 x 6 week half-terms. You can buy a pre-paid card for 6 weeks, but you have eight weeks in which to use it - I have several students who work irregular shifts, so this is really to accomodate them, but it's also a bonus for people who know they have another event/holiday planned too. I also roll the dates forward for pre-paid cards every week, so you could start 3 weeks into a half-term and still benefit from the discount.

I've just re-read the above and realised that it all sounds very complicated, but honestly it's not!

I've only been running this system since the start of this term (January), but already it's at least doubled the take-up of pre-paid places. There's more info about it on my website, or let me know if you have any more questions..g.:

Originally Posted by Khalida

I offer 3 options at the moment: prepaid (full term), parttime (say on beforehand how many classes you take of that term and pay for those in one go) and drop-in (pay as you go)

Pre-paid sessions are cheapest, and students that have prepaid for a full session but miss a few classes can make up for those in one of the other groups.

The prepaid session costs 8 euro per hour, 'parttiming' costs 9 euro per hour, and drop-ins are 11 euros per hour

Usually a session is 10 weeks, but the next one for instance is only 7 weeks, because in July-August we'll have a separate summer term.

I do almost exactly this for places where I have "control". It works for me and I keep a pretty good pool of students. My area is a small "depressed" city, in a rural area, but near Montreal, Burlington VT, and has 2 colleges. I have to stay organized to keep on top of the business end..cr.:. Takes a lot of work for me. At community college (going on my 15th yr there), it is by the semester, register & prepay, no credit or makeup for any missed classes - super easy for me. I set up the dates, times, max. # of students...& get to use their beautiful theater!!
When don't I do this everywhere? I like to be able to offer flexiblity, and all systems don't fit all students. I make more $$ in the flexible system. I also barter with classes for goods & services sometimes. Even plumbing!

I run 6 week sessions and require a certain amount of prepaid students. They get a discount. I do allow drop ins but it costs them more. If there were more of student base in my area i would only run prepaid sessions with no drop ins because it's better for the more dedicated students. I have small numbers so I can't do this. I would love to do punch cards but again it's the small student base i'm working with.

Originally Posted by lylagus

I run 6 week sessions and require a certain amount of prepaid students. They get a discount. I do allow drop ins but it costs them more.

As a parks and recreation teacher, everything is in pre-paid sessions, usually 5 weeks in length.

If I had a different type of venue, such as if I had my own studio (*sigh*) or worked at someone else's studio, I'd still do pre-paid, but allow drop-ins at a significantly higher rate; the session would run only if a minimum number of students had pre-paid.

My private/semi-private students can get something like a class card. They can pay by the lesson or they can pre-pay in 3- or 6-lesson increments with a "good until" date at a slightly reduced fee. This way, I'm not strung along forever waiting to give that last lesson.

Deborah

I do 12-week sessions. 13-14 weeks in the fall, paid up front. I only allow drop-ins if I have enough session paid students to cover my studio costs plus (my personal) minimum wage. Drop-ins are $3 more per class.

I have found shorter sessions = not enough time for the beginner students to really "get" belly dance. Once they are hooked, they keep coming back...

I teach dance for a living so I don't really want to miss rent for my students to take class.

Block courses and class cards combined seem to work quite well. Class cards are good because they are a wad o' cash for you to pay the bills with, you can offer a significant discount which makes the student feel like they are getting serious value for money, and you can if you wish seriously ramp up your casual per class prices after that. The ones who really *want* to come, but maybe have difficulty affording classes, know they can go to class even if they have no cash this week because they can get a click on their card. Dancers who are more flaky or very casual pay a higher rate. They either gladly pay top dollar for the privilege of just dropping in when they feel like it, or they buy a card and use it before it expires.

The zumba classes here also use this model, and just as an example, for them a casual class costs $15, a 10 class concession card costs $80. It's a no brainer if you are keen to keep going. And the card expires in three months, so you might as well use that sucker up. But also, they promote doing at least two classes a week, so if you did, you'd quickly chew through one in five weeks. And of course, buy another...

The zumba model is way more simple than a BD class but they do work for schools and dancers I know. The whole idea of being rewarded by getting cheaper classes the more you do is cool. A friend of mine does a one class a week deal, a two class a week deal, and if you do two classes in a week any additional class is at a half-price rate.

mine get a 10% discount if they book two classes a week (and pay both for the entire term)

I do class cards and drop-ins. The cards offer a significant discount over the drop-ins and I only accept drop-ins for certain classes (beginners and technique). I like the class card model because there is no room in my schedule for makeup classes. The studio I "grew up" in allowed you to make up missed classes by attending the same class or a lower level class at anytime within the session. I can only offer that option to one of my class levels (beginners) so it's not feasible. Some of my students drive over an hour to get to me, so if they can't make it because of weather or other traffic related issues, I don't want them to lose out.

The cards have seven classes on them (my typical session length) and students have three months to use them or they expire.

Mine are: 8wks, pay with Paypal before classes start or cash the first night of class. Drop-ins allowed the first night only. If you do drop in and then decide to take the whole session then of course he drop in fee goes toward the session fee, balance due that night or at the second class (drop in fee due that night).

I'd much rather do 12wk sessions but right now 8wks is about as long as I can get people to commit to at a time. Hopefully that'll eventually change.

At the beginning of my teaching career 11 years ago I operated on a drop-in basis only. That proved to be frustrating as the teaching to regulars had to be juggled with intro moves to newbies and occasional students and I felt that the dancers weren't progressing optimally. Also, it was financially unpredictable; I might have 10 students one week and 18 the next (or not).

As I make my living from my dancing career and now have my own studio in a commercially rented space, I have long since switched to a multi-week session. This used to be 15 weeks in length (three per year) and has now evolved into 12-week sessions for the Fall, Winter, and Spring, and a 6-9 week session for the Summer. Students pay up-front for all classes, including Oriental Dance, BellyFit!, Zumba, Chakra Meditation, and Mums and Tots Creative Movement.

In my opinion, a 12-week session allows for a basic foundation in the movements and related cultural information learned at a particular level and a solid choreography appropriate for that level. I've found that the pre-payment arrangement definitely encourages student commitment. I'm also able to take a breather (and give my email list one as well) when I'm not constantly marketing for the next session.

To date, I haven't offered a discount for pre-registering but then again, tuition hasn't increased since the opening of the studio four years ago. There is also no sessional or annual registration fee as per some dance studios. I am more than willing to make arrangements for a student who can't make the entire payment up-front but I need to know this person well or he/she must have registered with us previously (once burned, twice shy).

Hope this helps and good luck to all teachers!


Khalida

Interesting to read about all the flexible ways to enroll!
I only have pre-paid 13 weeks classes in two different citys.

(in $ a 13 week course cost 242$,in euros that would be about 180)

I usually offer 6-week sessions, with a week off before the next session starts. I only take a month off in the summer and in December.

Occasionally if we're doing a choreography, I make the session longer to give us plenty of time to learn the dance and rehearse it before a hafla performance.

Pre-paid through Paypal or check to reserve their spot.

If the class does not sell out, then I allow drop-ins for non-choreography upper-level sessions (at a much higher rate).

I don't allow drop-ins for the Intro class.

If someone misses a class, they can make it up in another class during the same session.

5 prepaid to hold a session.

Just a note about drop-ins -- maybe mine are different from others, but I don't consider these people to be any less dedicated than my regular session registrants.

Life happens, and we don't always have enough time or resources to pursue our passions.

The economy is having its effect and some of my long-term students are forced to just dropping in once or twice during a session to try to keep up their skills. Others travel often for business and it's cheaper for them to pay only when they're in town. Still others are moms and are not always able to commit to a whole session in advance (if a kid is sick, they have to stay home, etc.).

When they're there, they are very good students. And they're paying a lot more so they actually improve my profit margin.

I've never tried the class card method because I only teach a few days a week and it just seemed more complicated to me somehow. I can tell it's successful for other folks in my state that offer classes every day though.

Hope that info is helpful!

Originally Posted by ScarletDancer

I do a drop in or per class rate and then have class cards which are 4 classes at a discount. The class cards don't have to be used for in a row so if they miss they have a credit (I only have 1 class a week so no make-ups)

My teacher sets up her rates/class card discount the same way. From a student perspective, I prefer the class card system better because my teacher does not enforce an expiration date on the class cards. So I don't have to worry about making up missed classes. I think alot of her students appreciates this system too because her student retention rate is pretty steady.....