Thread: So frustrated with student retention rates!!!

Hi!
I have been teaching beginners classes for 3 years now and I have consistently found that I start out with about 6-8 students at the beginning of a session (8 weeks) and by the end I only have 2-3 still coming to classes. Of those, one will continue and move on to the next level.
I require people to pay for a full session in advance and I do not offer refunds, because I would never be able to pay rent at this rate if I don't have consistent students, but I feel guilty for taking people's money when they only come to 2 or 3 classes out of an 8 week session!
I have tried several different class formats and nothing so far has helped. Drop-in classes don't seem to work well either because I usually only get 1-2 at a time and never consistently so, again, I could not pay rent. Over 3 years I have amassed a fairly large group of students (now at an intermediate level) who have stuck with it and continued on, so I don't think that its my teaching skills or style that are lacking - but who knows. I did create a feedback form on my website so that people could leave anonymous feedback. Some people thought class was too slow paced, some too fast, some wanted more personal attention, some less... nothing helpful so far.

I would love to know if other instructors have the same problems and if anyone has good solutions?

Don't know if this be beneficial but it might be worthwhile reading:

Retention of Beginner Students

It's frustrating as all get-up, but I think this is normal. If you're still managing to hold together an intermediate class, then I think you're doing well. The other thread has some really good observations. I've personally concluded over my years of teaching that retention will just always be an issue. That's the reality, and I just focus on dealing with it. I do the best I can to be a good teacher, but then spend as much time focusing on continually getting beginners through the door. Ongoing marketing is a never-ending essential, and constantly having reasonable beginner numbers at the start of each term a necessity to surviving the whole term financially.

It is depressing getting all revved up to teach and then only a handful of students turn up. Just try and remember this isn't out of the ordinary, and you've survived this far, and do have students that are dedicated and love you.

PS - do you offer students the ability to make up for classes they've missed? Sometimes when they've missed a few lessons, they decide it's hardly worth coming again, if they feel they've fallen too far behind. Offering a catch-up class might help, or allowing them to attend other lessons that term, if you have room in your program.

Originally Posted by snowmeow7

I have been teaching beginners classes for 3 years now and I have consistently found that I start out with about 6-8 students at the beginning of a session (8 weeks) and by the end I only have 2-3 still coming to classes. Of those, one will continue and move on to the next level.

You haven't said where you are located, but in my area, this would be typical. When most students come to class with the mind set of, "Let's try this for a laugh," you're just not going to see the same sort of retention as if the majority of students walked in the door with the idea that they were committing to a rigorous study of the history and traditions of the performing arts of the Middle East. I'm not saying this is wrong, but for some combination of our image and outreach, we attract mostly people who want to TRY belly dancing, not who want to BECOME belly dancers. I guess we can debate how we could do a better job of inspiring "try-ers" to become "become-ers," but that's still going to be a tough sell. People who are looking to play the field and see what else is out there tend to be pretty resistant to long-term commitments, whether they're middle-aged women looking for a non-boring way to exercise or guys in bars hoping to snag a one-night stand.

I require people to pay for a full session in advance and I do not offer refunds, because I would never be able to pay rent at this rate if I don't have consistent students, but I feel guilty for taking people's money when they only come to 2 or 3 classes out of an 8 week session!

To quote the standard response when teachers complain about students who don't want to practice, don't see the value of investing in workshops or music education, or don't feel rules of professionalism apply to them because they're hobbyists, they're adults and we're not their mothers. Presumably they know the value of a dollar. If they want to waste their money foolishly, we're not in a position to stop them, and it's their loss.

Some people thought class was too slow paced, some too fast, some wanted more personal attention, some less... nothing helpful so far.

Unless you are extremely discriminating in choosing your students and you hand-pick only people who are highly committed, financially solvent, and compatible with your dance style, teaching methods, and personal philosophy, you can't retain every recruit. A teacher once told me if you turn out one dancer you're truly proud of every five years, and one in a career who's good enough to teach workshops, you've done pretty good.

Here are some things I've learned help boost retention rates. You may already be doing all of these, but perhaps the advice will help someone else in that case:

1) Teach choreography, or at least mini-choreos, using the movements people learn. It's much more fun to learn than drilling.

2) Be very organized and have well-planned classes. People hate to feel like they're paying for time and it's being wasted with idle chatter, searching for music, figuring out what to teach next, etc. They like to feel like you know what you're doing and have planned a good class for them.

3) Help students feel successful by teaching level-appropriate material, offering lots of explanation, assistance, views from all sides, different means of presenting material, time for drilling in class, and individual feedback. If students find it hard to follow or catch on they'll feel like awkward clods instead of lovely dancers and won't want to continue. (over the years I've simplified what I teach in level one classes tremendously)

4) Offer lots of toys to play with. Reinvest your profits into inexpensive veils, finger cymbals, canes, etc. and bring them to class for student use. It really enhances the student experience to handle these items, but beginners who've just paid for a session of classes don't want to invest even more money right off the bat buying their own props and accessories.

5) Laugh. Joke. Invite dialogue during class. Offer to include the newbs in field trips and social opportunities with the advanced students. Most of your students are hoping to have fun and, maybe, make friends with other women. After college, people have a hard time finding places to make friends and I've learned that many, many people come to my classes more out of loneliness than any desire to really learn bellydance. Hopefully love and respect for the dance will come later.

6) Performance opportunities definitely help boost retention, but they should be safe, level-appropriate student opportunities. Some teachers have parties at their homes where students can show what they're learning. I'm fortunate to be able to use my studio for low-key parties. I don't advocate students performing for the general public, but among themselves & within the dance community I think it's great fun and spiritually uplifting for women to dress up and conquer a bit of stage fright.

7) I absolutely agree with you about the value of prepaid sessions and not allowing drop-ins.

As teachers (and businesswomen) we walk a tightrope between treating our dance form seriously and providing the fun, lighthearted experience students are looking for when they sign up for classes. I've been teaching for eight years and I'm still constantly adjusting my program and my teaching along those lines.

Thanks everyone - that helps. My main concerns were whether this is normal and whether it is ethical to keep people's money when they don't finish a session. I am located in a small college town, so I agree that people are often just trying it out. I guess I just hope to get them hooked and that doesn't seem to happen often!
I have offered make-up class options in the past and no one took me up on them. And I do teach choreography as part of each session - have been varying how I do that by teaching it separately from the class, then at the end of the session, and now am going to use it throughout the session as a teaching tool, which I have not tried before. I always use little combinations in class so people can run through what they learned, but using those to put a choreography together will be new for me. Maybe that will help!

Originally Posted by snowmeow7

I am located in a small college town, so I agree that people are often just trying it out.

Do you know the academic schedule of your local college? I teach at a university gym, and most of my drop-outs occur around mid-term exams and after Thanksgiving/spring break. It can be reassuring to realize that certain students may stop coming to class not because you're doing anything wrong but because something else in their lives is keeping them away.

If you have the leeway, you might consider working your class schedule around the college's academic schedule (e.g. teach in six week sessions: beginning of the school year to mid-terms, after mid-terms to winter break, etc.).

The other difficulty in teaching university students is that your target demographic is transitory. I do get very dedicated, enthusiastic students in my classes, but many of them wind up graduating within a couple of years. I have managed to maintain an intermediate class, but there's a certain amount of student turnover that's inevitable in a college town.

On the other hand, the advantage of working within an academic market, if your classes are anything like mine, is that your students are often already skilled learners. I find that my students come to class enthused about learning and that they're usually willing to practise to get things right. I have (thankfully) never had to deal with some of the problems that other teachers describe of having disruptive, overly talkative, or otherwise disrespectful students.

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

I'm not saying this is wrong, but for some combination of our image and outreach, we attract mostly people who want to TRY belly dancing, not who want to BECOME belly dancers.

That's food for thought. Do you think that the situation is much different in adult classes of other dance forms? I've noticed that my "try-ers" also experiment with other classes at the gym where I teach without becoming invested in those art forms either. A term of Middle Eastern dance here, a term of modern dance there.

I wonder if ballroom has better retention, since many people join ballroom classes with a romantic partner as way of spending time together. Then again, I expect that ballroom classes constantly have people cycling through who just want to learn enough to dance at a wedding.

Students drop out for all kinds of reasons. Yes, sometimes it's because they decided they didn't like the class for some reason.

But other reasons for dropping out can be: got pregnant, met a new man and found that spending time with him was more satisfying than coming to class, started the process of getting a divorce and became consumed by that, had their jobs suddenly get busy on them, started a new job that consumed them or had a schedule that conflicted with class, got car trouble that created transportation problems with coming to class, lost their primary babysitter, got sick with something that took a long time to resolve, fell into clinical depression or chronic fatigue syndrome, go back to school, became consumed by moving to a new place to live or remodeling the existing one, had to care for someone else who got sick and needed them, got injured that took a long time to heal... the list goes on. Sometimes people believe they can fit a class into their life so they sign up, but once it comes time to actually show up, they find it's just too hard to get away from their jobs or their studying (if they're college students) in time to get home, feed the kids/pets, change their clothes, and get to class.

It's true that some people believe that if they miss a class or two then they'll fall too far behind to catch up. Having the option to attend a makeup class can help mitigate that particular issue, but sometimes they can't attend the makeup class either for the same reason they missed their primary class.

For those who drop out because class just isn't what they were looking for... Lauren offered some good suggestions on things to think about.

Lauren posted some great suggestions- but others are right too- it's pretty normal, especially if you are in a college area where potential students tend to be young, transient and not necessarily thinking of how much time they will *not* have as the semester progresses! Heck, Spanish & other 'optional' classes at the U see dramatic decrease in students as the other classes get more demanding.

It's not just BD- yes do all you can to hang on to those students by making your classes appealing, but everyone I talk to has retention issues- theater classes, piano lessons, my friend's watercolor classes, mommy & me sign language classes- it's pretty universal. Having a goal like a performance to work towards definitely helps, and I've had success in marketing my beginning classes as a series of 6-week sessions which can be taken in any order- works better than making it semester based, tho I do offer a 'semester' discount.

What I find particularly annoying is that some of these "try-ers" inevitably say, "Yeah, I've *done* bellydance (insert latest "try")".

I remember one student come up to me after her first class (five years ago): "This is fun, but my body can't do this, I want to dance like you." I replied, "I totally understand but your body needs several weeks or even months to adjust to this new way of moving; it takes time, practice, and lots of patience". Basically the same spiel I give all throughout Level 1.

She missed five classes. In she hops to class #7 and comes up to me afterwards. Can you guess what she says? Yep. And I replied the same, except to add that regular class attendance would help a great deal. Never saw her in the studio again.

She came into my store last week and bought some lovely jewelry. "Oh, some friends of mine were interested in bellydance, but I told them that it just didn't work for my body. You know, I took one session and it was lots of fun but it just didn't work for me".

It took a lot of restraint not to remind her that she had *signed up* for one session but took only two intermittent classes out of twelve and hardly gave it a chance. What would be the point? Some people have wishy-washy or rock-hard mental beliefs and refuse to be enlightened.

Live and let live. I'm only too happy to focus on the lovely students who are enjoying our classes, whether for a session or a lifetime :)


Khalida

It's true, people will come and go for reasons that have nothing to do with your classes. The majority of my students do at least attend through the 6 weeks they've signed up for, but by 'majority' I'd guess I mean 65-80%, by no means all! And I'm not in a college town, so no midterms, finals, etc. to interfere.

The only exception has been my recent Groupon offer. For whatever reason, the Groupon holders sign up for classes but their attendance, as a group, is probably below 25%. Not sure what's up with that? Lack of commitment because they only spent $30 on the session rather than $60-75 maybe? Or was it a spontaneous lark?

As far as whether it's ethical to keep their payment for the session, I say absolutely. Based on their registration, you've made non-cancellable arrangements to rent the space, give up your time, pay for insurance, etc for 6 weeks or whatever your session length is. And you kept your end of the agreement -- you reserved them a space in the class, you showed up to teach. You can't attend FOR them!

The only exception would be if individuals contacted you with specific complaints about the class and wanted their money back. My policy is if you try the first class and discover it's just not for you, I'll refund you in full. I've only had one taker on that refund in all these years, but I cheerfully refunded her.

Originally Posted by khalida777

It took a lot of restraint not to remind her that she had *signed up* for one session but took only two intermittent classes out of twelve and hardly gave it a chance.

I had a student like that once. She got upset with me when I didn't include her amongst the returning students in my intermediate class whom I considered far enough along to try some more challenging technique. She came to me after class and said that after taking "three sessions" of my intermediate class she felt she was getting nowhere, and didn't I have a more difficult class she could take?

She had actually only attended 2-3 classes in each of three 12-week semesters. The same 2-3 classes every time. It was strange. I just politely told her I didn't offer any more advanced classes and recommended another studio that sometimes does. I also told her that I do teach a new choreography every term, so that even returning students are always exposed to new material, to which she responded: "We learn a choreography?"

Originally Posted by Lauren_

The only exception has been my recent Groupon offer. For whatever reason, the Groupon holders sign up for classes but their attendance, as a group, is probably below 25%. Not sure what's up with that? Lack of commitment because they only spent $30 on the session rather than $60-75 maybe? Or was it a spontaneous lark?

That's interesting. I do think that people place a lower value on what comes more cheaply. I am surprised, though, that the number of people willing to write off the $30 fee is as high as 75%. Not a bad deal for you, though, if you can plan around those numbers. That brings in some extra income without sacrificing too many class spaces.

I forgot to mention in my earlier post, too, that I find that the number of students I start out with has a big impact on my retention. My gym has a very liberal maximum enrollment figure, and I find that the higher the number of students I start out with, the lower the percentage remaining in my final class.

Case in point: My fall session this year had an enrollment of 25. Only 2 students attended the last class that term. My spring session had an enrollment of 10, and 6 stuck it out until the last class. When the numbers are smaller, students bond more, I'm able to give more individual attention, and as a result everyone feels more invested in the class.

Originally Posted by Ainsley

I am surprised, though, that the number of people willing to write off the $30 fee is as high as 75%. Not a bad deal for you, though, if you can plan around those numbers. That brings in some extra income without sacrificing too many class spaces.

Actually it's a terrible deal for me. Groupon keeps 50% so I'm collecting only $15 per student for the six-week session. My instructors agreed ahead of time to be paid the much-reduced rate of $17 per student, so I'm losing $2 per student, and some classes have been made up entirely of Groupon students. The poor teachers are teaching empty rooms, or single students, for no money, I'm losing money.

It got our name in front of a lot of people, though, and got them to give us a try. I'm calculating that I'll lose almost a thousand dollars, but radio and magazine advertising could have cost that much wihtout bringing a single student in the door.

Sorry for the detour!

Originally Posted by Lauren_

Actually it's a terrible deal for me. Groupon keeps 50% so I'm collecting only $15 per student for the six-week session.

Oh, yuck! Never mind, then.

I was imagining a situation where you could collect 50% of your usual fee but only set aside 25% of the number of spaces sold. If you're only collecting 25% of your fee, then even with perfect planning you couldn't get any immediate financial benefit out of it.

Originally Posted by Ainsley

That's food for thought. Do you think that the situation is much different in adult classes of other dance forms? I've noticed that my "try-ers" also experiment with other classes at the gym where I teach without becoming invested in those art forms either. A term of Middle Eastern dance here, a term of modern dance there.

I don't think the situation is particularly unique to us. MED is mostly taught as an adult rec-ed activity, not as an educational path to a profession. If someone wants to change careers and become a chef, they probably enroll in a cooking program, not the Tapas class that meets Wednesday night at the local high school. Once in a while, maybe someone will sign up for the Tapas class and walk out singing, "Hallelujah! I've found my calling in life!" and they'll take off in that direction with earnest dedication to pursue a career in cooking. We see that sort of transformation occasionally, too, but the main difference is it's a lot more feasible to become a chef at forty than a full-time dancer. In general, dance is not viewed as something that the average person has a serious chance of making a long-term pursuit of, especially if they're starting later in life, so "dabbling" is the default assumption. Compound that with the facts that (a) there are very few opportunities to study this dance through a traditional, academic program, and (b) we do not typically intercept potential students early in their lifestream, and it's not surprising we have to contend with such unfocused student motives.

This made me smile (with sympathy). When I started taking classes in the early 80s, I got used to being the ONLY one left by the end of the session. They dropped like flies! And this was the pattern with every instructor's classes; people just decided it wasn't for them. So don't feel bad, and definitely don't feel bad about the money.

To all: When you finish a beginners class session, what do you tell the students? Do you encourage them to try another 6-8-12 weeks (however your classes are set up) or do you even really trying pushing continuing classes?

Originally Posted by aziyade

To all: When you finish a beginners class session, what do you tell the students? Do you encourage them to try another 6-8-12 weeks (however your classes are set up) or do you even really trying pushing continuing classes?

I usually just announce "and, the next session starts on (X date)- we will be covering xyz. Let me know if you are interested in the spring recital since that requires a separate class." I state it as tho I assume everyone will be continuing, even tho I know a large chunk of them won't. The driven ones generally contact me outside of class about their education plan, and my int/adv class has been by invitation only (I accept dancers coming from other teachers as well, but there is generally a trial period unless I already know how well they dance!)

Of course, it's been a moot point lately! I cut back for family reasons, and unfortunately I cut back on promotion too. I really need to get out and start advertising if I want to keep a beginning class at all, right now!

It's normal. I saw it in every class session I took, no matter who the teacher was. It's what I like to call the "yeah, I suck/don't like it/don't want to try any harder to look like Shahira" complex!!!
It's also why I make students pay the entire fee up front and from now on will do registration as well. There IS a pay per class option for beginners, but it's jacked way up.

My two cents worth? I suspect that a lot of drop outs that happen is because of the "on demand/instant gratification" mindset. They don't get it right off the bat, they don't instantly have firm tummies and loose pounds/inches after a class or two, so obviously bellydance doesn't work for them. Unfortunately nothing you say or do will fix that.

[QUOTE=*Shira*;877495]Students drop out for all kinds of reasons. Yes, sometimes it's because they decided they didn't like the class for some reason.

But other reasons for dropping out can be: got pregnant, met a new man and found that spending time with him was more satisfying than coming to class, started the process of getting a divorce and became consumed by that, had their jobs suddenly get busy on them, started a new job that consumed them or had a schedule that conflicted with class, got car trouble that created transportation problems with coming to class, lost their primary babysitter, got sick with something that took a long time to resolve, fell into clinical depression or chronic fatigue syndrome, go back to school, became consumed by moving to a new place to live or remodeling the existing one, had to care for someone else who got sick and needed them, got injured that took a long time to heal... the list goes on.

Yup, I've had one each of these with my new beginners over the years.

I have nothing new to add but know how frustrating it is. I only teach one class and it is a mix of beginner and intermediate and the balancing act of finding the right pace, not overwhelming the beginners, not boring the others is boggling my mind. Lots of choreography, props and a sense of humor go a long way. That way the newbies get to "have fun" while the intermediates are diligently adding to their repertoire.

In reality, I too have taken classes outside of my preferred style and bailed because the style(tribal) just wasn't me. Had to try it though! I've also bailed because a teacher was a little too airy-fairy, spritual in her teaching style. She helped many a woman find her inner-dancer but I prefer a drill seargent of a teacher. I've fallen prey to a few excuses from Shira's list above too, lol. It's human nature to dabble and true dedication is rare (except on Bhuz!)

Originally Posted by Viv

My two cents worth? I suspect that a lot of drop outs that happen is because of the "on demand/instant gratification" mindset. They don't get it right off the bat, they don't instantly have firm tummies and loose pounds/inches after a class or two, so obviously bellydance doesn't work for them. Unfortunately nothing you say or do will fix that.

Totally agree! I call this the McBellydancer syndrome and even mention it in class from time to time as a raising of awareness, i.e., we don't churn out McBellydancers, this takes time, so relax and enjoy the process, etc., etc. It always gets a chuckle, so at least they get the message.

I also associate learning bd with learning a new language. To help new students manage their expectations, I'll say, "How many here have taken French in school?" Native Canucks all nod. "How many could speak fluent French after six weeks? After six months? Well, think of bd as a new language for your body", etc., etc.

These sorts of examples will help some frustrated students, but the fact is, those who are looking for *instant easy* will either have to lower their expectations or drift away to a less challenging activity.



Khalida

My classes have been down the last year or two. Interest in classes seems to be cyclical. I know they will pick back up.

Do you have haflas or small student shows? Giving them a safe place to perform can keep them interested. Plus, if they buy a costume (like the LRose student deal) they are more committed.

Originally Posted by khalida777

I also associate learning bd with learning a new language. To help new students manage their expectations, I'll say, "How many here have taken French in school?" Native Canucks all nod. "How many could speak fluent French after six weeks? After six months? Well, think of bd as a new language for your body", etc., etc.

These sorts of examples will help some frustrated students, but the fact is, those who are looking for *instant easy* will either have to lower their expectations or drift away to a less challenging activity.



Khalida

Oddly enough, I took a continuing education "Conversational French " class a few years ago, and people expected just that, to be speaking fluently by the time the semester finished. There was only a handful of us at the end left and we had just enough French to order a meal and a drink competently at a French restaurant (they weren't allowed to serve us if we couldn't, it was our "final" exam, LOL!).

Going to the drop in beginners class for lack of an intermediate level, I have seen people who felt that we as students weren't working hard enough i.e. they were expecting an aerobics class and not a skills class. Weather around here causes drop outs like mad, as well as the poor parking in a busy downtown centre that has an event venue kitty corner to the studio. There were a couple of times when I got a private lesson, although a whole classful of students had paid for an entire semester and were losing that money - I can't see NOT going when I have actually invested dollars into something, but I guess some people are okay with paying for the chance NOT to be there.

I too have been having these problems and for the same amount of time!

I don't entirely think it is us as instructors, I think there are other things at work.....sometimes life circumstances in general just gets in the way of people continuing at one point or another with their dancing.

That being said, another instructor and friend of mine said to me that you only get as much out of something as you put into it. So, if you aren't promoting like crazy, you aren't going to get a lot of students initially. The trick is to pull in as many students as you possibly can into your beginner level initially and at first, hope for a 50% retention rate....over time you continually keep promoting and bringing masses of people in at one time and then have a new goal of 75% and 80% retention. But you can only do this if you are promoting like almost every day of the week in one form or another.

So I have begun to go on a promoting rampage! lol

My friend said, once you get your masses coming in to the intro/beginner levels, the trick is to find ways to keep their interest, and persuade them why they should continue on. She said, you've got to be passionate and be a great seller. If you don't show passion in your teaching...that could kill the mood for students as well.

You can promote for free on things like craigslist and kijiji and every few days post a new add, the more your ads are consistently on these sites for searching, the more likely you are to get people coming out. Also you should try these "Deals companies" that you set up some deal where you offer a certain amount of classes for 50% and more off of the regular price....those tend to do well. People see a deal, buy it, tell their friends about it, post it on facebook etc!

Get the people in, then find a way to keep them! - one way you could try to keep people coming back, is if they register for the next session by a given date of your choosing, you can offer a percentage off. People might be more willing to sign up for a full session at a cheaper price as reward for signing up early, than paying the first night, at the regular price.

I too don't give refunds for the same reason (studio rental), but what I do offer is if people tell me upon registration about weeks they already know they'll be away for, I pro-rate the session price to reflect how many weeks they will be around for. If they then miss any of those dates, if you have at least 2 classes going, they can make up their class in a given session. Doing this, you can feel less guilty!

Anyways, I hope this helps! Believe me, you aren't the only one out there dealing with this, and we certainly aren't the only 2 dealing with it I am sure!

This can all get very tiring, but if you work at it and don't give up, it will pay off in the end! I believe it will!

Anything is possible if you put your heart, mind, and energy into it!