I'll start out with what I do in my studio currently and the justifications for those choices. Then I'll explore some other possibilities for fees including why I like those ideas and why they might not work for my studio.
Starting with Fall 2013, these are the costs to my students:
- Quarterly tuition covers 7 lessons and a studio class or recital (All students whether they attend EVHS or not will be on this program if they want a regular lesson time.)
- In addition they get for free:
- Access to a whole book worth of handouts (by me) when they log in to my website.
- 3 workshops (Watch for a post later about why I am doing these and why they are free this year.)
- My accompanist skills at lessons, studio classes, and recitals.
- My attendance (for support, warm-ups, etc.) at NATS and MMTA sponsored events.
- Students are expected to purchase their own music.
- All other fees are related to optional events
- Entrance fees for exams or contests (MMTA, NATS, EVHS Masterclass Day, Solo and Ensemble Contest, etc.)
- Accompanist fees for exams, contests, auditions, recordings, etc.
It's simple. It's clean. I would like to charge more for the basic tuition package, but I'll have to wait and see what is decided by the department. By the way, students in my studio do get a lot for free. The way it is set up, teachers and students at our school contract for 8 contacts per quarter. Teachers can do those all as lessons. I choose to do studio classes, recitals, and all the other stuff because I think it is helpful for my students, and I feel that all the free stuff more than equals the cost of one more lesson. Should the school ever determine that I must use all 8 contacts for lessons, you can bet that every single one of the "freebies" will have a fee attached.
Package Options
One of the things you need to determine when deciding tuition rates and additional fees is whether you are going to offer a full package deal, a package plus extras deal (like mine), or a strictly per item rate with payments for individual lessons and events.
Full Package Deal
If I wasn't teaching at a school where I had to work with their rules, and if I knew all my students were super rich, I would totally go with the full package deal. And this is what it would look like:
- A certain number of lesson within a particular amount of time.
- Any studio classes, recitals, or workshops that are scheduled during that time are free.
- All books are covered and I purchase them. (Which means I will figure in more money for books than most people will spend.)
- Recordings are free. (Base tuition price assumes everyone will have 1 one hour recording session. They pay whether or not they use it.)
- Entrance fees and accompanist fees are covered for all events even if they choose not to participate. (Again, that means every student is charged.)
Very simple. They pay one price and get everything and it simplifies my book-keeping. It also encourages students to participate since they are paying for it either way.
Package Plus Extras
My plan above is one way to do this, but the options are endless as you will see when we start talking about all the other possible fees you could charge.
Per Lesson Rates With or Without Other Fees
I don't know a lot of people charging strictly per lesson fees anymore. Most people have at least gone to monthly packages. The teachers I see most often offering per lesson fees tend to be teachers of more advanced students or teachers with studios where students do not have a regular lesson day and time. If you are teaching using a strictly per lesson rate, please comment and share with us why this has worked for you.
Miscellaneous Fees
As you will see, the boundaries of what is covered by each of these types of fees are kind of blurry. You would certainly not want to do all of these, but you could choose the ones that best serve you.
- Registration Fee
- Some teachers have a one time fee when a student begins lessons. I assume this is to cover the work involved in the book work (setting up accounts, etc.)
- I could see the value in this. Now that I'm with MTH, if I have a student register on my website, all that information is automatically put into my records so all I have to do is send a welcome email and add their lesson times to the website calendar. Previously, it took me much more time to get organized for each new student that started, and a registration fee would have been helpful and appreciated.
- Studio Fee
- A yearly fee that just reserves your lesson space.
- Teachers can use this to cover professional development costs.
- Facilities Fee
- Pays for any costs the teacher may incur for the studio space.
- rent and utilities
- piano tuning
- Materials Fee
- Pays for basic office supplies like staff paper, paper for handouts, pencils, etc.
- Music Fee
- I've seen this work in a couple of ways. One way to do this is to charge everyone an average price, but some students end up with more expensive books and some with less expensive books based on the needs of the individual students. The teacher pockets any extra cash left over. I would have trouble deciding what that average price would be.
- The other option I've seen is teachers charge an average price to each student at the beginning of the year. They then keep detailed accounts for each individual as they purchase music. At the end of the year, students with money left in the account get refunds and students with negative balances get bills.
- I'm going to be honest here. Both of these options seem like more work than they are worth. The only way I'm going back to buying books for students is if I ever decide to do the full package deal.
- Library Fee
- I know some individuals and schools that charge a once a year fee that covers all the photocopies of music that the students will receive. You know that is not going to fly in my studio. I will not photocopy unless I have permission from the publisher. I do not believe that copying songs for voice lessons falls under the educational clause of Fair Use. But you can do what you want with your studio.
- Option 2 for a library fee is that the fee goes towards books that go in the Lending Library. Students can then borrow books for those songs that are the only song in the whole book that they will use. I'm totally on board for this kind of a fee, but I don't think our school would be, so my Lending Library continues to be free and funded out of my own pocket.
- Option 3, the library fee goes to build the school's vocal library which may or may not circulate depending on the needs of the school.
- Option 4, the library fee functions as a deposit on a book allowing you to replace things that don't come back or that come back totally trashed.
- Event Entrance Fees
- I'm of the opinion that event entrance fees should be for the exact amount required by the sponsoring organization and paid directly to that organization when possible. This keeps it out of your books. You don't have to claim it as income and then record it again as an expense. However, I know that many groups like MMTA and NATS will not accept checks from students and want one big check from the teacher.
- Accompanist Fees
- Pretty much the same thing as entrance fees.
- My students get me for free for studio classes and recitals, but that's because I play well enough that I can do it and I don't want to have to schedule extra rehearsals with another accompanist. Teachers that can play actually have a big advantage here. Just because I do it for free doesn't mean you need to.
- I charge my students when I accompany them for extra events.
- Students also have the option to hire an accompanist, but the accompanist sets the fees. I do not negotiate those for students.
- Our school sets fees for school sponsored events.
- Also, accompanist fees teach students to respect the work that accompanists do. Students who are going to pursue music as a profession need to know learn early that it is not a cheap life.
- Late fees
- If students don't pay on time, you should not feel guilty about asking for a late fee.
- Actually collecting on it is sometimes harder.
- This year I eliminated late fees. Instead, tuition is due prior to the first lesson of the quarter. If I don't have it after lesson 2, they don't get lesson 3 until they have paid in full. They are still expected to pay for the full quarter and can sign up for make ups (which are hard to get at the times most students want) for any lessons they miss. I'll let you know how it works. At the worst, I've taught a couple lessons I never get paid for and there is an open spot in my schedule. That's still better than kids that run up a huge bill and then disappear.
- Fees for studio sponsored events like masterclasses and recitals.
- You should not be paying for masterclass clinicians out of your own pocket, unless you have a really awesome package deal for your students and you already figured in the price of this.
- And as nice as it is, clinicians shouldn't be giving classes for peanuts just because that is what the teacher can afford. Pay the clinician what they are worth and spread out the expense over all participants.
- You may also need/want to charge a fee to help cover the cost of the space you use for the event.
- If you're going to do fancy refreshments, don't forget that those cost money too.
- You Didn't Practice Fee
- Just kidding. You probably shouldn't charge this fee, although sometimes I have really wanted to.
- On the other hand, I did hear of a teacher who taught, but didn't need the income from lessons (not sure how that happened). Anyway, he charged sliding fee tuition with the students who had practiced well and often paying much less or even nothing, and the others paying his standard fee. When I win Powerball, I'll definitely go with that plan.
I'm out of ideas. What fees do you charge? What is covered in your basic tuition rate? How do you feel about the kinds of fees I've listed here? Talk to me.
