Monthly Payments (and makeup lessons) Revisited

Author: admin

17 Sep

I loved the comments I received on my post about monthly payments and missed lessons last week. I was surprised to see the opposite opinions! If you haven’t had a chance to read them, go here! I decided I need to be a teeny bit more lenient on makeup policies so that payment appears more fair. So I changed part of my policy on makeup lessons. I know it probably isn’t perfect and I will most likely run into some hiccups, but I’m going to try it out and see how it goes.

Originally, my policy stated that I don’t have any extra time to give makeup lessons. I run a full studio, and I’m not willing to use my personal and family time for makeup lessons (I don’t state that part in my policy!). But because of my full studio, I will only offer other students’ missed lessons for makeup lessons.

I still kept that in my policy, but also added a week during Christmas vacation (that was originally just a week off) where students may schedule one makeup lesson.

I also am giving the parents the opportunity to be included on a phone number list that will be distributed for the purpose of parents arranging their own swaps. This is the part I am nervous about. We will see how it goes.

If anybody has done similar things, I would love to hear!

Filed under: Business

3 Responses for "Monthly Payments (and makeup lessons) Revisited"

Erin September 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pm 1
I have it specifically stated in my policy letter that the monthly tuition is the same every month. Some months will have 5 lessons (if there happen to be 5 Wednesdays, for example) and some months will only have 3 lessons (Christmas time, for example). It all balances out – I have counted to make sure. Then, back when I had 40 students, I hosted group lessons on the 4th week of the month instead of regular piano lessons, and I would do all of the group lessons in two days (on Monday and Tuesday). Then I would give parents one day each month – that Wednesday – if they wanted/needed to do a makeup lesson. I only ever had three students take me up on the offer! That way it was there, it was available, and if they chose not to take advantage, it wasn’t my fault. Oh, and I would always have the parent sign the policy letter and then give them a copy (I would make them sign it every year, whether I upped the tuition or not), and then I would gently remind them of the policy letter they signed if they seemed to be having problems with my policies! I hope that helps or make some sense to you.
Marianne September 24th, 2008 at 9:16 am 2
I have always given a list of my piano schedule with my stundent’s phone numbers so my students may swap lessons. I feel it gives them an option if they can’t make it to their lesson. It works wonderfully and I have never had a problem with it. I totally agree with you about makeup lessons. It takes away from your personal time, yet I always feel bad so strick when I tell my clients that.
Stengel99 September 29th, 2008 at 9:08 pm 3
I used to teach in a church-run academy of performing arts. The director wanted each teacher to periodically (I think 2-3 times a year) host an event which would either count as a make-up lesson, or a free event for students who didn’t need a make-up. The event could be something like a workshop, a guest clinician, a master class, a field-trip to a performance or anything else that would be appropriate for music students. It satisfied a lot of goals: dealing with make-ups, rewarding faithful students, getting outside the walls of the studio, bringing in new educators (and increasing that person’s awareness of your program and students), as well as having a social component to getting several of your students together in one place at one time.