Raise my fee for piano lessons or keep them the same...??

I am a piano teacher outside of the NY metro area. I do a good job but it is somewhat heimish (they come to home and my kids are usually upstairs with a babysitter but we hear them from time to time). I charge $22 for 1/2 hour and I don't think people would be willing to pay more. I have recently seen more than the average number of dropouts due to the economy. You didn't mention in your post if you go to them or they come to you. that could make a big difference. I agree with the suggestion to go up in increments--$3 now and $2 next year. It will seem a lot easier to people. In terms of how to do it, I would send a letter to all parents welcoming them back etc. etc. Remind them of the rules I.e. I start and end on time, cancellation policy, and then mention that you are raising the fee a nominal $3 which you have not done for X years etc. Hatzlacha! please post back what happens! maybe some of us fellow teachers will take the plunge if you have success.

Platinum Member Joined: Sep 10 2006 Posts: 6570

I do think in your area, OP, you will get away with raising rates.

We live OOT, a few hours from the City. DH cannot charge the same rate up here at all, and forget raising it. He was able to charge 40-50/hr max up here, there was not the same interest, and most people were taking 1/2 hr lessons. He currently only has the studnets in NJ on Sundays, and another full time job where we are during the week.
_________________

OP here- I go to the people's houses. I cant expect my kids to be quiet!
By the way- what is the cancellation policy that most of you piano teachers enforce?
I decided I will raise myself from 30 to 35 dollars per 1/2 hour. Some of you may think it is steep, but with BH the amount of time I have been doing this and the fact that I am BH busy, I am willing to take the risk.
I decided to take some of your advice and write a letter. I composed the text , and I decided I will stay away from explaining or justifying my position. We will see what happens!

Silver Member Joined: May 19 2009 Posts: 563

I've taught piano for 20 years. It's much simpler to charge everyone the same rate. I would generally raise my rates by about 10% every 2 years. I figured if I raised my rates by 10% and lost 10% of my students because of it, I'd be making the same amount and working fewer hours. I also always had a long waiting list, so I never had a problem filling a slot. Also, I NEVER lost a single student due to a tuition increase. I also never explained the reason for the increase since I wouldn't have wanted to argue about the reasons if someone chose to.

At the beginning of the school year, I would write a letter that just included something like, "The 2009-2010 tuition is $XXXX for XX lessons, to be paid in 10 monthly installments, quarterly installments, or a single payment." It worked great to divide it up this way because it evened out my income stream. The total amount a student pays in a year (or a month) is a better gauge of the cost for the parent than what the hourly rate is. Parents usually think, it's $X per lesson x 4 lessons per month. ACK. But it really comes out to an average of about 3.5 lessons per month, so the monthly total is actually 12.5% less than they might estimate in their head.

For cancellations, I have always required 24 hours notice regardless of the reason, unless there was a true emergency.

It's a GREAT job. I love being able to teach 2 hours per week (like now!) or 50 (like before kids!). I would love it if one of my own daughters liked it too. It's a perfect mommy job. Totally flexible.

Hatzlacha! And really pm me if you have any more questions. Smile

alpidarkamama-

I find it interesting that you charge it as tuition- I do it on a weekly basis which never ceases to cause me great aggravation. I dont know or think if I should do that here in NY. Would it work? In other words, you literally count up for example the amount of Sundays you will teach a child for the year and multiply it by the amount of money?
What happens if you cancel for sickness, a Simcha, PTA, whatever, or a kid gets sick. You make it up another time?
Give back money?
Also, parents didnt find it overwhelming to see the total amount in one shot?

I'm sure the annual tuition system would work anywhere. If I miss a lesson, I try to arrange a makeup and if that doesn't work I give them a credit. I like it that the student and teacher basically have a one-year commitment to each other. Of course, if they have to quit in the middle year, I just count up how many lessons they have had and how much they have paid so far and settle it so it comes out right. If you didn't want to do the whole year as an annual tuition, you could also just add up the lessons in a quarter. I like the system a lot, and the parents seemed to think it was just fine too.

Now I just have one family, so I don't bother with the tuition system I used when I had 50 students. With 4 kids I'm just as happy when they cancel one week! Smile

I just charge this family for the coming month. But with 50, it was great to have the income really evened out, and I charged all my Monday students, etc. the same. Less confusing for me! Smile

One other thing I did when I had a lot of students was to take a $20 deposit for materials. I would deduct money from their materials account every time I got them a book. When the amount got below $5 I would ask for another $20. Some people might think it too much bother to keep track of that, but I found it less of a bother than tracking down $8 here and there from the parents. Smile

I told them ahead of time to expect to spend $30-125 per year on materials, depending on the level of the student

Silver Member Joined: Mar 20 2006 Posts: 985

I would raise rates, but give them notice/leeway. Start charging new rates to new customers now, (let's say) and tell exsisting customers that you are raising them, but will keep old rate till after Y"T- let's say. Or do s/t like refer a new client, keep old rate, 2 kids in one house, only raise $2-$3 per lesson. With your neighbor, you should definitely tell her, you know I'm going to be raising rates, but I'll still give you your discount, so you raise her 5, but still cheaper.

If you have a lot of students (at my peak load I had 50 private students + 12 group classes per week), it gets VERY confusing keeping track of different rates. And parents talk and if they find out that X is paying $X less per lesson, they will be asking why they can't get the same discount and things can get awkward. If you only have a handful of students, it's not quite as big a deal, but I personally still wouldn't do it. The beginning of a new school year is the most logical time to raise your rates.

I am keeping everyone at the same rate- I dont want to have the exact problem you are talking about.
Also, it is precisely why I sent out letters yesterday, so it should be on time for the new school year!

I figured I should follow up and let you all know that I took the chance, raised my rates as I wanted, told my neighbor I was raising her rates to, and BH, Bli Ayin Harah, business is good. Contrary to what some people though, I did not lose one lesson from this and BH, I got a few more students as well. I think the moral of the story, for me anyway is that if you are good at what you do, do not be afraid to take the plunge!

That's great! I think people take you more seriously if you don't charge substantially less than the going rate. I found that if I charge too little, people are more likely to cancel on me at short notice, etc.

If I went to the tuition system, I wouldn't have the problem, I know. I'm working on it.

Imasinger, I dont use a tution system. I charge per week, and I told each person beforehand that unless there is sickness C"V on my part or theirs, I expect them to be there. I also let them know that if they are choosing a time slot, they need to adhere to it and if they think they cant commit to it, then dont take it. BH, so far so good. Its funny- the more strict I get, the more serious people take me!