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That's exactly right, Chris. Some parents who opt to pay monthly ask if they pay less if there aren't 4 lessons in the month, to which I reply, "No, because I've simply taken the tuition rate over 9 months (two semesters that make up the school year) and divided it into 9 equal monthly payments. You still get the same number of lessons that a person paying a semester tuition gets, assuming you stay the entire school year."

For the summer, I require 6 weeks of lessons in order to get priority scheduling in the Fall, and the majority of students do this. I only accept payment for the entire 6 lessons upfront for these lessons.

In a semester, there are 17 lessons, and that takes into consideration holidays and teacher's convention. So yes, anyone could sit there and divide the semester tuition rate by 17 lessons per semester to get my per-lesson rate, but I do not accept payment per lesson unless the student requests extra lessons in preparation for a performance. But no one is getting "cheated" anything, nor am I getting paid for vacation time.

I think it's all semantics. You could get $2000 for 4 weeks in October and $1000 for two weeks in December, or you could get $1500 for each month. Either way, it's still the same $3000, but the $2000/$1000 doesn't feel like paid vacation, and the $1500/$1500 does.

It also depends on your business model. If you're a sole proprietor and don't have to keep close track of everything, then the accounting is quite a bit different than if you incorporate yourself and consider yourself an employee.

For an interesting take on things, consider this - if you got a new student today, would your salary go up? Most teachers would probably say yes - the extra money would get passed along to the employee, possibly even all of it.

But if the hospital where my wife works sees 25 more patients next month than this month, my wife brings home the exact same amount of money. That's the trade off of paid vacation, I think. My wife gets "paid vacation," but some weeks, she sees 6 patients in a day and works from 7am to 5pm; other weeks, she's responsible for 15 and works from 7am to 10pm - for the exact same amount of money.

Your wife is on a salary. Piano teachers who are self employed are not on a salary. As you say the best you can do is model your business in a way which feels almost like a salary. My income is never the same from one month to the next because students come and go, but it doesn't change much so I know I have enough to cover bills and living costs. But if I were to fall ill and couldn't work for a month it would be very difficult. People couldn't be expected to keep paying for lessons that they were not taking. If you were on a fixed salary then the chances are you would get paid anyway.

Wow. You sound like a whiny baby. Universal healthcare is for the birds. Why should I be forced to pay for your cancer treatments? What you desire is for the govenment to forcefully take my money and give it to you. Healthcare is not a basic human right. In the U.S. we have many rights, but they do not come at a cost to others. My freedom of speech or right to bear arms costs nothing, but someone has to pay for the "right" to heathcare.

Why not take care of yourself? And as for pre-existing conditions, do you get in an auto wreck and then call an insurance company to get your car repaired?

This isn't the right forum for this conversation, but I couldn't let your perverse views go unchallenged. Wake up and stop depending on others to solve your problems.

Yikes, we may not agree with Gary, but we ought not to resort to name calling. The fact is, teachers in Florida, Arizona, and a few other states have been dealt a double whammy, through no fault of their own. The economy has dropped precipitously and piano lessons is considered a luxury by almost everyone, so private teachers feel the blow first. To add insult to injury, the government which fostered this insurance oligopoly in the first place is now telling us they will fix the problem by making it a monopoly. Gary and thousands of other teachers can't win for losing. We can disagree with the premise of sole provider, but we owe each other civil discourse.

Here's Laramie's version of healthcare...



No one should die because they cannot afford health care. No one should go bankrupt because they get sick. No one should be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition. Make sense? Not to neanderthal John Wayne types who still think Americans should be riding horses and doing everything for themselves.

Laramie,

I pray that you continue to have the good fortune, good health, and/or wealth that allows you too feel this way.

Those of us who have suffered at the hands of this broken system understand why it needs changing, and hope that those of you who have not yet experienced this yet can be big-hearted enough to try to understand what it must be like when the shoe is on the other foot.

Preexisting conditions can be genetic and have nothing to do with 'taking care on oneself'. Cancer is not, so far as we yet understand, totally preventable. Please try not to blame the sick for their conditions.

We are not looking to pass the buck, we just want a system that works for everyone, no matter what. I want that for me, and for you too.

Yours in peace,

LVP

Wow. You sound like an ignorant right wing wack job fed by hate radio and Faux News. How does that feel?

Welcome to pianoworld.

So, do you have anything to say about pianos and piano teaching and piano salaries or are you just here to troll, trying to confirm the image of the "ugly American" who forgot that what made his or her country great and put a man on the moon was everyone pulling together. No wonder America is turning into such an undemocratic and dangerous third world county with some of the highest lethal violent crime rates, highest rate of homicides, worst income inequality, poorest health care performance, highest levels of corruption, shortest life expectancy, highest infant mortality, highest levels of drug abuse, highest incarceration rates, poorest school performance, most unhappy children and the disappearance of polite and intelligent political discourse compared to other Western nations.

There are more than fifty million Americans who have no affordable access to health care, who do not have the freedom to work when and where they want and cannot start a business. There are tens of millions of others who are under the false illusion that their insurance will cover them if they get sick and not just drop them at the first sign of trouble or lead them around the bush condemning their families to certain ruin and bankruptcy.

It is a sad statement indeed that if you want to be an independent businessman and start a piano teaching business that you have to marry someone with a certain kind of job just to have access to health care. That is like living in the USSR where you had to marry a member of the Communist Party to get the benefits of the elite. I am thankful I live in a democracy where the citizens are in charge of the country instead of corporations who pay to deceive and blackmail an ignorant electorate while ensuring they get their money's worth from the congressmen they have bought and paid for. I am so thankful I live in one of the other modern, Western democracies all of which provide access to affordable health insurance to all citizens, in our case that covers everything. Where people don't have to live in fear. Where people aren´t forced to die a painful death, abandoned by America's private insurance company run, for-profit death panels in the so-called richest country in the world. And where people, unlike this poster, are not afraid of solidarity with their fellow citizens but know that living in a true democracy gives certain rights but certainly also implies serious responsibilities.

Lovely first post (and probably last)

This is actually relevant. I just had to go to urgent care because of severe lower back pain. Total time spent there? Five hours! And that's with the best insurance available.

And it's not my insurance. I don't have any. My wife works for UCSD and has the insurance. If I wasn't covered, I don't know what I would have done.

Suffered, likely. Or ask the pharmacist for recommendations. That's what a lot of people end up doing. So sad.

Hope you're feeling better.