Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Had my first complaint about re-enrollment policy

Hi, I added a re-enrollment fee for those who leave lessons and then return(the fee is equal to one months tuition). Heard today from a parent whose child had 8 months of lessons with me last year. They took off for "summer" which became a 6 month break. Now she wants to restart. I let her know about the fee (all this by e-mail)and directed her to my website for current policies. And had a response that said okay but if she goes back to India each summer it would mean she has to pay this each time(it was definitely worded as a complaint).

I just let her know that everyone who takes off more than June and July pays the re-enrollment fee. (Trying to let her know that her daughter isn't unfairly treated.) But I did not try to justify it beyond that. Just let her know.

I thought I'd see what you do when parents complain about policy. Do you give further explanation? Or just let it be that this is the policy.

Kind of funny. I wanted my son to take piano year round. His first teacher, however, took most of the summer off. So I had him study over the summer with another area pianist who offered him a different perspective. When his academic year teacher finally decided to offer summer lessons, we politely declined because we actually wanted to continue with the alternative summer program. His academic year teacher understood. She never charged re-enrollment fees though.

I can understand the charge, as long as everyone is clear that lessons are meant to be a year-round activity.

Ann, is your annual enrollment fee different than a re-enrollment fee?

I charge an annual enrollment fee, whether the student is with me year round or not. The purpose of the fee is to cover incidental expenses incurred on behalf of the student through out the year, it's not an income enhancer. If yours is similar, you might reward your policy to explain why/what it covers; that should eliminate complaints.

John

John, I do not charge an annual enrollment fee. I mainly started this re-enrollment fee to protect myself from parents who decide to skip a month when it suits them...to keep enrollment/income steady. So I don't really have an explanation handy, except the example of the local YMCA charging enrollment fees (steep) every time you drop out and come back. It just is a business practice to try to ensure steady income. But that doesn't sound like something a parent would like to hear.

In reality, if this parent skips out again for a 6 month "summer" break it is likely that my studio will be full when she decides to come back. I could tell her that...not to worry about paying re-enrollment a second time because I probably will not have a spot for her if she takes another break...but I'd be glad to refer her to another teacher.

I just had another e-mail from the parent. She seems happy that she can still take off June and July without paying a fee to return. So maybe it will go over alright.

Out of 18 enrolled, the policy would only affect one or two who like to skip December or take extended summer break. This policy will hopefully get parents to think twice before missing more than 2 months in summer...or taking off say during December.

I have a re-enrollment fee that's different from my annual enrollment fee.

The enrollment fee is due in the spring for those wishing to return to piano in September (I take off July/Aug). I use it to pay for all books & supplies that students will use, as well as handouts, stickers, pencils, and new studio supplies like rhythm instruments, theory games, etc.....

When students enroll for the year they are committing to paying tuition each month, regardless as to the number of lessons in a month. If they want to drop piano they must give me a 30-day written notice.

Sometimes I'll have a parent who informs me that they plan to take off December (which happens to be a short month of only 2-3 lessons) and return in January. I consider this dropping without notice. When they return in January they must pay a 're-enrollment' fee, which happens to be $10 shy of monthly tuition.

Stick to your guns.

Ann, I applaud you for this re-enrollment policy. I don't think you need to offer any explanation whatsoever. This is your new policy and if people have questions about it, they will ask you. I think it's a great policy and I hope you stick with it. Keep us posted, let us know if you get any more feedback from parents.

It's your business and you can run it as you see fit. So long as the terms are clear up front, you're not obliged to explain yourself to anybody.

The downside, of course, is that there will be potential customers who you'll lose, because they don't like your policy or the way you implement it. But that's how capitalism works. If your policy is losing you income rather than gaining it, then it's time to think about whether it's a good policy

A different perspective:

As a parent of two kids who's lived for 4 years abroad I find such policies slightly unfair. I'm Greek and used to live in London. Whenever we had an opportunity we would go to Greece, which could mean 3-4 months time in total.

While it makes sense to have a general expectation on anual fees and divide them by 12, 11, whatever to create the monthly fees, but in rather special cases (for a example a student traveling to India) I'd expect an exemption to such policy.

You run your studio however you wish, and parents bring their kids back, because they love working with you, but it still remains that some policies might "seem" unfair to a few.

And of course in general marketing pricing and policies different from country to country and from case to case. If you think about it there are general rules, world rules, European or transtate rules, state rules and anything in between. Some things make sense in a case but not in another.

It's not the way a business person would ever word their policy to a customer. Can you imagine, for example, if a dentist told you that from now on you have to have check-ups four times a year because he's not making enough money otherwise? He will tell you that twice annual check-ups are recommended for your benefit, and he can back this up.

* A student who takes off 2 or more months can slip into bad habits if she practises, and can slip, period, if she doesn't. That's one reasonable explanation.

* They are paying for an ongoing service comprising x hours of your time per annum. That's another.

In view of this, your issue about December does not make sense. In what manner is it ok to skip July and come all December, but it is not ok to attend in the summer, but skip December? A month is a month. People have lives. In my case, for example, the extended family gathers from hundreds of miles to a remote northern location at Christmas. Sometimes we get snowed in. It is the only time we get to see each other. December not being ok doesn't make sense to me. Is there a reason?

There is an extra reason why the need for a steady income doesn't work for me as explanation: I don't have one, even though I am the sole provider. I freelance, orders come when they come, and I cannot tell from one week to the next how busy I will be. It is possible to plan your financing so that some of your earnings are saved up for lean periods and emergencies. You are in a much better and more stable condition than many freelancers are. In fact, I once resumed teaching two family members over the long term, in order to get some steady income. I would not use this as an explanation.

Fwiw, a parent who ends up leaving for 8 months is not taking lessons seriously. It's rather astonishing, actually.

The problem is that when you run a business -- any business -- you're going to able to satisfy only a proportion of prospective customers.

At least where I live (North London) there are plenty of teachers who can cope with extended absences and don't feel it necessary to charge additional fees. The downside for customers is that they have to be willing to reciprocate, and allow the teacher to miss classes because of other commitments.

But however you run your business, some people are going to be unsatisfied.

Yes, I agree Kevin. It's just that some times one needs to break a rule in order to keep 'everyone happy'. But this, certainly is up for discussion. (Because in the end you become a servant of your clients, and I really really don't like that when composing, so I can very much sympathise with anyone not wanting to do that).

Whereabouts in N. London, if I may ask? I was considering WoodGreen up to a point, but then I just decided for a nice appartement near Alperton tube station. (That before I moved back to Athens, Greece, right? ;))

In my experience, flexibility works well when you're mostly dealing with reasonable people -- that is, people who will respect the extra work you do and reward you in some way for it (not necessarily with money, but somehow). Parents of music students are not always reasonable -- not because they're bad people but, as other people have said, they often don't realize what reasonableness entails in a student-teacher relationship. And by the time you've explained it, the relationship has often been already soured.



Of course you may ask I used to live in Palmer's Green, just a stone's throw from Wood Green. But I recently moved out to the far reaches of the Picadilly Line, near Watford. So I'm not really in London any more, strictly speaking. But I deal with a lot of US and European customers and they generally have sufficient geography to know where `North London' is -- `Watford' would probably require a visit to Google Maps

It seems I take a lot of time off for a teacher. I don't teach during any of the school holidays during the year so that's 6 weeks. And I take the summer off as well, which i thought was normal in australia. Beginning to feel a bit slack... but I think it's better for me to be relatively poor than exhausted as I think I would be if I taught through the year. Are there any other teachers who follow the school terms like this?

My policies are pretty soft too, but this works ok because the parents are mostly connected to each other so it operates a bit more like a social group - I am less likely to be used so don't need to protect myself as much. The advantage for me is that when I have a composing project on I feel quite ok about suspending teaching for a week or 2, they give me this because I am flexible for them, so it is a different style of business.

I have a student going overseas for 6 months next year. I was explaining to parent that I can't guarantee that he'll get the same timeslot when he returns, and will probably get a late evening spot. At least now I know that I need not have felt bad for them at all - what was I thinking!

It is. Bear in mind that we have only 6 weeks summer holidays in most states, whereas in US they have up to 3 months! If we teach through each school term it works out at 40 weeks, which seems to be about the same as the US and UK teachers here.
(Like you I'm more flexible than most, but it's because I don't have many students, and most are adults.)

It seems to be pretty standard in the UK. I guess teachers who themselves have kids in school are most likely not to teach during school breaks.

As a student, I would be (am) supportive of a yearly tuition, e.g. broken down into 2 semesters and a summer, and even a moderate annual "enrollment" fee that covers extra expenses the teacher incurs. But I would be resistant to a "re-enrollment" fee. That is just inconsiderate of people's life circumstances and basically assumes that people are not serious about their engagement. Unfortunately life cannot always be anchored around piano lessons. Of course a teacher has to protect his/her income, but that is where a 30day notice and perhaps opting for the annual tuition approach rather than a monthly or per diem approach come in.
There is a good reason why it is difficult to articulate the rationale for the "re-enrollment" fee : There is not a good one. In every business, there will be people whose behavior is incompatible with your sense of good practice. The best approach, IMO, is to "weed" them out, rather than alienate others. I certainly would not pay someone for untaught lessons, which is what the not so modest re-enrollment fee (of an entire month tuition) really is. That is assuming, of course, that I have given proper notice. It is not that I am unsympathetic to a self-employed teacher's money concerns. Rather keep in mind that parents or adult students also have similar concerns and obligations. I would not jump to conclusions, even subconsciously. To take this case as a hypothetical example, I would not assume that if she can afford to go to India, she can afford to pay me a month tuition. Going to India probably challenges her budget severely and may be an unavoidable family obligation..
Sorry if this sounds harsh. But I think there could be better ways to address this issue, that are more equitable and that would be perceived as such.

The YMCA charges an enrolment fee when you enrol for the first time, and charges the same fee when you lapse for long enough to be considered a first timer again? Is that correct? If it is, maybe that's the source of questioning the fee. The trouble with a RE-enrolment fee where there is no enrolment fee, is that the re-enrolment fee is not "for" anything. It's more of a "long break penalty payment". Maybe you need to introduce an enrolment fee for all first starters as well, that is the same amount.

The other approach which it looks like you're considering too is to give the valued time-slot away to the next in line, And then when a student returns from a long break they have to settle for the not so nice time slot after hours until something better becomes available. At least then you've sold all your best time slots to those who fill them for most of the year, and someone who wants more flexilbility needs to be flexible too.

But I think you are suggesting that in this particular case there is also a lack of commitment/interest from the student or parents, so that makes you feel less happy about making special exceptions etc.

hope it works out for you.

I don't charge an enrollment fee or annual fee of any kind, but I think it's a fair thing to do. I've never heard of a re-enrollment fee, though.

I do figure out the semester schedule in advance, and charge by the semester. Parents who want time off during the semester do so at their own expense. Where I live, the school year ends in late May, and begins in early-mid August. During those months off, lessons are very casual - if you are in town, and I am, let's have a lesson. I encourage everyone to have at least one lesson per month. Some come almost weekly, some I don't see all summer.

Most parents around here have paid for their child to go to a preschool, or a seasonal sport - something where they pay the whole price regardless of whether or not their kid misses a day. Once I explain the policy to them with that analogy, they usually understand. This year I had one continuing students whose parent wanted to delay the start of the semester until late September. I told her she could start anytime she wanted, but that the semester fee would be the same. In my studio, returning students pay less than new students, so her alternative was to begin later as a new student with a higher tuition.

I think the dentist analogy doesn't work because if you cancel a dentist appointment, the dentist can fill the spot with another patient. If you cancel one piano lesson and I fill it with a new student, you've lost your spot. So paying to keep the spot is reasonable.

In a free market, you get to make your own rules, and others get to decide if they can live with them. It's tricky finding a balance that is attractive to families but that is fair to you, too.

Another way to reward loyalty to the studio that I hadn't thought of. So the actual lessons are cheaper for a returning student? And does this kick in after one semester, or after a whole year?
I like this because you can make it appear as reward for loyalty rather than a penalty.