Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Teachers Forum Lesson policy (or lack thereof) dilemma...

John, you are going by what you are actually experiencing with students and the trends you see. I have to respect that. Choosing a monthly route can be a sign of non-commitment. If I had the means to pay quarterly, I certainly would. It is more convenient for me as well.

For your second point: perhaps on the Internet softening a blanket statement with "often" or "in my experience" would allow people under exceptional circumstances not feel included. Life can be unfair and unpredictable.

You are saying that you see commitment in the form of regular attendance, being prepared, attentive, so there is a correlation, right? If you have seen such a correlation in your decades of experience, it makes sense for you to act on it.

In a similar manner I have learned that when a translation agency has an "emergency" it usually means they are disorganized and I may not get paid. That has been a $2400 lesson spread across two of them, and two continents. In fact, it could have paid over a year of music lessons. By contrast, the private individual with an emergency often offers to pay extra and does so immediately. So I, too, have to look for patterns and trends.

ks - point taken.

It has been my experience that students on tuition plans tend to be more "productive" and those paying by the quarter or longer, even more so.

I suspect that lotuscrystal will be delighted in the long term by her decision to go with 4 ten week quarters. And so will her students. And that's what we're really after, isn't it?

All in all it sounds good, John. Personally I would opt for such a thing myself if I could swing it. Less hassle for the student too, if feasible.

In regards to how people read things because of their varied background, I've learned that mostly because I'm a forum moderator elsewhere and have seen first hand how many ways something can be understood. And I still got caught myself today - go figure.

It's OK, keystring, we still love you

I find it's best to follow school holidays as teacher's need holidays too (providing you can get enough work during term time to be able to afford holidays)

I have just put together a studio policy in a friendly FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) format which all my students receive. I don't get them to sign it, (too formal I think) but if there are any queries then I can make reference to the cancellation policy etc and they can't then claim ignorance!

http://www.williamhay.co.uk/faq.pdf

Hi william...your link didn't work for me, but I'd be really interested to view it

This one works (two L's) William\'s page

My students pay me the same monthly amount for 4 lessons. For months where their lesson day has 5 days, they pay me for 4 and then in December (for example) they again pay me for 4 but only get 3 lessons so I get a week off in December. This has been working O.K. but I think I'm switching to Betty's 40 system anyway! Has anyone else used my carry over system?

Cheers!

Hi,
I think I was one of the first teachers to discuss my policy agreement on these forums four or five years ago. Truly, there is no way to operate a teaching studio without one.
Over the last few years, there have been quite a few additions to my standard agreement. Luckily, some of my friends are lawyers, and they have really helped me to add things to my agreement which have kept the studio here thriving.
One of my students decided that she should bring four dogs to my house while taking her piano lessons...after all, they were Jamie Pressley's dogs lol. I was not too happy having to explain that dogs are not really great pianists, and they certainly make a mess and cause a lot of distractions when someone is trying to take a piano lesson.
Most teachers face the "I want to bring a friend, football team, my whole band" situation at some point-I found an easy way to deal with this. I just put the obvious "only you can attend your lesson" in the agreement ( I don't teach young kids) and allow the student the option of bringing as many people as they wish as long as each person pays the lesson fee. That took care of that one.
Very important issues that everyone should be aware of: 1) some students may want to sue you if they practice wrong. As well meaning as some people are, they may put it too many hours if they are overly zealous and blame you when their hands hurt or they injure themselves. I checked with a lawyer and added language to my agreement on that point and 2) If you have stairways and weather elements on your premises you may want to add language to your policy agreement stating that you are not responsible for any injury someone may have while walking to and from your studio. At my residence, there are often pools of water left by the gardeners and if someone isn't able to walk past them, I don't want to be responsible.
By far, the most important thing about a policy agreement is to clearly explain it when a student signs up and make sure they have a copy of it to refer to when something is unclear.

Thanks Rob Mullins for your post...but my public liability insurance covers all the things you mentioned.