How to Collect Tuition Effectively

By Lee Mainprize
www.mainstructor.com

I remember starting my very first school many years ago. It was in a village with a population of about 2500 people. 60 People showed up for the very first night. I charged $5 for each lesson. As the weeks went by, the number of 60 dropped until around 6 months later there was around 20 students left! During the summer months I barely covered the rent fee for my efforts, I knew there must be a better way and I strove to find the best way to collect student tuition, as I desperately wanted to do this professionally as a career.

In October of the same year I made the decision to switch my charges to agreements (never say contract) at $50 per month. I signed up 20 students on this program making the following changes to the school in the process:

  1. Becoming a Black Belt School
  2. Offering 2 x 45 min lesson
  3. Introducing a student creed
  4. Introducing a life skills weekly message
  5. Assessing students’ progress each month - testing

I was now earning $1000 per month for 2 nights per week. I was really enjoying my teaching! I bought new equipment, purchased training videos. I had 20 excited and committed students. 6 Months later I achieved my dream of becoming a professional martial arts instructor having grown my school to 100 students and gradually increasing my fees along the way to $80 per month. To make this switch like I did, you have to value what you do and believe in yourself becoming a professional martial arts instructor.

By introducing agreements you will have students that train more regularly, are more committed and achieve greater success. Essentially everyone wins!

The truth is a club taking cash in the above manner rarely grows. Looking at the illustration above you can see what can happen by introducing agreements into the equation. You can really build a strong school with an excellent financial base.

A student who enrols at a school using agreements already has the perception that the school is professional. And if you have done a great job qualifying the person and making sure they understand that they are making a commitment, which is essential if they are going to experience the positive benefits the martial arts has to offer,  it will do wonders on your retention rate because the majority of students will not realize these benefits in 2 months or maybe even 6 months.

A pay as you go student always has the decision of "shall I go tonight?”, and this lack of commitment leads to drop outs. Sure, students on agreements drop out too, but they are much more committed compared to the cash payer! And why pour your heart and soul into someone who isn't as committed as you

There are lots of options open to you today. You can easily collect your fees via an agreement yourself using one of the Martial Arts billing solutions out there or employ someone else to do it.

Of course there are schools that cash out most students or charge month to month and are successful but it's hard to build wealth if students have already paid for lessons or are free to leave at any time!

One last note is that if you ever plan to sell your school it is tough to show value to a potential buyer if you cannot demonstrate a history of consistent high collections or if you have lots of students who require lessons they have already paid in full for!