Tuition & Fees
The Value of Music Teacher Surveys
One of the most valuable ways to increase professionalism in the independent studio is to network with other teachers about successful policies. Discussing business issues during local and state music teacher associations meetings offers the opportunity to share favorite teaching practices and seek solutions to joint concerns. Such sharing acknowledges that we are not only independent, but also interdependent music teachers. An equally effective means of gathering data concerning our profession is to conduct a written survey of professional issues. Surveys provide invaluable insight into business issues, professionalism and successful approaches to pedagogy within our geographic area.
The Check is in the Mail
A new teaching year is under way. Months ago, you updated your studio policy, decided what to charge and communicated with parents. Yet, here it is October and not all parents have paid…
Learn the Best Ways to Save Money, Track Your Income/Expenses and Get Paid in 2022
Check out some of our favorite tools for getting paid, tracking mileage, managing expenses and even saving money in 2022.
Five Numbers to Know in Your Business
Business finance experts have countless metrics and complex ratios for tracking a business’s performance and financial health. But for the busy studio, a few studio metrics stand out because they strike a balance between simplicity and usefulness.
Surviving the Summer Slump: Ideas for Boosting Summer Income
Do you stress about income as the summer months approach? These ideas from proactive teachers will help you plan ahead and keep your studio afloat when revenue fluctuates.
Resources for Tax Claims, Tuition Raises, Timely Payments and Professional Mindset
From setting tuition rates, paying taxes and upgrading your studio, to embracing a mindset that is open to change, these resources are indeed gems!
Profit First, by Mike Michalowicz
Many teachers who want to set out on their own worry about how they are going to make money. After rent, bills and supply expenses, there is not much left to pay yourself, let alone if you want to run a multi-teacher studio and must pay employees. What if you could reverse your system, and instead of paying yourself with whatever is left over, pay yourself first and make a profit? Profit First by Mike Michalowicz offers practical, well-planned steps and exercises to assist entrepreneurs in their quest for financial security.
Overworked and Underpaid? Take Action!
Let's profile the typical independent music teacher. She started music lessons at the age of seven, studied piano for eleven years before college, earned a degree in music and has taught for thirty years. She devotes herself completely to her fifty-six students during their weekly lessons, but she does much more than teach lessons. She plays for church on Sundays, accompanies the musicals at the high school, and gives theory and performance classes every Saturday. She teaches three students every morning before school, starting at 7:00 a.m., and finishes with the last adult students at 10:00 p.m. She practices daily and accompanies all the brass students in the high school solo and ensemble festival each year. She reviews new repertoire, goes to workshops and conventions, chairs committees, adjudicates, holds an office in her local MTA, and prepares her students for festivals, competitions and recitals. In other words, she is overworked!
Money Matters: Tuition FAQs
An essential ingredient in a profitable business is the amount it charges for its services.
Money Matters: Setting and Raising Tuition
An essential ingredient in a profitable business is the amount it charges for its services. In any profession, supply and demand dictates what rates are viable in a particular area. A basic business principle states that tuition should be based on what the market will bear.
What to Do If You Don’t Get Paid
What are the options if a student or family does not pay the tuition they owe? We all hope that this will never occur, but if it does, there are better choices than just “swallowing the loss.”
What to Do If You Don’t Get Paid
What are the options if a student or family does not pay the tuition they owe? We all hope that this will never occur, but if it does, there are better choices than just “swallowing the loss.”
“What Do You Charge?”
The fear that the answer you give to this question will lose a desired prospective student may be the most important reason independent music teachers sometimes hesitate to charge a professional-level fee. Read more.
How to Create a Studio Budget
Running a private studio is both an art and a business. While most teachers spend years refining their pedagogy, far fewer devote time to building a financial structure that supports their work. Without a working budget, even experienced educators can find themselves stretched thin, unsure where their income is going, or reluctant to raise rates. A clear financial plan offers more than just numbers. It provides direction, stability, and the confidence to grow your studio with intention.
From Surviving to Thriving: Mindset and the Ability to Earn a Good Income
Many musicians dream of a successful career, but lack the financial tools to support their creative vision. By working with money mentor and accountant Katherine Pomerantz, I learned that business and creativity are two sides of the same coin.
Financial Calculator Tools for the Studio Music Teacher
Finances, taxes and rates, oh my! For many teachers, the financial aspects of running a private studio can be daunting, but we are lucky to live in an age when so many essential, yet simple, tools are available with just the click of a button.
Fair Pricing: Two Key Factors for Sustainability and Competitiveness
Pricing one’s work can feel frustrating at best, icky at worst. How can one possibly attach the intangible value of a musical performance or educational offering to a fixed dollar amount? And one might worry that, after tabulating up all the bundled value on offer, a fair price might be unreasonably high for most consumers. But assuming there is no such thing as a fair price for our work is tantamount to asserting there is no way to earn a fair living in the arts. Not so.
Do We Need an Attitude Adjustment?
Editor's Note: This article was written in 2002, so the figures for income and lesson fess are not current. However, the messages within the article still are relevant today.
Collecting Tuition and Raising Rates
As music teachers we often need to think like business people. We also need to be firm and proactive about business decisions. Increases to your lesson fees are much better accepted if your business practices are consistently professional and organized. Each contributor below has provided excellent tips that will equip teachers with the necessary tools to tackle the often difficult task of collecting tuition and raising rates. I am most appreciative for their input and expertise.
Collecting Payments - Past, Present and Future
Like the English language or our understanding of the solar system, the independent music studio is in a state of constant flux. Today's studio looks and operates much differently than the studio of fifty years ago. One area that has changed significantly is our system for collecting payments. While it is important to set our rates at an acceptable level, it is also important to use a system of payment in keeping with today's professional studio. Below is a summary of past practices as well as some of today's creative solutions to the challenges of getting paid the correct amount, on time, by everyone. By reviewing a number of approaches, we can determine what will work best in our present and future studios.
Collecting Payments - Past, Present and Future
Like the English language or our understanding of the solar system, the independent music studio is in a state of constant flux. Today's studio looks and operates much differently than the studio of fifty years ago. One area that has changed significantly is our system for collecting payments. While it is important to set our rates at an acceptable level, it is also important to use a system of payment in keeping with today's professional studio. Below is a summary of past practices as well as some of today's creative solutions to the challenges of getting paid the correct amount, on time, by everyone. By reviewing a number of approaches, we can determine what will work best in our present and future studios.
Being a Starving Artist Isn
Editor's Note: This article was written in 2002, so the figures for income and lesson fess are not current. However, the messages within the article still are relevant today.
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