My policy this next year is to have child students purchase packages of 40 lessons from August through June, either for 30 or 45 minute lessons. The 40 lesson packages will be prorated if a student begins too late in the year to use all 40 lessons. Adult students may purchase either 40 lesson or 20 lesson packages for 45 minute lessons. All packages must be used by June, and no refunds will be offered for unused lessons. Even if an adult student purchases a 20 lesson package, monthly tuition is due (for example, August-December, if the package is purchased in August), and all lessons must be used by June. I decided to offer this to my adult students, as I was getting calls from shift workers and military personnel who may miss lessons due to work scheduling beyond their control.

My question for the group is this: I am thinking I need to have something in my tuition policy (or studio policy....not sure in which policy this belongs?) regarding saving a particular slot for students who purchase 20 lesson packages. My thought is that if the student cannot be committed to weekly lessons, then I should be committed to giving lessons, but not held to saving a spot for them. I want to communicate that if a student is able and willing to take lessons weekly (or every week that they are available), then I want to hold a regular slot open to them. But I also want to communicate that purchasing a 20 lesson package with the intention of taking a lesson here and there until June isn't acceptable, either.

Thoughts on wording?

Hmm... how many adults are you dealing with? If it's 2-4, maybe you can set aside one or two 45-minute blocks of time each week that are available for adult lessons, and let the students "sign up" for those times any given week via email or with some kind of calendar program on a first-come, first-served basis. I used "appointment slots" on Google calendar this summer, and it worked surprisingly well.... might be good for this kind of arrangement. Even after a date passes, I can scroll back to it and see what was scheduled, and I've been able to keep an accurate count of lessons for each summer student. Google also gave email reminders & pop-up reminders on my computer.

If you want it to be more rigid/consistent, you could also plan for 2 adult students to come at the same day/time, in alternating weeks, assuming you can find a time that will work. I did that one year with 2 students who both wanted to come bi-weekly. It kept me from having holes in my schedule.

If you want them to commit to a time slot for the year, with a take-it-or-leave-it approach, understanding that you WILL have holes in some weeks, then the wording might be similar to what you have for younger students. Here's a variation of what I have in my policy:

Individual weekly or bi-weekly lessons will be scheduled with each student at a consistent day and time, at the mutual agreement of the teacher and student, subject to the availability of open lesson times. Tuition is based on enrollment, not attendance, and reserves your exclusive lesson time throughout the piano year, whether you attend lessons or not. All lessons in the package must be used before June 20, 2012; tuition refunds for unused lessons will not be issued.

I have 2 college students in my studio (a first for me!) and I am trying to decide if/how I should alter my policy for them. I look forward to hearing how you decide to work this out.

Amanda

I have adult students pay for 10 lessons at a time.

My contract reads (paraphrased) I agree to pay $_____ for 10 lessons to be used by Month, Day, Year. . I understand that there is no reimbursement for unused lessons.

The maximum amount of time to use 10 lessons is 20 weeks, but most serious adult students use up the lessons before that and purchase the next set a week before they run out of paid lessons. I assign a time that is either the last or first lesson of the day so that there isn't a hole in my schedule.

I offer lessons in packages of 12 for adult students. I give them the flexibility I would like to have as well. They are there most weeks, but occasionally one of us has a conflict, so it simply moves ahead to the next week.

I do not rely on the adult students for my regular income -- they're kind of the icing on the cake, so it doesn't bother me if it takes 16 weeks to get in the 12 lessons. I schedule them in slots that don't really affect my schedule all that much.

This is intriguing. I have always wondered how best to set this up and what "formula" to use. Gail, could you share more of your adult policy?

Arlene, do you mean that you just charge them for 12 lessons with no deadline for when they need to get done?

I've been an adult student several times with various professors, so I know there needs to be some flexibility since Life Happens. That said, if I didn't have one every other week at least I would blow off practice. I've often thought 3 out of 4 would be a good number but didn't have a clue how to write it up and/or whether that is reasonable for a "regular" adult student. Anyone else have any thoughts on the subject?

Oh, since I never think of lessons in terms of an hourly fee, do most teachers just pick an hourly fee per lesson? I would be curious what people charge for adults vs. students since there isn't an annual package included like there is for children.

THANKS!!!!!!! This is an awesome discussion.

I and my husband treat adult students as icing on the cake, being okay whether they want weekly lessons or only occasional ones, and I've had to go between both with my own teacher either due to health issues of me or my husband or busy teaching and performing schedules. Many of my husband's adult students are well off, and take one or two weeks of travel a few to several times a year, though we do ask that they pay for 4 lessons at a time.

Meri

My policy is similar to Arlene's. I have adult students purchase lessons in blocks of 10, and they can let me know a day in advance if they cannot attend, and I apply the lesson fee to the next lesson. These are for daytime slots that I can't otherwise fill, so it works for me (and I get the occasional morning off).

The fee for adults is just slightly less than the amount I charge regular students who sign up for the year. It's roughly a 5% difference. Maybe that will change if my adult student enrollment goes up significantly, or if I have students who sign up and buy 10 lessons, and fail to show up for several weeks in a row. So far, it's working well.

I do count the lesson if they fail to cancel. Otherwise, there's not a real deadline.

Thank you for all your input thus far. I do use a Google calendar for scheduling, and set some appointment slots called "Adult Piano Lessons." I checked the link with another email address, and all that can be seen is that there are slots open, and links for them to schedule themselves into this slot. I am thinking that I will go ahead and sell the 20 lesson packages, with the June deadline, explain that weekly lessons are optimal for success, and that they need to schedule one of the open slots at least 24 hours in advance. They will also need to cancel at least 24 hours in advance, if they are not going to be able to make it (I do have a sick policy that supercedes this in an emergency). I think I'll leave it at that, and let them schedule themselves and take responsibility for their own learning. If an adult student wants a set time spot, they can go in and schedule that spot for each week--or let me know and I can do so on my end--but then they will need to commit to at least 80% attendance per quarter to continue in that particular time slot. Does this sound reasonable?

In terms of rate, they are purchasing 45 minute lessons, so I am charging the same fee I would if a child purchased 20 45-minute lessons. I do technically have a per lesson rate, but it's not so transparent that anyone can quickly do the math and come up with a rate. Yes, I realize some may try...but I also have everyone paying for 4 lessons per month for 10 months, regardless of the actual number of weeks in that month.

I'm also considering once a month catered dinners where adult students can come and play for each other, based on that month's theme. I haven't worked out all the details on this but have mentioned it as a possibility to a couple of current adult students. The idea has been well-received thus far. Has anyone else done anything like this before? Any advice?

I like having a deadline for attending a given number of lessons. One major reason is that in the past I tried a more open agreement and students didn't attend enough lessons to make it worth my bother or progress at a pace that I thought was worth theirs.

I don't like to schedule more than one student into any lesson spot. Keeping track of who is coming on a biweekly basis or time sharing a spot doesn't work for me. I just keep adult contract students to the first or last lesson of the day to avoid gaps. . . . I do have one high school student and her mother alternate weeks, but that assures me that one person being paid for by the same checking account is attending every week.

So my policy is for one student coming to at least 50% of the years lessons but with some flexibility in their scheduling.

Anyway, here is the financial part of my adult contract:
~~~~~~~~~~~

I _____________ agree to pay GailS for the piano lesson block(s) listed above. I understand that this contract covers studio costs and scheduled lessons from August 20th, 2012 through June 1st, 2013. I understand that lesson payments reserve a lesson time and is owed unless prior notice of missing a lesson is given.

I agree to pay a registration fee which covers recital and other studio costs for August 20th, 2012 through June 1st, 2013. I also agree to prepay 10 lessons of the contracted year when registering.

When discontinuing lessons I agree to give two weeks notice in order to be entitled to any prorated tuition reimbursement.

I have read the studio policy and agree to adhere to the studio policies.

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The rest of the policy is the same as all students. (don't park on the grass, don't eat in the family room, don't install crap on my computer etc.)