Inspired by extra-curriculars thread-- do you prefer to pay a flat rate?

[TarraLee]

Do you prefer to pay one flat rate per month for extra curriculars? Or do you prefer to pay as costs come up (costumes, competition fees, etc.)?


I run a cheer and tumble gym and we're looking at whether to go to a flat rate per month for our team programs. Seems like it would be easier for parents to budget camp costs, uniforms, competitions, etc., if it were all rolled into one monthly fee. Thoughts?

 

[mom2boys]

I would probably perfer a monthly fee assuming that all students could participate in everything. However, you mentioned camps. When my kids did karate it seemed that they could never attend the studios camps because of scheduling. Either we were out of town or my kids had other committments. I would not want to pay for something I couldn't use.

For you costumes, do you do an annual exhibition - similar to a dance studio or do the kids own a particular costume that they wear to all events throughout the year?

Why not let your parents know you are considering such a change & ask for feedback? I would give them a ballpark figure on what the monthly fee might be - perhaps a range so you don't lock yourself into a figure that turns out to be too low.

 

[Disney Ella]

I would prefer it to be all in a monthly fee. For dance, we get hit with costume deposits right before Christmas. Then we have to pay the remainder sometime in the spring, but we never get a definite date when that will be or how much more it will be. I would definitely prefer one set amount that I know I would pay every month.

 

[taximomfor4]

I like knowing the amount, set, in advance. For our Irish Dance costumes, we fork over the $ to buy them, either new or used, based on what is available and what fits. Then we use them till too small -- and enter them in the next costume sales. Same with the dance shoes. They depreciate x amount per year, and the buyer writes the check directly to the seller, not the school. They use the same constumes every year. As for competitions, it depends. Our dance school will send teams to several feisanna (competitions), but you can also sign up solo (or in small teams, if you do it yourself) for as many as you want to travel to. None are required at all. And it is cheap ($6-8 per kid, per event). Or you can choose to do none at all, no biggie. It is very easy to budget the set group lesson fees, we just do the rest as needed and as we have the funds.

I know another Irish Dance school nearby rents their costumes to the dancers.

The dance school my dd USED to attend (jazz and ballet) got new costumes every year, and after the recital, the costumes had no value at all.

 

[barkley]

if you do go this way i would suggest HEAVY wording in the contract about prorated refunds. i can see a parent who disenrolls a kid coming back and saying that because their child did'nt do x, get x, participate in x-they are due a prorated amount back of the monthly fees they paid.

dd goes to a summer sleepaway camp each year-they have a flat fee that covers everything. they list what it MAY include (so a parent cant ask for a partial refund if they can't or decide not to include something across the board like a t-shirt or a particular outing) but they are clear in their wording that the flat fee is non negotiable and a parent/camper cannot pick and choose from the basic offerings and negotiate a price difference.

i like flat fee activities-you know up front how much to budget, and can anticipate if a commitment to a particular activity is financialy feasable.

only major problem i can see is if you base your price on getting a group discount (costume order, participants in an event) and for some reason attendance in the program drops such that you are no longer eligible to the discount which results in higher costs-the remaining parents would be due the promised costume/activity and you would have to "eat" the cost difference.

 

[Rafiki Rafiki Rafiki]

I paid a $200 athletic fee for my DD to play soccer on her high school team this year, and that did cover the t-shirt.

Don't get me started.

 

[Az Pirates]

I guess I'm in the minority on this one.

I have girls in competition level gymnastics. We've had it both ways.

I much prefer to have a printout with all estimated fees for the season with payment deadlines and then be responsible for getting that money in as needed.

I also know that sometimes folks fall behind on their monthly payments. Don't know how you'd handle that one. I've seen more than one gym owner get burned because they let girls compete even though their parents were "a bit behind" on monthly payments, then the girl would quit shortly after and the owner never recouped their $$.

I guess the same thing could happen the other way, but it's more clear cut that if you don't pay x amount for a uniform or xx for meet fees by a certain date, you don't compete.

Whatever you decide, I'm with Barkley in that you need to be sure to put everything in writing and be clear about the expectations. Spell it all out in your team contract.

I've seen kids get caught in the middle of some pretty ugly confrontations when there were misunderstandings between gym owners and parents re: what is expected when someone is injured, moves part way through the season, etc.

 

[caitycaity]

flat fee for sure!