I am a music teacher and have 6 pupils being entered for various instrumental exams this term. Out of these 6 pupils, 2 parents have paid for their children's exam fees, (I put the bill on my credit card) the other four parents have not paid me for the exam entry fee, even though the fee was mentioned to them at the end of last term and even after sending out letters to them. Parents have said they will pay me when they get the money together. Please, can someone help me with this. I dont want to get lumbered with a bill of exam fees if the parents arent going to cough up.

Is anyone else out there having the same problem as me? If someone could offer me some advice please.

Thank you.

I know this sounds mean, but perhaps if you refuse to give parents the certificates until they pay? Or, if they pay X amount of time after you need the money, give them the certificate X amount of time after you have recieved it?

i always tell them that the closing date for the exams 10 days before the actual closing date, for instance, the closing date this term was today 29th sept - and i told all my students that i had to enter by 19th september so they've all paid well in advance (which has also given me a chance to clear their cheques into my account)

hope this helps you for the next time.

angie xx

I wouldn't put in the entry if I hadn't had the money.

No money no exam simple! can't bare people who don't pay up and still expect to be treated the same as everyone else who does.

I expect they will pay soon - sometimes parents are slow with payments when the exam seems so far away. Do you really think they might deliberately not pay you? To get payment now maybe you need to give them an official looking bill, giving a due date, or even saying that it is over due. In future, as people have posted above, you will need to be clear about a payment date and be firm and not enter them if they payment has not been received.

trio - i think if you re read tootiflutes first post, you will see that not only have they advised parents verbally of the exam fee but also in writing, and in my book that makes it official enough, unless it was on a post it note

late payment is inexcuseable, and it's not alright to accept that some parents are "slow with payment"

In tootiflutes case, they are now put in a position where they are lending money to parents to cover exam fees, the entry was put on credit card, they are also incurring interest.

As others have said, in future you need to be categorical: no fee, no exam. It's only happened once to me that I didn't enter the child. The mother said, "I thought we'd agreed that you would enter little Sammy." I reminded her that on my invoice that says basically no money then no entry. Keep it simple for yourself. This job is hard enough as it is!

If the parents choose not to pay you, you'll have to pay for the entry.

Poor you! You really shouldn't put in the entry if you hadn't receive the money first and you MUST tell them this is how teachers operate. If you let them get away with this, they will be worse next time. Communication is the key plus a certain level of assertiveness is necessary for your survival!

Tess

PS.
I'm a parent, not a teacher!

I am actually not entering a pupil this term because they haven't paid me! They were given the deadline of yesterday to give me the cheque and it's still not here so therefore no exam.

I would hold back the certificates this term if they still haven't paid you by then. By next term you will be able to implement the no fee no exam method

I would actually hold back the result as well as the certificate if you haven't been paid by exam day - most parents will want the result and will pay up. After all, you are not withholding parental property because they still have to pay for the exam. Until they do, it's your entry and your money so, logically, your result. Very hard on the pupil though this one and so I hope it won't come to it for you.

I agree - don't enter candidates until you've got the money up front. It's the safest way. With more senior exams, I have been known to let students pay a little each week the term before to ease the burden when a family is genuinely struggling to meet the cost.

When I notify my parents (by letter) that, in accordance with the parents wishes, their child has been entered for their graded exam I also include a line all fees should now have been paid, and that outstanding exam fees may be subject to interest charges in line with my credit card interest charges. So far, I have been lucky (10 years private teaching) that all parents just see this as a reminder and settle up at the next lesson. Generally it just slips their mind, or at the higher grades they are struggling to get it all together. However they all aprreciate that I should not have to pay credit card charges because they have been remiss in paying and that I will pass on to them any charges incurred.

Yes I absolutely agree, this would be the safest thing to do. And bear in mind that it's not you that's being hard on the pupil - it's the parents' own doing.

When I want to enter a pupil for an exam I send the parents a letter well in advance, detailing the fees and the closing date (and I tell them it's one week before the actual date!). And on the bottom I put a tear-off slip saying "I agree to xxx being entered for grade x this term and enclose the appropriate fee". So they have to return this slip to say they actually want their child entered, and I've never had a slip returned without the cheque! If I did - no money, no exam.

Incidentally, on the letter I put "the fees for 2006 are...." and list the fees for all the grades. Since I've done that I haven't had any complaints about the cost of the exams - the pupils taking the early grades can see that their exams aren't actually so expensive when compared with the high grades!

Excellent idea!!!

Hi, this is a great idea. Any chance you could let me have a draft of what your letter actually looks like?
I want to use this for next time. I wrote another letter to those parents of children whom I'd entered and gave a deadline of today. No money has come through my door today. I dont know whether to phone them and chase them up.

I would definitely phone them, and tell them that unless you receive the money, their child will be withdrawn from the examination.

And if that still doesn't work, you need to write to them saying that despite repeated reminders you have not had the fees for the examination. If they don't pay by (say) 8th October, not only will their child will be withdrawn from the exam, but also you will be taking action through the small claims court to recover the missing money.

And if that doesn't work, PM me and I'll help you do the small claims court bit.

Make sure you keep a note of when you phoned them, and a copy of any letter you send them. These will be needed if it ends up going to small claims court.

When I enter pupils I ask the parents to pay the fees by cheque well in advance, and then remind them in the lesson about a week before the date of entry. They make their cheques out directly to the exam board. I have never had any problems with late payers, but on occasion have been told by the parents that they cannot afford the exam fee. Then we work at the exam requirements as usual. The pupil can then say that they have reached the exam standard. From grade five onwards I consider it essential to actually take the exams, so that the parents have plenty of time to save. I live in an area with high unemployment and have to respect that some parents find it difficult to pay exam fees when there are school uniforms, trips and so on to budget for too, especially when there is more than one child in the family.

Exam fees - I had this problem with some of the kids I teach at school, hence never see the parents. I did get all the money in by the actual week of the exam - apart from one. I'd already entered her for Step 1 keyboard when, 3 weeks before the exam, I got a letter from her mum saying she'd like X to stop lessons because she was moving house and was struggling with money. So I said (like a fool) that it was a shame for X not to do her exam as she was only 3 weeks away from it, and if she could pay for 3 weeks lessons, I'd pay the exam fee. She paid for the lessons - but the girl then failed her exam, she clearly did no practice and had no parental support. Poor kid, with parents like that! She's now gone to secondary school so I won't see her again - but i still think about the incident, and it does upset me when a kid doesn't even pass Step/Grade 1.

The pupil who hadn't paid for her exam turned up Wednesday this week. She says "here's the cheque", I say "sorry you're too late" (I had emailed her last week and told her I needed it by last Thursday to clear because of the closing date. She then says "sorry but my nan was on holiday". It's difficult because she is nearly 16 and turns up on her own, her parents don't pay for the lessons and therefore are really not involved and I don't have her nan's number (maybe I should get it!). She is therefore not entered for her exam. It is annoying because now I feel awful, yet I have done so much in the past for this pupil and I don't get anything in return, including payment at the moment so I need to get over it and concentrate on the others

The fact that you DO feel awful shows that you're a good teacher who cares about their pupils, but there's no reason why you should feel awful. Although you'd expect a pupil who doesn't have the support of her parents to be pretty keen, I can't help thinking that if she was so keen, she could have emailed you back last week, or telephoned you to explain why there was a problem. You would have then had the opportunity to impress upon her (even more) how important it was to have payment in advance, and she may have been able to borrow the money from some other family member. But she didn't give you that opportunity, which was her decision and at nearly 16, she's surely old enough to take responsibility for that. If not, you have maybe taught her an important lesson in life, so hopefully she's learnt something from it which will stand her in good stead and you can take the credit for teaching her life skills as well as music! Hope looking at it this way makes you feel less awful

Thanks jazzfan That does help, I think sometimes you need someone else to point things out to you when you're feeling like that. I always had the plan that if people didn't pay for exams that they wouldn't be entered, but putting it into practice was much harder.

Hooray!! I've now had payment for all my exam entries which is brilliant news.

No hassle now, next time I will be using a letter template informing parents that fees are payable in advance of the entry, cash or by cheque - late payments will not be tolerated and they will not be entered if they are late when given a deadline.

Thanks to everyone who gave me advice. I have learnt my lesson and will not be in this situation ever again!!

Well done Tootiflute. Glad you got there in the end.