When I first started teaching in London, the little music school I worked at would only let me charge a certain rate (which was EXTREMELY LOW) and on top of that I had to pay 'rent' for the room. After a while, several of the pupils there left and wanted to see me privately - absolutely fine, despite having to travel almost an hour and a half to get to the particular area in London.
Now, almost 4 years on and my fees are still way below what they should be and I dont know how to broach the subject of increasing them....
Should I jsut say at the last lesson before the summer hols "Oh and btw, my fees will be £x from September" or should I print out some little reminders saying the same?
I once had a pupil who found out I was charging her £1 more than another (this was because I was trying to get all my pupils up to the same as others) and she managed to make me charge less!! Talk about pushover!

considering I am ex-RCM (not that that has anything to do with it, but im not a 6th form student after money!!), been teaching for several years AND travel from south to north London I think this is fair! But Im scared to ask!!!!

I think you have to charge all your students the same rate - they all get exactly the same service from you and it's not fair to charge different rates. If you've not put your rates up since you started then why not give them warning immediately by sending a letter? I always put out policy / fee changes in writing then there's no doubt about what the new terms will be. I think giving them as much notice as possible allows them to plan a little for the new change. If you do it in the last lesson then they don't have a chance to come back to you on it if they want to - I don't expect they will, but the opportunity will not have been denied them. It may seem a bit unreasonable to parents to put fees up more than say 10% - although if you haven't increased in 4 years you have every reason for a larger increase. I always try and give parents my reasons for doing things and since I'm usually reasonable in my requests I don't ever have any protestations because they have understood why I'm doing it. Good luck! Don't forget you're probably well worth the money and the parents / students know this and will be willing to pay.

I send out a note at least a month before the change (it is in my initial information sheet that I will do that).
Some teachers increase fees by 50p each year and notify a month in advance of the increase.
Some may put up a notice on the wall if they have the sort of workspace where they can do this.

Thank you for advice! They will have over the summer holidays to 'prepare for the change'...not that its that much really! I will put it in writing so there can be no problem in september. If they knew how much I SHOULD be charging theyd have a fit! they are very lucky HA HA!!!!
I took on some pupils from another teacher who charged a certain amount so I stuck with that, and then whenmy name was given to other pupisl I started charging them closer to the fees I wanted to charge (if you get what I mean) without there being a big gap.....but its getting confusing now with everyone at varying rates. After september they will all be the same, and if they dont want to pay me £1/2 more, then they can find a new teacher who will no doubt charge £10 more!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm sure the parents of your pupils have an annual pay rise so they shouldn't be that shocked if you put your fees up. It would be a good idea to make the fees the same for all students even though this may mean a higher increase for some of them. I'd be inclined to send out a letter to parents informing them of the increase in fees to £??? with effect from ????. As you say, other teachers are charging more and anyone charging too little is likely to be an inexperienced teacher who is probably about grade 3 standard. It might be worthwhile saying that the recommended rate for private teachers is currently £???? per hour. I'm sure the parents don't work for less than they should and there's no reason why you should either.

Yes I agree with what others have said.

It isn't easy if your rate has fallen behind what should be your reasonable "going rate". I was in the same position at one time - not through another studio, but simply through not having reviewed for too long.

I review my charges annually now, and give at least one month's notice of any increase. I request a month's notice of termination from students so that seems fair!

You could perhaps state in your letter that you are increasing charges to be more in line with the local going rate. Im sure however you phrase it your parents will accept your increase. They' ll likely pay a lot more for some other services.

I have been a private teacher for 30 years, the last 25 as a freelance. I have only ever once lost a pupil as a direct result of increasing fees. These increases have occasionally been dramatic, for example from £12.00 to £18.00 per hour back in 1991. I had taken over as part-time head of music at a 6th form college and could afford to lose a few if there were objections; there were none.

I never try to soften the blow - an increase is exactly that and nothing can be done to soften it. My fee increase letter reads:

Letterhead



Dear .....



Please note that my fee for piano lessons will be ..... from .......



PS Hopwood

Good luck flutey toot. I feel for you; just 'cos I do it don't mean I enjoy it. One final thought to bolster your courage. By undercharging you both consign yourself to a lower income than you should have and undermine your fellow pros.

Steve

Thank you everyone for advice! For some reason I just feel a bit awkward about it - but yes as you say, im sure they receive pay increases so why shouldnt I! And yes, I also want to join the MU but with my current fees I would get told off no doubt! I will get right on to typing up a letter to give to pupils parents and if they have any problems they can let me know!

Hi there,

I increase the amount charged when my pupils have passed grade five practical and theory.

Grades one - four £22 per hour. half hour £11.
Grades five and six £25 per hour
Grades seven and eight £26 per hour.

Write out a slip of paper, on computer, with the rates printed on them and stick to it.

No extra charge for the extra work taken when they complete AB theory test papers, drop them off, and I check them before they arrive for their lesson.

All bills written out and handed to the parents. Lessons paid for on the day.

Go for it.

Always interesting to see what people charge. The only thing I'd question, and I think this came up on another discussion, is charging different rates for different levels. If I was charging for time spent preparing and generally thinking about lessons, then it's the younger children's lessons which take a lot more thought and preparation as more time goes into thinking about different activities. I'd say in terms of teaching skills, very young children actually demand more . Yes, you could argue that I spend time looking at pieces in advance for the highest grades-but I'd be looking at new music anyway,in my own time, just for fun.

I am against charging differential rates too. OK, so one minute I might be teaching a 7 year old beginner, the next a performers' diploma candidate but each requires equal skill in their own way.

I am not criticising anybody for doing so; I do think it is misguided.

Steve

I had a similar situation regarding the need to increase tuition fees. I simply wrote a nice letter to everyone saying how much I enjoyed teaching them (!) and advising that from this point on anyone I take on will be charged at the new rates.

For existing pupils, I gave them the opportunity to increase their fees slowly, and said that they must be paying at the new rate by January 2006.

In actual fact all existing pupils simply switched to the new fees immediately with no problems.

David

Charge what you are worth. It isn't just the lesson. It's the holidays when we may earn little, it's the lesson planning etc as well.

Join the ISM and use their contracts. It's well worth it!

well my last price increase was in september 2004 and have decided to put up on jan 2 2006

I increase my fees every September and the contract signed by the parents makes this clear. I bill in advance by the term and give notice of the new fees when I bill them at the start of the summer term. If you are totally businesslike about it - it is your livelihood - there will be no problem. If any parent thinks the increase is too much they can simply give the half term's notice detailed in the contract. The big mistake is to hold fees at a level for several years and then be in the position of needing to make a substantial increase.

Well I did it! I printed out some dinky little letters and handed them to all my 'low-fee' pupils parents - they half read them as I said my goodbyes at the door and though no one said anything Im sure they were thinking "hmmmmm ok". I feel paraniod that because I look so young they dont take me seriously... even though they all know I was at music college for the last 4 years. And I really REALLY want some distinctions on the piano as one parent seems to make a point over the fact the kids have had distinctions on their wind instruments (with another teacher) but not with me!
The thing is, I have experience of AB exams on both puiano and flute and I really would say that it is more difficult to get a distinction on the piano than any other instrument (OH DEAR I MAY HAVE OPENED A CAN OF WORMS THERE!!!) especially for children who dont really have any great musical inclination.....
Oh well. Just got a result back and a little girl pupil of mine got a merit for her Grade 2 (and her little sis got a really good commentary for her Prep Test)!!! Very pleased!

I have this problem too - parents and students think that because I am young and they are older, they must have more experience than me, even if they have absolutely no knowledge of music! It's sadly one of the problems of being young! Some think they can treat you like dirt to be quite honest, just cause you're young.

David

At least it's one problem time will definitely solve!

Thats true sarah flute! Am definitely going to lay off the Oil of Ulay from now on!! ha ha! However I do make a point of putting the letters after my name in bold on all my letters just so they remember im not a school kid trying to earn a few bucks...........ha ha!

Yes, use all the letters you're entitled to!

I agree. Parents have no idea what they mean but they look good!
David