Setting Rates-Private and Group
Found in: Fees Rates & Cost, Special Needs & Learning Differences, Studio Management
Amy L. California
I’m newly licensed and I will be holding my first FIS tomorrow.
The father of a five-year-old autistic boy contacted me yesterday. Someone at his school recommended SM to him. I’ve been debating, in general, what to charge (and will obviously have to finalize this decision in the next 24 hours!). I’ve imagined that I would use private lessons only to help someone catch up if they needed to miss lessons for some reason. I hadn’t really planned to go after the special ed. market, but I’m so excited to teach that I find I’m thrilled to teach most anyone that contacts me. This boy would need private lessons; his father is confident he would not be able to focus in a group setting.
Those of you teaching special ed. students — do you charge them your group rate or your private rate, or another rate somewhere in between?
Alex T. California
I charge the same rate across the board, autistic or not. You’ll find (I hope) that the parents really appreciate what you’ll be doing with these kids. It takes an extra amount of patience and handholding.
Shanta R. Minnesota
Amy – I charge significantly more for private lessons – $140/month for shared and $200/month for private. (This may not be comparable for your area—I put a lot of thought and analysis into what I charge) I charge my special needs student the rate for whichever lesson type they need. So if the child is high functioning enough to be in a shared lesson, I’d charge $140. My only current autistic student is a private student and I’m charging the private rate.
In my opinion, not that this is necessarily right, it’s important to charge more for private lessons. If I have even a shared lesson of two students in a half-hour time slot, I’m making $280 a month for that lesson. If I have a private student in that slot, I’m STILL earning less, even though I do charge a lot more per student. If I think about it this way, even $200/month is like a discount!
I haven’t yet had the guts to charge two times the shared rate for private lessons, as I know some teachers do. I’ve found that the $200/month rate is high enough and enough of a difference that it discourages people from wanting private lessons unless it’s really necessary. It’s also not SO high as to be completely prohibitive for a student who really DOES need it. And that, at the end of the day, is really my goal. I WANT a studio of nearly all shared lessons and I want Simply Music to be accessible to special needs students who need private lessons. So, it works for me. You’ll have to find what works for you.
Eli, my autistic student, was also referred by the school music teacher, and he is one of my very favorite students. His mind is like a finely tuned pattern-seeking machine, and he learns music incredibly quickly. If the music teacher has already noticed an aptitude for music with this child, I think you’re in for a very rewarding experience!