Last night when I was adding things to my cart in my grocery app, I exclaimed, “Wow. Groceries are SO expensive!” This is not the first time in the last 6 months that I have said this, but it’s remarkable how different prices are now than they were a year ago.
I’m sure you are feeling it too, as you consider whether or not to make a tuition change for the next year. Like many teachers, your next thought might be, “I’ll lose students if I do this because their cost of living has sky rocketed as well!”
Of course, whether or not you make a change is always up to you. And I’m not saying everyone should. However, if you are thinking about it, and the impact on your current families is the biggest reason you are tempted not to do it, consider how to approach tuition changes:
It is very true that there may be families that cannot afford a change. However, you have to stay in business in order to serve any of your families. So, making a change you know you need to make and THEN waiting to see who needs assistance would be wiser than not making a change at all. Not making a needed change could result in not being able to continue lessons or having to take on more students in order to make ends meet. Taking on more students to make up for the gap will give you less time to serve the students you already have. And it can make you more stressed, harried, and less creative as a teacher.
The families with needs will let you know, either by telling you or informing you they have to quit lessons. Either way, you can offer scholarships (which could even just be to continue with the same tuition as last year) based on their needs.
So today, I’m including a number of articles that could help you know how to approach tuition changes in an expensive economy. I hope they are helpful! And above all, I hope that these things give you clarity on how to not only “make it,” but also to make sure that you can give the best of yourself to the students you already have.
- Make-up Lesson Boundaries – Are you enabling bad behavior?
- 3 Guidelines for Raising Piano Tuition – This article was originally written in 2020, but there are 3 questions at the bottom that can help you even in 2026!
- The 21st Century Secret to Saying No (helpful for no makeups!)
- Guide to Moving Students to Longer Lessons
- How to Move to a No Make-up Lessons Policy
- Flex Weeks 1; Flex Weeks 2 (Don’t read 1 without reading 2.)
- How to Change Your Policy Without a Revolt
There are LOTS more articles about policies in our Studio Policy Articles section.
