What to Charge for Pro/Am or Student/Teacher

s2k said:
So, be cautious when pricing yourself in this brave new world of teacher-student dancing - you could build your own brand and make yourself known in this new format, and possibly get yourself more competitive amateurs, and therefore make a nice profit, but it will really depend on what your students are willing/able to pay. Entry fees for a USA Dance comp have cost me anywhere from $75 to $150. So if you price yourself using a pro-am model, your student is liable to turn around and say, "Forget it, for these fees I may as well dance pro-am" OR "I can't afford pro-am, and these fees are too close to the reason I'm not dancing pro-am."
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This is a slight tangent, but USA Dance needs to watch this as well. I have mentioned previously that I was going to try to do T/S at the February NQE. I recently tallied up the registration fees for the comp ... and the number wound up being *more* than the wholesale cost of an NDCA comp I was also pricing. Now, granted, if I were also doing am-am at the NQE or if my pro brought multiple students, that would help. But as is ... it's kind of a tough sell given I'd have a stone-cold guarantee of uncontested T/S heats versus likely semis in my multi-dance events at the pro-am comp.
 
Larinda McRaven said:
Do NOT charge for travel days. They will appreciate you for this in the end.
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I think this depends. If you're working a full (or even part of a) day and driving from Boston to NY for a comp the next day, no, you should not charge a travel day. If you're schlepping from Boston to a comp in Singapore or Manila, then I think charging a travel day (or days) is reasonable.

s2k said:
My independent studio tacked on a $100 fee for every day I had my instructor out of the studio (with the exception of travel days) much like Larinda suggested. However, the "double dipping" did happen in my case - he also wanted a $100 as his daily fee to recoup his losses for the lessons he wasn't teaching.
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Whether or not it's double dipping depends on the instructor's arrangement with the studio.
 
another thing to think about is that USA Dance comps are, by and large, in no way comparable to an NDCA comp. Decor, lighting, judging, presentation, are all part of the Pro-Am experience (and for us ams, we prefer it too). Small fields and sometimes strange pairings on the floor are also a problem, altho syllabus at Pro-Am comps tend to be small. Also, USA Dance comps do not allow for the Pro-Am "lets do 100 heats" situation where a student wants a lot of floor time so the comp creates categories so that the student gets to stay out on the floor.
 
I itemize all costs to students. I show them comp prices from organizer. I break it into three categories.

Entry costs
Package costs and travel
My fee

I charge $xxxx per day per student. I charge travel days because I own a studio an will be compensated for days I'm gone. I don't charge a travel day if it ls Sunday because I don't teach Sunday's. I switched to a flat fee because I don't care about top teacher. I care about results. I'd rather my ladies did 18 freestyles well and multis and place then burn them out with a bunch of entries.
 
Whatever you do, make sure you disclose everything up front. Larinda's idea about preparing a spreadsheet is a good one. If there's one thing that drives ams crazy at a comp, it's an instructor who keeps coming back to them and saying "Here's something else you need to pay for".
 
jump'n'jive said:
I itemize all costs to students. I show them comp prices from organizer. I break it into three categories.

Entry costs
Package costs and travel
My fee

I charge $xxxx per day per student. I charge travel days because I own a studio an will be compensated for days I'm gone. I don't charge a travel day if it ls Sunday because I don't teach Sunday's. I switched to a flat fee because I don't care about top teacher. I care about results. I'd rather my ladies did 18 freestyles well and multis and place then burn them out with a bunch of entries.
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Student appreciate the transparency about costs. I like the concept of a flat fee, too, because it simplifies things. I have encountered the cost per day and cost per entry model, and costs certainly add up quickly if the pro is considering making a run for top teacher. It would be simpler, probably cheaper, for the student with a flat fee. The pro would still come out ahead, too.
 
Studio I dance at does not charge for travel days. On competition days, there is both a "out of the studio fee" and per heat fee. Expenses and "out of the studio fee" are split among students.

I don't understand the flat fee. Charging per heat allows students to control the costs to a certain extent by the number of entries they choose to do.
 
I will say that one time my pro decided to offer me a flat fee pricing for a specific comp because she decided to go for some top teacher money at it. The whole idea was that it would let me ramp up my entries without ramping my costs up to the extent that doing so would normally require.
 
What Jude said. Flat fee should do the opposite of limiting entries - it encourages the student to enter more because it makes the marginal cost for additional entries lower.
 
Not to mention if I charge apse heat fee and you are making call backs you are going to be charged each and every time you dance. That that one beat that starts from a first round and you make the final that heat will cost you 4x
 
Fortunately (for the students!), studio doesn't charge for call backs.

I wasn't saying that flat fees would limit entries. It's just if somebody chooses to do one set of individual dances and one championship/scholarship, the competition becomes much less expensive than if they choose to do three sets of individual dances and a scholarship and a championship. It obviously depends on how much the flat fee is, but would think that it would take away the possibility of not spending very much for the competition.
 
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I wonder about the rather large Top Teacher prizes I have seen advertised. Charging student(s), say, $10k for a comp, and then winning $10k as Top Teacher... doesn't really sit right with me. Not saying the teacher has not worked hard and deserves to be rewarded, but s/he is already charging a hefty sum.
 
nikkitta said:
I don't want to hijack this thread, but I wonder about the rather large Top Teacher prizes I have seen advertised. Charging student(s), say, $10k for a comp, and then winning $10k as Top Teacher... doesn't really sit right with me. Not saying the teacher has not worked hard and deserves to be rewarded, but s/he is already charging a hefty sum.
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And what about the wear and tear on our bodies? You do know we have a shelf life as to how long we can actually do this.

And what doesn't sit right about charging and agreed upon price to provide a service and then the competition rewarding is for bringin clients. We don't work to win top teacher prize money most of the time. And still we are providing a service to the client not to the organizer. If we happen to make that 20k you mentioned it was hard earned I can tell you that much. It's not like we did t provide such service.

Most pro's I Know from mid range to top pro am are charging a flat rate per style. Example of a student does rhythm and smooth it's $2000 per each style plus expenses.
 
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