What is the most you would pay to learn Martial Arts?

[Mr Serenity]

In the past I used to find good teachers that teach their art almost for free. Often you would give them donations in red envelopes, or pay a little something every month to keep renting the grounds you practiced on. It seemed like the most honorable way.

But now I notice, that a lot of martial art schools, even the older masters are charging in full. I'm talking about $99-150 a month. And sometimes they ask you to make contracts to pay for several months. Is this really worth it to you? What is the most you would pay?

These prices seem a bit ridiculous to me. It seems to me instead of paying $100 a month investing in a good knife, expendable baton, or tazer, would be a better investment if you're worried about self defense. And then for staying in shape, gym membership goes for $20-$30 a month.

[TenTigers]

no, you must pay.
I need a new pair of satin pajamas to stand there and oversee your training...
from my office...
while posting on KFO....

[EarthDragon]

I got my training for free living at the school while away from my home but i was responsible for cleaning, chores, mantinenace and teaching the kids classes in return. My teacher is Chinese so he said usually all schools back in the day were like this.

However this is america and rent and ulities are so expensive so some fees must be charged, but too many people trr to get rich by teaching and this lead sto watered down training, kids under 18 or even 14 obtaining black belts and crappy shopping mall schoolss truing out bad product.

I charge only 60.00 a month for classes and I go month to month no contracts.... I do charge 20.00 for the uniform which is bacically a t shirt with our log on it, just to look professional and I do just fine.

[Violent Designs]

raise ur prices mang

make more monies

[ManilaCrane]

I pay $100 for my monthly tuition. But its still worth it since u get to train 3 days a week, 2 hours a day. That's alot out of training in my opinion.

[Iron_Eagle_76]

I guess this is dependant on what kind of training you are looking for.

At one time I looked down on contracts and is some ways I don't fully agree with them but I understand why instructors use them. It is really no different than a fitness gym where you have a contract that comes out of your checking monthly. Would I ever join a place like this? Probably not, unless I knew the instruction was top notch. Which leads to the other point....

Good instruction often is not cheap. People like to talk about the basement masters who train you in the "uber secret deadly" but most of us realize now how much horse sh**it that really is. If i want to train with the best, I find a gym or camp that is producing champion fighters and that is where I will train. You can have an old chinese guy teach you great things for years but if you don't have the right training partners to test it out it won't mean all that much.

One of my favorite quotes;

"You are only as good as the people you train with" - Randy Couture

[EarthDragon]

manilla, that seems a but high to me. I have classes 6 days a week 2 classes a night and 1 on saturday so we are open alots, but the more I ask the more its seems like the norm 100 bucks now a days. inflation?

Violent,
honelty I teach because I love to teach and I promised my students tradional non waterd down art and no kids classes........
.
I do have a full time job as a drainge engineer so thats where I make my monies... LOl so I have the luxury of charging just enough to keep the heat and the light on.... and I am fortunate and blessed for that.

[ManilaCrane]

manilla, that seems a but high to me. I have classes 6 days a week 2 classes a night and 1 on saturday so we are open alots, but the more I ask the more its seems like the norm 100 bucks now a days. inflation?



Not really. I mean, the training i get is waay better than the one i got from my taekwondo school in the past. Plus my last school, i only get 2 days a week....

[David Jamieson]

In all seriousness I would pay what I coudl afford.

If I felt I was being undercharged, I would make up for it in some other way.
If you are in a building with good facilities don't expect to not pay market value not only for the lessons but for the facilities.

If you are in an old mah jhong hall or a tong or kmt centre, then the prices are likely to be pretty fair if not low for good kung fu instruction.

Be reasonable, use common sense. That's part of it as well. :)

[EarthDragon]

manilla, if you feel like you are getting a good deal than that's awesome and is that really all that matters, if you are happy, sometimes money doesnt buy everything.

I guess if i were trying to feed my family and make a living soley on my school I would have to do alot of changes, but I am blessed being able to keep it open spread my style to others and make a difference adn impact in peoples lives.
no amount of money can do that

[Dragonzbane76]

I do have a full time job as a drainge engineer so thats where I make my monies...

something like this?

http://www.appletreeblog.com/wp-content/2009/06/plumbers-crack.jpg

http://www.myspaceantics.com/images/myspace-graphics/funny-pictures/poor-plumber.jpg

[Iron_Eagle_76]

something like this?

http://www.appletreeblog.com/wp-content/2009/06/plumbers-crack.jpg

Why the hell do you always post this sh**it right after lunch!:D

[EarthDragon]

LOL thank God no, that is a plumbing issue... and a crack habit

[GeneChing]

Look where it's got me. Selling cheerleader skirts for Halloween (http://www.martialartsmart.com/60-22.html). :o

[David Jamieson]

Look where it's got me. Selling cheerleader skirts for Halloween (http://www.martialartsmart.com/60-22.html). :o

Bawang called, he wants you to be his dad...

[Iron_Eagle_76]

Look where it's got me. Selling cheerleader skirts for Halloween (http://www.martialartsmart.com/60-22.html). :o

So long as it's not you modeling the skirts, Gene, it's all good.:p

[SPJ]

yes as pointed out, it depends on the facility rent and utility bills.

5$ per hour per person for the instructor

When I was in the kuoshu club in 1970s, we only had to pay for our own uniform, and a nominal fee, b/c the instructor was paid by the school or salaried

guess instructor will receive some money from the school extra curriculum activity fund budgeted for his time, meals and travelling expense

---

[SanHeChuan]

200 Dollars a month, for 2 classes a night for 4 days a week is only 6.25 dollars per class! :eek:

[GeneChing]

Would you wear a cheerleading skirt (http://www.martialartsmart.com/halloween-cheerleader.html) to learn Martial Arts?

I did sell one....probably to Bawang. :eek:

[David Jamieson]

Would you wear a cheerleading skirt (http://www.martialartsmart.com/halloween-cheerleader.html) to learn Martial Arts?

I did sell one....probably to Bawang. :eek:

no i wouldn't and here's why:

1) I'm not a girl

2) skirts are for girls

3) nude is how real men train

[solo1]

due to wifes new job my regular class schedule has been gutted, normally 60 bucks a month, typcially 3-4 classes a week. I meet with one of my teachers 3 mornings a week 30 bucks a pop, but worth every friggin nickel. I can learn in 2 days what might take a months worth of classes, entire forms in 2 days a weapons form in 2-3 days. miss training with my friends but was not willing to lose several years work due to a work schedule.

[Yum Cha]

Would you wear a cheerleading skirt (http://www.martialartsmart.com/halloween-cheerleader.html) to learn Martial Arts?

I did sell one....probably to Bawang. :eek:

Gene, Gene, my main man, come in here close, shhhh..... lemme give you a couple of hints on selling them skirts....

Tie die up a couple and flog them off to Uki and and the rest of the 'alternative' crowd as you know, Jerry Garcia hats or something....

Next, Plaid up a couple with some magic marker, and you got a Kilt, right? You know where that one goes....

Next, throw one around the neck of one of your Ninjettes, and you have a 360 degree nacho cheese bib, for when things get a little out of control....wink, wink...

Just between you and me, right?

And another question about sales, you probably didn't order stock in large enough sizes for this crowd?

[bawang]

if i ever become sifu i will teach for free. i have honor and i teach kung fu for truth and justcice.

[YouKnowWho]

i will teach for free.
I had to pay my teacher

- round trip airline ticket between Taiwan to Texas (about $1600).
- room and board.
- $2000 per month salary.
- gift, Chinese wine, ...

I'll never teach for free.

[EarthDragon]

does anyone here feel like trading chores, cleaning the school, the teacher house, washing teachers car, doing his laundry etc etc be OK to trade for lessons, if the student could not afford to pay fro trainign but realyl wanted to learn? what woudl you trade for lessons, if you had no money.

[Violent Designs]

I had to pay my teacher

- round trip airline ticket between Taiwan to Texas (about $1600).
- room and board.
- $2000 per month salary.
- gift, Chinese wine, ...

I'll never teach for free.

is this for shuai jiao?

[YouKnowWho]

is this for shuai jiao?

Yes! It wasn't cheap and that's for sure. :(

[bawang]

wow. two thousand dollars a month for what little mongolian kids learn for free. what a fukin waste.

does anyone here feel like trading chores, cleaning the school, the teacher house, washing teachers car, doing his laundry etc etc be OK to trade for lessons, if the student could not afford to pay fro trainign but realyl wanted to learn? what woudl you trade for lessons, if you had no money.
no. if i become sifu i wouldnt make anyone my slave or force them to stay with me. ill give students all i know and let them leave me and move on. if we respect each other and be like brothers and family i wouldnt need incentives and sociopath manipulating to get them to stay with me.
even my mother and father i dont see them that much, why would i be obliged to go visit some stranger every week

i want to help people and make them strong and have honor and be brave, not be a tapeworm up they ass and exploit their fantasies.

the only people who can afford staying with you for 10 years paying nonstop are passive aggresive upper middle class people. thats gonna be the core of your senior students. theyre steady money trees, but soon you realize all thats left in your class are cold distant uppity crackers who dont care about you.

[Mr Serenity]

wow. two thousand dollars a month for what little mongolian kids learn for free. what a fukin waste.

no. if i become sifu i wouldnt make anyone my slave or force them to stay with me. ill give students all i know and let them leave me and move on. if we respect each other and be like brothers and family i wouldnt need incentives and sociopath manipulating to get them to stay with me.
even my mother and father i dont see them that much, why would i be obliged to go visit some stranger every week

i want to help people and make them strong and have honor and be brave, not be a tapeworm up they ass and exploit their fantasies.

the only people who can afford staying with you for 10 years paying nonstop are passive aggresive upper middle class people. thats gonna be the core of your senior students. theyre steady money trees, but soon you realize all thats left in your class are cold distant uppity crackers who dont care about you.


I couldn't have said it better myself. That's why I think it's ridiculous for teachers to be charging so much for monthly classes. I think $60-$80 a month should be the most. Anymore than that and I think they're just looking to attract middle class, well off white men or people in the movie industry. The most honorable teachers I know taught mostly for free. And just asked for tuition fee based on the cost of rent for the facility for the few hours a week.

I recently saw a class that is teaching "internal kungfu" that will teach you special supernatural abilities for $20 a class. And also requires pupils to pay $300 every other month for special "closed door" training. That makes me sick. Makes me want to go challenge their teacher and see if he can use a kamehameha wave on me or even block a simple combo I learned for free.

[hskwarrior]

On the other side of the coin, there are some students out there that are looking to pay the higher amounts because if a teacher charged anything less that 150 you were selling yourself short. some would say that you must not be worth your weight in salt if you're not charging an arm and a leg.

[RD'S Alias - 1A]

I don't really like paying for lessons. I only started because I just lost my dedication to the training due to personal issues i was having. Since I knew I was wasting my teachers time for the moment, I figured i'd at least better give him some cash.

I know I am an oddball. Most people place more value on the teachings if the price is high. I value them more when I am offered the knowledge with no expectations other than the camaraderie of the group. I seem to be much more loyal and devoted if the lessons are free.

Making payments to me just makes it a business deal and severs the teacher student relationship. It then has no value but what selfish gain I achieve for the moments I am in class.

[bawang]

mang i feel the same thing u and me have honor
my sould is priceless and i think kung fu is also priceless.