Parents Why so secret?

[NY Dad]

folks bargained.

I never thought of that. Is that common practice? Is it looked down upon?

 

[JessSyd]

Different country, different customs, but near us most gyms have their prices on their websites. And when they do not it seems to be mostly because their websites are poorly designed.

Even with that direct comparisons can be difficult. Some charge by the week or fortnight, some charge by the term (quarterly) some charge by semester (half yearly). Some gyms include holiday training within their regular fees and at other gyms it is extra. So it is not always easy to shop around for price just by viewing a website.

 

[Deleted member 18037]

I don't know if it's common or frowned up, generally speaking. Even at our gym which is pretty transparent. I know the owners have worked with folks who havebeen financially stressed to keep their kids in gym.

At our old gym there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who paid what.

 

[sce]

At our old gym there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who paid what.

That is crazy!

 

[3rd_time_around]

I tried to contact a few gyms via email prior to our upcoming move to gauge tuition in the new area, and they won't even answer the tuition question when directly asked. Sigh. I guess we will be trying everywhere... but our budget will still play a role no matter when we find out the answers. It would be so much easier to sort by price first and not waste time on either side with places we cannot afford.

I once contacted a well-known gym in TX and they told me how much their monthly tuition would be when I asked. I also asked a few gyms in my area years ago what the team tuition was and they told me upfront. I don't see it posted on gym websites very often, but how strange that they wouldn't tell a prospective team gymnast how much team would be.

 

[SurpriseGymMom]

Our monthly tuition and team installments arenot posted anywhere publicly. The team tuition is all an hourly scale and easily figured out, as far as I know everyone pays the same. I have never called to ask so I do not know if they would be up front about it to "strangers" but I know *I* am informative about our fees to people interested in our developmental/team program (I am the first contact for many prospective team members as I am the HC for the preteam). The exact figures may vary and I am careful to give approx, as the final numbers depend on team numbers etc, but I see no reason to hide any of these things. By the time they get to me though, they are at least interested in the competitive program. I tey to make sure I am as upfront as possible about cost, as well as the upcoming costs of actual team.

This is not isolated to gymnastics, BTW. My ODD is a dancer and the competitive team/company fees have never been posted publicly for either of the studios she has attended. They are usually disclosed at the parent information meeting once your child has already auditioned and been placed.... normally a kid or two drops after that. Regular tuition isn't posted either but is always answered immediately whenever asked (judging from the side of the phone conversations overheard while at the studio).

 

[Azgymmiemom]

...ever hear of the boiling frog...???

Although, at my dd gym, we like the parents invited to team to know up front. We give them what we call the"scary talk" so they know what they are getting into and there are no surprises. That way, we know they will stick around for the season if they commit.

 

[RTT2]

Ours is actually posted on our gym website. It has the hours and times each level practices, along with the cost per month.

Ours does this too, and I think it's great for them to be totally upfront about hours and monthly tuition.

 

[Randomactsofcheer]

Our gym and the surrounding gyms have their team tuition prices on their websites. There is only one gym a little further north of us that does not have their team tuition on their website and did not tell us their prices until DD was there in person for an evaluation. I found that odd at the time, but it sounds like that is the norm for outside of this area.

 

[M2Abi]

Our gym has all tuition listed on their website, including team. I understand those that don't post it, but I see no reason why if a prospective team parent called that a gym wouldn't give out that information.

 

[Aussie_coach]

Most gyms don't post their team schedules or prices online because the number of hours and dollars can be intimidating. A parent of a new gymnast may be turned off even entering the sport if they see the hours eventually racking up to 20 a week. The way you feel when you actually get there is quite different.

Also because it isn't an open invitation class. If it's on the timetable on the website people often think they can just enrol (even if it says invitation only). We get emails like this.

Dear Gymnasics club,

I would like to enrol my daughter in level seven, she has never done gymnastics before but her friend is in level seven and they are the same age and her friend taught her the same stuff.

 

[bookworm]

I never thought about this before so I looked up the gyms we've been in and while all 3 post the hours of practices, not one posts a tuition amount. I would definitely tell someone who asked me how much tuition, fees ,leos etc were at any of the gyms I was at... not sure why the parents were evasive to you MILgymFAM...

I've only ever heard of different tuition rates for some gymnasts who applied for scholarships...and in our first gym, one of the parents (in a single parent home) lost her very good job and could never get anything at all for a while and finally took a much lower paying job and she was allowed to work off the tuition by cleaning the gym...

 

[nycgymmom]

If you really want to know what a gym charges before getting too far along in the process, IMO the best way to find out is to ask parents who go there. I'd have no issues quoting the prices I pay to a perspective family as no gym I've ever been at has had a policy against that. I'd want them to know what they are getting into .

This is me when someone ask I give them the price just for that same reason...not to scare them but so they know what they getting into.

 

[TKDMommy]

Our gym keeps everything secret including practice times. Nothing is published. I don't know what the purpose is but I know team is not the focus for the gym.

 

[Flyaway]

There is no information on our gym website about team, except that there is one. I think this is due to the reason mentioned above - it's invite only. It's not necessary for the times/costs associated to be public knowledge because not everyone will be on team. And certainly not every average joe that wanders across the website. If you want more info, the phone number is posted.

 

[ntxgymmom]

I tried to contact a few gyms via email prior to our upcoming move to gauge tuition in the new area, and they won't even answer the tuition question when directly asked. Sigh. I guess we will be trying everywhere... but our budget will still play a role no matter when we find out the answers. It would be so much easier to sort by price first and not waste time on either side with places we cannot afford.

Ours here won't either. I called the other local gym to get a price (or even hours) and they wanted a video before they would even let her come in for evaluation.

 

[wallinbl]

Ours isn't set by level; it's set by training group. Each group goes different hours, and there is some overlap between groups and levels, but there are usually multiple levels in a training group, and each level will be spread across multiple training groups. Effectively, the monthly tuition is based on number of hours, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the website what you'd end up paying.

 

[gymbeam]

Ours isn't set by level; it's set by training group. Each group goes different hours, and there is some overlap between groups and levels, but there are usually multiple levels in a training group, and each level will be spread across multiple training groups. Effectively, the monthly tuition is based on number of hours, but you wouldn't be able to tell from the website what you'd end up paying.

Same. We have too many different scenarios to even try and make sense of it in black and white.

 

[MILgymFAM]

How many scenarios can there be? We've seen tuition by level or by practice groups- both are easily laid out and understood. We've even seen it as an hourly amount multiplied out. Still simple. Even as a formula it based on hourly rate going down as hours go up. They're figuring out people's bills in a concrete way and not winging it.

ETA- I've seen a lot of individualized practice things- kids who can't make this or that- we've done it too. It's never lessened the stated tuition to go less than planned.

 

[gymbeam]

Well, first, our gym is really big. Not even talking about rec and preteam- the team alone has many different practice times (am, midday, pm, split days) which means different coaches which could affect hourly rate, different coach/gymnast ratios, different numbers of training hours even within the same levels, sibling discounts, school at gym, etc... And, there is not only JO but also Xcel and boys on different rate scales. Plus, we also have two separate Xcel teams- one that stays Xcel forever and one that transitions to JO after Silver who are coached by entirely different people with entirely different numbers of hours than the regular Xcel team. Then if they tried to also list other fees such as meets and attire that would also be drastically different depending on level and if you were JO, Xcel or boys.

Then, also consider that each time the schedule changes there is a shakeup of groups. So at the beginning of summer and the beginning of every school year groupings change, hours change and therefore fees change. They'd have a real hard time keeping all of the updated.

I guess they could say our team costs anything from $150-$375 a month depending on your level, group, hours, and time of day but how helpful would that broad range really be?