Beginner's Course Fees - what's fair?

[Tuck]

I am the treasurer of a Midlands club - we charge £25 for six 1.5 hour structured lessons. We have an inexpensive outdoor venue, if running with either an expensive field or hall cost then it would be more!

It also depends on how desperate the club is te recruit members.

[clickerati]

This has been interesting food for thought! </p>

Thank you everyone for sharing your information,#which#has been extremely helpful </p>

[Furface]

We charge £35/£25 for six lessons, but this includes "free" tab and bracer on the grounds that a) kitting people out with them each week takes too much time b) everyone thinks "wow, I've got some real archery gear" c) having to bring something special along each week seems to make them take the course seriously.

[clickerati]

I like that thinking, my furry friend!

[English Bowman]

We charge £3.10 per session for adults. and £2.10 for juniors. That includes all equipment, and 2 coaches teaching a maxium group size of 12. No wonder our courses are over subscribed as £18.10 for a 6 week course!

[Jenny]

The course that I have just started is £30 for six 2 hour lessons, seems a pretty good price to me (£2.50 an hour). They are currently indoors but we will also have a lesson outdoors in a few weeks


~Jenny~

[Armchair Archer]

Ours have just started too, i think that#it's £25 for six sessions</p>

£25-£30 seems about the norm#</p>

[Jal]

At Targetcraft in Corby we charge £20 for a biginner or £15 each for a family of 3 or more for 6 - 1 1/2 hr lessons.. That is how I got started. Took my two kids, they gave up after 5 weeks and I carried on. Our courses are ongoing, no waiting lists! All lessons are indoor on a Tuesday evening. Our outdoor field is 7 miles away from town and we have a hell of a job to get people to go out there to shoot once they have done the course. They seem content just to shoot on a Tuesday night indoor.

[Armchair Archer]

Jal - 26/5/2005 1:51 AM# Our outdoor field is 7 miles away from town and we have a hell of a job to get people to go out there to shoot once they have done the course. They seem content just to shoot on a Tuesday night indoor.

</p>

7#miles !!!!</p>

I do a 50 mile round trip up to 3 times a week and would do more if finances/girlfriend/work/having kids#would allow !!!!! Some people have no commitment, LOL</p>

[Rik]

When we were setting our beginner's course fees we took a few things into account:
Fees for courses in general (e.g. a 6 week *calligraphy* course in London costs £50...)
Demand (in theory, you put the fees up to what the market will bear...)
Committment (if you charge too little, people won't value the course...)
Means (if a beginner has problems with the course fees, there's no way they'll be able to spring for equipment...)
Club funds (courses are a source of income, after all...)

So we conciously set the fees at what seemed to us at the time to be the high side. Our current crop of beginners paid an initial £10 for a tryout day (to weed out some of the people who just wanted to have a go, but wouldn't stay the course), then (IIRC) £50 for the course proper. 150 people wanted to try out, and we managed to fit around 70 (I don't have the exact figure) onto the course. In spite of the glint in our Treasurer's eye, I don't think we can really justify putting the fees up any higher for now, though based on current figures, it looks like the market would bear it...

I've sat through all the arguments about whether a beginner's course should be to gain new members, or to generate revenue for the club. I suspect the answer to that is "yes".