Pricing & Profit
Pricing and profit covers what martial arts schools charge and what is left afterwards. Articles here deal with tuition structure and rate setting, average ticket per student, programme tiers and upgrades, contract and paid-in-full arrangements, billing and the companies that process it, raising tuition on an existing student base without losing it, and the cost structure — rent, payroll, insurance, marketing — that determines a school’s margin. The journal’s position is that price is a positioning decision before it is a revenue decision: what a school charges tells a parent what kind of programme it believes it runs. Where an article states a tuition figure, a margin or a revenue number, it names the school and the date, because tuition norms in this profession have moved substantially over thirty years and an undated figure is worse than none. Print-era articles in this section are labelled and should be read for their reasoning rather than their prices.
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What Martial Arts Schools Pay for Event Booths: Fall 2026
Farmers markets, fall festivals, movie theaters and city-wide events: what school owners reported paying for booth space this fall, what…
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Charge One Fair Price, and Never Nickel-and-Dime: The Case for Professional Tuition
Stephen Oliver answers the 'outrageous fees' criticism: why professional tuition pays for full-time, highly trained staff and quality facilities, and…
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Martial Arts School Financial Controls: Closing the Three Gaps
Theft in a martial arts school is a design problem, not a hiring problem. The three structural gaps, the seven…
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The 20 Numbers Every Martial Arts School Owner Should Know
Every number with its definition, its formula, what it actually tells you, and what to do when it is weak.…
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You Had Zero Renewals Because You Talked to Zero People
September is the last month of the third quarter — the last chance to save it. Grand Master Jeff Smith…
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You Were Charging More in 1970: How to Raise Your Tuition Without Losing Your Nerve
In 1970 we charged $197 a month. By 1980 we were at $297. Some of you are still charging less…
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Inspiring (Holiday) Story from a School Owner!
I was speaking to a school owner from a pretty typical suburb the other day, it was really entertaining, and…
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Protect your Assets with the Right Business Entity, Part 1
As I wrote in my August/September column, the best way to keep what you have is not to have anything…
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