I've just discovered I don't like the monthly cost in dollars because it sounds like twice as much (but then so does my salary). £50 per month works out at about £6 per two hour lesson.

Huh. Just my response...didn't mean to intimate anything.

Feel free to delete it. Sorry I even responded now.

OK. As you responded to my post, I though you were directing that at me. I didn't understand the context of your response, since it seemed to reach beyond the intent of the OP.

My apologies.

Why would anyone pay $100 or more for 1 month of lessons? I can understand if someone is taking 2 curricula (say, karate & iaido for example).

Back in the early '90's, I started training @ the Gracie Academy, almost an hour form my home. $85.00/mo was just too steep then. I wonder what it is now?

I think it's a matter of perceived value. It's the difference between McDonald coffee & Starbucks coffee. BJJ had this aura of being superior so higher tuition was the natural consequence. Meanwhile, generic karate & judo dojo continued to charge reasonable rates.

The McDojo phenomenon proves that if you can talk a good rap about how good your new art is when compared w/ all those old tratitional (used as a derogatory) MA, you put enough red electrical tape on the end of your belt & you outfit your school w/ enough dragon paintings, you can charge a lot more.

Glad to see that most of the responses were < $100.00.

I pay around $125/month for unlimited classes on six days a week that the school is open. I could pay less for three classes a week or even less for two clases a week. I could easily be down to the $90ish/month range. This is California mind you so it's a bit more expensive that other places.

That being said I do not feel that I pay money for my martial arts training. I pay money for the excellent traning facility, the air conditioning (gets 115F here in the summer), the fantastic padded floors, the nice kicking bags, the restrooms, the nice spacious changing rooms and the water fountain. Most importantly I pay my monthly dues so that the people that do teach me will actually be there instead of having to make business trips, work evenings and whatever else they would be doing instead of teaching me.

I pay respect to my instructors for them to actually teach martial arts. The money just makes it a nicer more convient enviroment for my martial arts training.

So...you consider most of what you pay to be a 'facilities' fee? Not for 'lessons' per se?

10 bucks a lesson, 100 a month, theres 6 lessons a week.

for 200 I can attend muay thai, Bjj, and mma (no gi) class. as well as use of the gym.

damn fine

Harlan,

Yes, I always have had that attitude.

I'm also an instructor in my school, under the supervision of the senior instructors of course as I'm just a shodan, and I still pay my full fees. I learn things twice as well teaching than I ever did being taught and running classes with a limited number of them a week is a gift that I really should be paying extra for!

my classes are 79$ per month canadian, so roughly 70 american?

classes are 1.5 hours twice a week and if you want, you can go to other dojos for the same cost (ie 5 classes per week, 1.5 hours each for ~70$). you can go to one dojo mondays and wednesdays, a different dojo tuesdays and thursdays and a different one on saturdays.