If you are in a co-op: Do you have enrollment fees

[ZeldaRules]

Hi

 

We are considering charging families an enrollment fee of $20 or $30 a semester, or maybe even $50 with the ability to get $20 or $30 back as long as they are on time and complete volunteer hours. We would allow a few tardy's. I teach the morning class, and out of 10 or 11 students, 3 are there right at 9 - everyone else just trickles in, some are really late. I pretty much start my 9am class at 9:15.

 

Our only cost has been the class fees, but we were considering charging a family enrollment fee just so people would (maybe) be more accountable and be on time. We would donate the funds to the church for a (bigger) love offering, give some of it to our scholarship fund, or hold the funds to help pay for a building that requires a fee to use their building (as we need a bigger facility). So the enrollment funds would really be a donation.

 

So if you are in a co-op, is there an enrollment fee, and if so, what is it? Are there any other fees besides class supply fees?

 

What do you think of a $50 enrollment fee with the ability to get 1/2 of it back as long as you are on time and do all volunteer hour requirements?

 

Thanks.

[KarenNC]

:lurk5:

[Mandylubug]

I am a member of an "association" with multiple co-ops grouped together. There is an association fee that is half price if paid during the summer prior to the "School year" 15 paid upfront or 30 the week of first classes. Each co-op also has a family registration fee of 35 per family in addition to class fees per student. Class fees were typically 15 per child but each co-op was slightly different. Extracurriculars such as art/music/choir/sports were additional fees as well.

[catz]

All our local coops have a registration fee per family. If you're having issues with tardiness and volunteers, seems like a good idea to me.

[Scuff]

Our co-op charges an enrollment fee and a monthly fee. That aside, it is important that you start on time if you ever want to have it run on time. There will still be people who are late, but it does have a snowball effect when you wait for them. People will make an effort to be there if they know they'll miss out. But it's easy to think, "oh, I've got a few minutes. They don't really start until 9:15 anyway."

[chepyl]

We pay $20 I think to join the support group each year, an insurance fee per child, a building fee per family, and then for the classes. For two kids, two semesters I paid less than $80 including my membership dues.

[ZeldaRules]

Our co-op charges an enrollment fee and a monthly fee. That aside, it is important that you start on time if you ever want to have it run on time. There will still be people who are late, but it does have a snowball effect when you wait for them. People will make an effort to be there if they know they'll miss out. But it's easy to think, "oh, I've got a few minutes. They don't really start until 9:15 anyway."

 

I teach music...I would start a few minutes after 9, but we sing songs the first 10-15 minutes, so I started on time, but the main lesson would start at 9:15. Most people fulfill their volunteer hours, it's really the tardiness that bugs me. I think we are going to have a rule that if you are 15 minutes late, your kids can't go to class...because it is a disruption to the class, and the child has missed a bunch anyways. Also people will miss and not let the group know - that is a big concern. I think if they missed without letting anyone know prior to the start of the first class, they would forfeit their funds. :) All they have to do is send an email to the Yahoo! group.

[trishalinn]

Yes, our co-op charges a fee. I think 50 is very reasonable. The fee is waived for teachers kids. We are trying to find ways to encourage timeliness. I think we are going to have a policy next year that if students are perpetually late to classes or have unexcused absences they will be expelled from the program.

[justasque]

Sometimes it helps to say "8:45 ~ Arrive, Meet & Greet. 9:00 ~ Class begins." I agree with the previous posters that you need to start on time even if not everyone is there. Because the kids aren't the drivers, it can also help to give them some carrot/stick to arrive on time, so that they are saying "Mom, hurry up, I don't want to be late!". And it wouldn't hurt to have a private word with repeat offender parents, explaining how arriving late disrupts the class and robs the latecomer of an important chunk of the class.

[frugalmama]

I'm not a member of the big local co-op that I know of in part because they require a $100 annual fee just to be a member plus the monthly / semester fees on top of that. I simply can't afford it.

 

They also require a signed faith statement which I won't do either :glare:

[ZeldaRules]

I'm not a member of the big local co-op that I know of in part because they require a $100 annual fee just to be a member plus the monthly / semester fees on top of that. I simply can't afford it.

 

They also require a signed faith statement which I won't do either :glare:

 

We don't require a statement of faith for our homeschool group or co-op. We make the families in co-op sign a behavior statement...I will be respectful of adults and the property...that type of thing. Faith statements exclude certain faiths, or those who don't have one, so I don't agree with them personally. I am happy that the group I am in does not require that. We have many who are religious as well as those who are not. :)

[Rosy]

Our fees for this year totaled around $70, that included enrollment, insurance, and a few other minor fees. Additionally, we pay an honorarium to the teachers for each class the kids take, which is $15/class + material fees (if any). Since I teach, I collect honorariums (honoraria?) for the classes I teach. I break even if I teach 2 classes and come out ahead if I teach 3, and that includes our enrollment fees.

[mktkcb]

our high school co-op has a $25 per family registration fee, then a $15 per class per semester co-op fee to cover cleaning supplies etc. The fee to the instructors is $300 per class. We require parents to attend 3 of the first 6 class sessions (in whatever class), and we always have 2 parent helpers in each class to help supervise and grade tests/quizzes as needed. The helper schedule is made up every year, and not showing or being late results in a fine. Sometimes we wish there could be a little more grace, but there always those 1 or 2 parents who think they are the exceptions and can "forget". The teachers we get are always extremely qualified, and worth every penny :o).

[lmrich]

I hate the tardiness issue. However who ignoring to police it and decide who doesn't get the money back. I think having a no entry after 9:10 would be moe effective, and the tardy parent has to stay with her kids until the next class.

 

I start my classes 5 minutes after the hour. I always like to use the first few minutes to reconnect with the kids.

[Mimm]

My co-op is one of the less expensive in the area but not by a lot. We charge $80 for the year and we spend it. We get the use of the building for free but we spent the money on art supplies, field trips and parties. We ordered pizza for one party and the co-op paid for it. I think we still have a little money in the account for next year.

[KungFuPanda]

Our co-op has a $25 yearly fee. At the end of the year we are encouraged to make a donation to the church that provides our space for free. (Teacher's fees are paid separately and per-class to cover supplies.)

 

I would address the lateness separately. You could do a super fun craft or game beginning at 8:55 so the kids will ride their parents to leave on time. I know a dance teacher who shuts her doors on time and doesn't open them again until 15 minutes into class. This is known and applied consistently, so people make a point of getting there on time. Also, that 15 minutes would give you time to complete something with the kids who are on time without the latecomers interrupting. You could also fine the late families and apply this (very small token fee) to an end-of-the-year class treat.

[Dmmetler]

We charge a small fee for each semester that's donated to the UU church that's willing to let our secular group hold our co-op and other activities there. We also do some service projects for the church as part of our group's activities. We are going to start charging a fee for "free" field trips due to no-shows-in most cases, the "free" field trips are organizations like museums that are non-profit and surviving on a shoestring, so they can use those couple of dollars per family, and people seem more committed when they've paid.

[luvnlattes]

Our co-op has a $50 annual fee. This fee pays for the building rental as well as insurance. We also pay annual supply fees to each teacher and monthly tuition.

 

I don't know if the annual fee would help get people there on time or not. When my kids have taken 9:00 classes there are students who are continuously late. Not as many as you mention but a few. Regardless, the class starts on time and if you miss part of it, you miss. I think what gets the majority of people there on time is that we're paying monthly tuition for the class, not the annual fee.

[Cinder]

One co-op we were in didn't require fees. But we all went to the same church so there was accountability there. And we did mostly free activities: recitation, park day, nature walk, service activity.

 

The other co-op we were in was an academic co-op and did require a fee--$50/child/year. The fee went to pay for activity supplies and insurance. Each parent was required to be a teacher or helper for a semester. If she wouldn't commit to that the family was not considered. We also paid a fee for using the church--$1/child/week. We did not receive any of our fee back but that was not offered as an incentive up front.

[jelbe5]

I am in a group where it is expected that the homeschooling parent helps and we charge $50.00 per family irregardless of how many children are involved. If there is financial hardship that may be worked out privately. Our group is starting year 5 in the fall and this has worked out fine.

[hsmamainva]

Our homeschool group charges $10 per year for membership. They send this to the church where we hold our co-op at the end of the year as a "thank you gift" but there's no statement of faith required to join the group.

 

Science co-op is $65.00 per year (but you can break it down by fall and spring semesters if you don't want to pay it all at once). And the Art co-op is $70.00 per year (same payment rules as for the science class)...but both fees cover all materials (paint, paper, science equipment, etc.) so I see it as a real bargain.

 

Co-op day is the 3rd Friday of the month with Science in the morning (9:30 - 11:45) and Art in the afternoon (1:30 - 3:00). The kids bring their own lunch and that's from roughly 12:00 - 12:30 and then they run around for an hour in the church playground to burn up energy. I love having both co-ops on the same day! I just schedule this as an 'off day' in our lesson plans.

[Kelly1730]

We pay $65 per semester, per family. We each teach at least one class and assist one class per semester. We have an opening time where sometimes there are stragglers but by the time we start class at 9:10 everyone seems to be there. We are to let someone know if we won't be there so our classes can be covered. I drive 35-40 minutes to this co-op, so if I can be there on time so can everyone else!:tongue_smilie:

[Kissy]

Some of you guys have great rates for coops in my area if you want to do a coop you have to pay a registration fee which is like $25 per child, you have to sign a statement of faith, agree to volunteer 8 hours in study hall (or pay $40), and then for elementary classes is $45 plus a materials fee, and middle and high classes are $65 plus a materials fee, and buy the books they use, all of this is per semester. For my to send my kids it would be outrageous so we don't do a coop because we can't afford all that.