Trinity Dance Prosser

Studio and Tuition Policies 2024-2025

 

Registration

 

Once registration opens up for a class, you can register! For Summer Session, the full tuition amount is due at the time of registration. For the 2024-2025 school year, the first month’s tuition installment (August) is due, in addition to the Registration Fee.

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We do not offer refunds on pre-payment if you decide not to take the class after all. We do offer transfers if you simply want to change the class, as long as this is done two weeks before the session begins. There are some exceptions, feel free to contact us to discuss if you need.

 

If the class you want is full, you can add yourself to the waitlist. There is no charge to be on a waitlist. 

 

Placement:

 

We send out class suggestions / placement toward the end of the school year. You will also be able to see your class suggestions in your parent portal. These suggestions are based on prior interest / enrollment, and there are also other classes you might like to try!

 

Will the schedule change mid-year?

 

We intend to keep the same schedule throughout the school year. If something happens that makes us need to rearrange things, we will give as much notice as possible.

 

Registration Policies:

 

When you register for a class, you remain enrolled in that class until then end of the season OR until you let us know that you will be dropping. You can drop classes yourself in the portal, or send us an email at office@trinitydanceprosser.com.. You must notify us within 21 days of the next tuition installment duedate. For example, if you want to drop and the next due date is April 1, you would need to notify us by March 10 to avoid paying the April installment. 

Any balances that were on your account at the time you drop are still due.

 

Tuition Policies:

 

Tuition is based on a seasonal rate and is split into equal installments. Some months have more or fewer classes, based on the number of weeks, but the payment remains the same. We pro-rate only for people who register in the middle of a month.

 

Discounts: We give generous multi-class discounts. You receive 25% off your second class, 50% off your third class, and 75% off your fourth class. (For one student). Additional classes after four are no charge.

We do not give discounts for multiple students in the same family, however, the fourth student and above in the same family are free. 

Tuition is billed on the 25th of the month preceding the duedate. Tuition is DUE on the 1st of each month. Tuition is LATE on the 10th of each month, and a 10%  late fee (minimum $10) is added to your account. You will receive email and text reminders and notifications if your tuition is late.

 

A wonderful way to avoid being late is to enroll in autopay. Autopay comes out on the 1st of each month. 

 

There is a 3% fee on credit / debit card payments. To avoid this fee, set up your preferred payment to be ACH (uses your bank account). We also accept checks and cash payments in the studio. 

 

We do not accept Venmo, Paypal, or similar apps. We cannot generally take in-person card payments. Please use the online portal.

 

We do accept cash and checks, please put in an envelope with the student’s name and place in the drop box in studio A. 

 

 Seriously late, non-communicating accounts will be dropped if the account remains unpaid by the next billing cycle (the 25th). The student will no longer be able to attend classes, and the parent will need to pay all fees before enrolling again. A new registration fee would also be charged in this case. 

 

Customers who stop attending the class without letting us know in writing that they will be dropping will still owe all tuition fees that were billed. 

 

All of this being said, we are still a small family business, and want to be able to serve our families well. If you need a longer grace period, or need to make different payment arrangements, please don’t hesitate to talk to us. We are generally happy to work with you when we can. These policies are in place to avoid people taking up spots in classes but not paying or not attending, when others are waiting for a spot in the class. 

 

Performances:

 

We will be putting on at least 2 performances each year. Participation is not required, but most people do participate. Toddler Tumble, Pre-Ballet, and Beginning Ballet do not participate.

 

Please see the Performances info page for full info.

 

The cutoff to enroll and participate in the Christmas Showcase and the Nutcracker (for class dances) is to enroll by September 15. 

 

The cutoff to enroll and participate in the spring recital is January 31, 2025.

 

If a student joins after the installments are run, then the past amounts are due. For students who join in January, they would pay the last two installments at once. 

 

*If a student is enrolled in a 2x per week class, it counts as one class. Same level, same costume. If a student is enrolled in multiple levels, for example ballet 4 and ballet 5, these would count as two classes, two costumes. 

 

Communication:

 

We are a small, family-owned business. The phone number you call or text is Miss Nicole’s personal cell phone. We do not have office hours. If you call and do not get an answer, please leave a message. An even better way to contact us is e-mail! If you contact via email, you can generally expect a prompt reply, but probably not an instant reply. :) Please allow at least 24 hours for a response during the week. 

You can contact your child’s teacher through the parent portal app if you need to speak with them directly.

You may have already guessed that we use email HEAVILY to communicate with our families. We have found this the best, most reliable way to make sure you get the information you need (and yes, there is a lot) for your child to have the best experience possible in our studio. We want everyone to know what to expect, when they need to be somewhere, and what’s coming up soon. I still often get comments like “I never check my email.” or “I may have received it, but I get so much spam every day.” For the sake of knowing what’s going on here, please do check your email often. Get a new one if you need to. And make sure that your email and phone number are accurate in the parent portal.

The Band app. We use the Band app for videos for the students. I post choreography videos there. We have used it for live class recordings before (we do not do that regularly anymore) as well as supplemental videos for the students. You need to request to join it. If you don’t have a link, please ask Nicole for one. She usually sends one out periodically. 

 

General Studio Policies:

 

We ask students to wait INSIDE the studio to be picked up. Please let us know if your child has permission to walk somewhere after classes.

Please do not drop off students more than 10 minutes early for their classes without prior permission. 

Parents are welcome to observe classes, but we do ask that you keep voices quiet, and keep other children WITH YOU. Please also allow the teacher to teach your child. The teacher may ask for you to come and help if needed, but otherwise, allow your child to focus on the teacher’s instructions, rather than yours.

Please take note of the dress code for your child’s classes and make sure that they are dressed properly for their class. 

 

Adult Students:

 

We love our adult classes and students! We welcome anyone, regardless of talent or experience, to join our classes and learn to dance! 

With that said, we are first and foremost a school for children, and their safety is very important to us. Adult students must have a reference within our studio, or provide two character references from outside the studio if they do not know anyone. When you register, we will ask you for a reference of either an instructor or a current dance family (If the dance family is also brand new, we may ask for additional character references). We will confirm your acceptance into the class after we have spoken to your references.

 

Behavioral Issues

 

Our goal is to help all of our students have a successful class. Some students may have a harder time getting accustomed to the class at first. This is perfectly normal and fine. If your child’s behavior is negatively affecting the class and is not improving, we will honestly let you know that we would like you to wait and try again later. This is a part of your own child’s success. We don’t want them to get a negative experience or negative habits from the class, and sometimes waiting and starting again when they’re a little older will help a lot. 

We do offer trial classes! If you are not sure how your child will like the class, please schedule one of those. 

For older students, we expect them to behave with respect towards their teacher, their classmates, and themselves. If students are struggling to do this, we will have serious conversations and parents may be contacted to help support us in this. Our goal is always to bring them through it. There are some cases, as with little ones, where if the behavior is not getting better and it is negatively impacting the class, we may ask that the student at least take a break. We try to avoid this if at all possible.

 

Our Values:

 

Everyone is invited to dance! We never screen kids for ability or body type here. The only evaluations we do are related to the student’s personal progress and class placement. Students may grow and develop at different rates, but we would never discourage a student from dancing! Students all have different bodies, and all of those bodies can dance in their own special ways!

We value our DANCE FAMILY. Little ones look up to the big ones. Big ones set an example for the little ones. We help each other. We encourage each other. We cheer for each other.

We value individual goals over comparison. It’s easy for students to fall into comparison and competition, so we pull them away from that as much as possible. As the amazing Mikhail Barishnikov is famous for saying, “I do not try to dance better than anyone else: I only try to dance better than myself.”

As teachers, we value the child over the dance. We want all of our students to leave here with a positive experience and happy memories. 

 

A Note to Parents:

 

We invite you to team up with us. What we’re doing here is positive and time has proven this for many many students over the years. Please partner with us by encouraging your own child towards respect for teachers, classmates, themselves, and our studio. Remind them to practice and to set their own personal goals. If they start worrying about their body, remind them of all the amazing things it can do! We also ask that you tell us if you see or experience anything negative. We cannot address problems as they arise if we do not know about them. 

 

Thank you for taking the time to read this!

 

Trinity Dance Prosser Waiver and Release Form 2024-2025

 

I will try to make this as interesting as possible, since I know reading these things can be arduous and confusing! Please read carefully.

 

Dance is a physical art. While we make every effort to develop good habits in order to prevent injury, accidents can still occur. By checking the box below, you are telling us that you understand this risk, and will not hold Trinity Dance, its owners, instructors, assistants, or other students responsible, should an accidental injury occur. 

 

Another aspect of the physical art is that it often requires physical contact between teacher and student. The purpose of this is to help with muscle awareness and activation, as well as to feel the direction of the energy of the movement. Choreography often includes student to student physical contact as well. By checking the box below, you indicate that you understand this is a part of our classes and curriculum. 

 

We do not encourage, emphasize, or reward any particular type of body here. We work to enhance each student’s strengths, and help each student improve their weaknesses. We do not discuss weight in children. Any weight management discussion should be between the student, parents, and their doctor. We encourage healthy lifestyles and healthy eating, in order to have the best energy for dancing. We encourage friendship with the bodies we are given. By checking the box below, you are indicating that you understand this value, and that you will help us promote healthy body image in our students.

 

We love taking pictures and video clips of our classes and events. These photos are used for promotional materials, the website, and on our social media pages. We will not post a student’s full name on social media. We also have professional dvds made of our performances. By checking the box below, you give us permission to take and use photos that may feature your child in the ways listed.

 

We are not responsible for any lost, stolen, or damaged property. Please remind your children not to bring valuables to the studio. By checking the box below, you release us from responsibility for students’ belongings. 

 

You are responsible for notifying us of any medical concerns or allergies your child may have.

 

By checking the box below, you acknowledge this statement:

 

“I give permission for Trinity Dance Prosser to seek medical attention for my child(ren) in the case of an emergency, if I am unavailable”