Fee Adjustment November 2008

I feel that it's been quite a while since my last post. Sorry about that. :) I was busy recently with the fee adjustment issue, which was difficult for me. If inflation did not exist, Sherina would not have had to deal with fee adjustment and money, which would have been great! But electricity and water is increasing by 20 to 21 percent, while transportation fees have basically doubled recently, not to mention the increase in the price of food, commodities etc....! Therefore, not surprisingly, some schools such as Yamaha decided to increase their fees by 10 to 15 percent starting October 2008. With all that, Sherina has decided that she cannot hold out any longer, and she has to increase her fees by 10 to 15 percent starting November 2008. It wasn't an easy decision, and I tried to be as fair as possible. I believe that the piano lesson fees are actually still very low and competitive, taking into account the high quality of education given.

The response to the fee adjustment has been positive so far. :) Parents and students expected the fee adjustment as a normal reaction to the recent steep price hike of everything in Singapore. Several parents/students/friends even commented that there is too big a fee difference between grade 7 & grade 8 because there is no difference in fees between grades 5 & 6, and a $5 (per month) difference between grades 6 & 7. That was my weird effort to keep the fees low.... Therefore, the suggestions have been that I increase grade 6 by $5 (per month) and increase grade 7 by $5 (per month), which will make the fee chart more normal....such nice parents/students/friends right?!? Sherina loves her students & studio and feels very lucky. :) I guess nowadays, $5 is equivalent to one meal at the hawker centre....I feel that the inflation this year in Singapore is just too high.....In any case, I will take the suggestions into serious consideration. Right now, I am happy with my chart, and will decide later. However, to be fair, no matter what happens, the existing students will certainly not be affected by this suggested change till they next up the grade next year. :) So don't worry. :) My perpetual obsession with fairness, but I am very glad that the fee adjustment is all over and done with. :)

A huge sigh of relief :)))