$550 Canadian!! what's that like $20 bucks american? LOL!! Just kiding confused, it all depends I would try to work it out with you instructor tell him you just don't have that right now and see if you can't make payments or something perhaps even if your son could help out around the Do-Jang and work a bit of it off. I don't know many instructors that wouldn't consider doing something to help ease the burden. It doesn't hurt to ask.
First I'd like to introduce myself Im Manuel Maldonado. Im an ITF 5th Degree and a Kukkiwon 4th Dan. I dont personally feel that people should be so money hungry when it comes to a Black Belt Certificate. If you paid your dues, ie class fees, tournaments etc at least YOU helped keep the Do-Jang open. Black Belt test fees should be what the organization charges the instructor. At my schools thats what we do. You pay for your own belt and whatever the Kukkiwon charges for the Certificate. If anyone here needs help obtaining their KKW papers please dont hesitate to let me know (I can only do them up to 2nd Dan). I'll do my best to help out. Sincerely Manuel K. Maldonado :bang:
for me it was $200 and it goes up like $100 each dan. that is the only grading we have to pay for though.
There's little that can justify charging someone 300+ dollars (US) for a black belt testing in my eyes. I paid $250 for 3rd dan in Tang Soo Do and feel that I was completely gouged. Now I don't feel so bad after reading this thread. My rank in Taekwondo was free, as my instructor is an old friend of dad's, and someone I've known since I was 12 years old. Test fee for 1st Dan at his school is $150, and includes a Kukkiwon certificate, an embroidered belt (with the students name on it), and a new dobok.
Our testing is $50 for each colored belt grading. This includes a kukiwon card. Sometimes, we have to pay $7 for a new belt, but the instructor always tries to find a used belt we can wear, so we don't have to pay. For stripes they just put tape, so the belt is still practically free. For black belt it is $400 but they don't pressure you into taking the exam. There are several people with red belts black stripe, one of them has been like that for 4 years. I can tell you, right now, that if I ever get red belt black stripe, I ain't taking a black belt exam. All lessons are free, though, so I can't really complain. It would take me at least 3.5-4 years to get to BB level, and that wold be a total of about $500 in gradings, and $0 in training fees. Not too shabby, at all.
Well, I agree that I gawk at high grading prices, but then I try to put it in perspective: If I were playing hockey, I'd have a few hundred dollars every year for equipment and the fees for playing, which are about $1000 a year. Then, (since I'm so good), I'd have tournaments out of town every weekend which would cost me $2-$300 for hotels and travel... etc. So, you're learning something which may prove more useful in your life (although some hockey players really know how to fight!) than flicking a puck around, and it's year-round, and it's portable for you to take anywhere, and it's cheaper. Looking at running a club, a decent dojo is going to cost (in my town) $2-3000 a month including utilities; insurance costs about $6000 a year, equipment (at my club) runs about $1000 a year... that's $43000!! 43 grand to teach you guys. If you're paying a grand a year in fees and testing, the instructor has to regularly have 43 students just to break EVEN... I know my instructor makes less than 20K a year for himself, and that's only because he teaches the kids of the insurance broker and found somewhere free to train in.... Unless your instructor is driving around in a porsche and charging you several thousand a year for nothing, try thinking about the costs of everything, and hand over the dosh with a thank you at your next test.
I agree completely. I know my instructor isn't getting rich off of it and I don't mind paying a little extra here and there. I consider it a "bonus"
When i was still with the WTF, BB test was 350 bux. Most of which went to the Kukkiwon. For SBD, my BB test was 150 bux and no testing fees for any color belts below black. I got ripped hard at TKD : (
I tested for my 1st dan in 2001,paid 400.00 bucks which included the kukkiwon cert and a fancy new uniform.If I remeber correctly ea belt test was 50 except for the red/black which was 80.From what I ve heard here and from other folks in my area,I think this was reasonable.
Its all good,I pay nothing right now.The only thing my teacher wants is 100 percent effort and to pass it on someday when I find someone I deem worth teaching it to.(current teacher is not tkd,but xing yi) I left my tkd school about a year and a half ago.
monkey see monkey do? In all me inexpirience and lack of respect, I say this: Walk in, pay them, pass , walk out, jump someone and steal their wallet. After all its what you learned from your Dojo/Dojang
i definitely have to agree with the ''inexperience and lack of respect'' part. there are so many members here who can tell you that they earned their belt with hard training and not with money. stealing? dojo? hmmm...weird, but we never learnt it there.
Shotokan Karate & Aikido Black Belt Test It's been a while since this blog got a newer comment. Its 2016 and the dojo where I trained will be testing for Shodan (1st Dan) next month. $950 :cry: My test was in 2010 $500 and I thought it was way too much; although it included embroidered belt, certificate and new gi. But $950??? no gi, only certificate and belt and the higher the rank the higher the cost. Isn't that excessive? It's unfortunate. Understandably, business matters. Bills accumulate just like anywhere else, I know because any business requires the same minimums: rent, electric, licenses, permits, inspections, supplies, marketing, advertising, phone, internet, website. But that seems a bit excessive for a one time test.
