Policies & Procedures
For the safety of our younger and youngest students, MECA asks that parents walk all students under the age of 13 into our building. Parents may leave the building once the student’s lesson has begun. After the lesson, parents MUST come back into the store and pick up their student. We apologize if this is an inconvenience. MECA’s top priority is the safety and well being of the students.
Excused Lessons
MECA has a flat monthly tuition for lessons. In order to accommodate our families, we have based this monthly tuition on a 47 week year rather than a 52 week year.
Therefore, each family has not been charged for:
1 lesson the week between Christmas and New Years
1 lesson the week of Thanksgiving
3 lessons of the students choice
MECA believes that regular attendance at lessons is imperative to the overall success of our students therefore, beyond the 5 credited absences listed above MECA has a no make-up policy.
Tuition
We accept payment for tuition via cash, check, Master Card, Visa, or Discover.
Fees
Registration Fee - There is a one-time family registration fee of $15.00. Once this registration fee has been paid, it will not be charged again. It covers all immediate family members who currently take lessons or will be taking lessons in the future.
Late Fee - All tuition not received by the seventh day of each month, will result in a $15.00 late fee. MECA offers a one-time removal of this fee. All late fees charged after the one time removal must be paid.
Returned Check Fee - There is a $25.00 fee for checks returned for any reason. Once a check has been returned for insufficient funds MECA requires all future payments to be made either by cash or credit card.
Billing
No monthly bills will be sent home. Please remember that tuition is due on the first day of every month and no later than the seventh day of that same month. Absences at the first lesson of the month do not excuse tuition payment.
Monthly tuition is the same every month regardless of the number of weeks in the month. There will not be an additional charge if the month holds 5 weeks nor will there be a reduction if the month holds fewer than 4 weeks.
Credits
Credits to tuition will be given on holidays that MECA is closed, if MECA has to close due to inclement weather, or if your teacher is absent and no substitute is available. Amounts of credits are determined by a pro-rata of the current months tuition.
Teacher Absence
In the event of a teacher absence, your teacher has the right to bring in a substitute teacher. No credits will be applied towards the students account if a substitute teacher is used.
MECA Closings
Monthly tuition will be reduced on a pro-rated basis if the student’s lesson falls on the holidays listed below.
New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day
(If holidays don’t fall during the week of Christmas)
Memorial Day
4th of July
Labor Day
Please note that tuition has already been pro-rated to accommodate for not having lessons on both Christmas and Thanksgiving.
Withdrawing
Students may withdraw from lessons at the end of each month. There will be no credits or refunds given if the student withdraws before the end of the month. There are no additional fees if the student wishes to return to lessons once they have withdrawn.
Lesson time, day, and teacher cannot be held while the student is withdrawn from lessons. (Please Note) Students who withdraw for the summer will not be guaranteed their same time slot when returning in the fall.
In the event that the students have not paid tuition in full by the second lesson of the month, MECA reserves the right to automatically withdraw the student from their lessons. MECA will attempt to contact students before such actions are taken.
All music classes have a minimum and maximum number of students. MECA reserves the right to cancel classes due to lack of enrollment. Should MECA permanently cancel a class the student will be notified and a full refund will be given. Space in a class is not guaranteed until payment is received in full. No makeup class will be given for classes missed. If MECA needs to cancel a class a makeup class will be rescheduled. If a student wishes to drop out of classes before the class begins a full refund will be given. If the student wishes to drop out of class after the first class, a refund will be given less the cost of the first class. If a student wishes to drop out of class after the second class, MECA will issue a credit to the student’s account for future lessons, classes or merchandise. Registration fees will not be refunded for any reason.
All teachers at MECA are independent contractors, and not employees. It is MECA’s right to support and enforce the policies and tuition requirements of our teachers.