Happy Minds School of Music (HMSM) Policies

 

Monthly Membership

• The membership fee (Tuition) will be a fixed monthly fee. There is No adjustments will be made to the

monthly fee. If an additional lesson falls on the 5th of the month, if the lesson falls on a public holiday when the school is closed; or if there were one or more cancellations in the previous month.

• At HMSM, we operate as a regular school, meaning an annual registration fee is charged in September to secure your lesson time for the year.

• Students are welcome to enroll in lessons anytime during the academic year. Annual tuition costs will be paid in monthly installments. By commencing instruction in the month you enroll, each student is assured a minimum number of lessons before the conclusion of the school year. 

• You can use your fixed monthly lesson credits to schedule a lesson online, either in-person or remotely, with any available openings at the student portal. You can also put your credits towards accompaniment lessons. or learning a second instrument, as well as any group classes. Plus, you can share the credits with a family member.

• Books or other learning materials will be billed and paid separately by the end of each month.

• A 5% off on the second instrumental learning or sibling’s monthly tuition

 

Payment Policies

• Acceptable form of payment is credit card only with Visa, Mastercard, or Discover credit card.

• The parent or the student’s account will be automatically set up for a recurring credit card charge for each successive month’s lessons.

• The monthly fee will be charged automatically to the credit card saved on your account on the day you make your first payment.

• No adjustment to monthly tuition will be made or credits/refunds given for student cancellation of lessons.

• No rollover makeup lesson credit to the following month/year.

• Payment must be received on or before your first lesson.

• Automatic payment can be used to collect reward points. Discounts can be applied to the tuition in September.

• A late payment penalty fee of $15 will be charged to the customer account if payment is not received on the 10th of each month.

 

Cancellation

• If you need to reschedule your lesson, you can do so as long as it's done at least 18 hours before the scheduled time. For short-term changes, we allow one reschedule requirement per month; we'll be happy to accommodate your request. Please note that we only allow two changes per school year for your weekly schedule, or the changed schedule will last at least a month. 

• Please be aware that any rescheduling request must make 18 hours prior to the scheduled time – any requests made after this will result in the lesson being forfeited. To prevent this, please ensure that all lessons are scheduled through our online system or via email 24 hours before the lesson begins. Unfortunately, we cannot guarantee that the student’s regular instructor will teach the rescheduled lesson. 

• If the student needs to cancel their lesson on the same day it is scheduled, no make-up lesson will be provided, no exception.

• The make-up lesson is only available in the instructor’s absence.

 

Inactive Account

• To stop automatic payment, a request to freeze/stop the account must be submitted to the school in writing 15 days in advance of 1st day of the next month. 10% of your monthly membership fee will be held if you would like to reserve your current lesson spot during the freeze period.

 

Late Arrival to Lessons

• Students are expected to arrive on time for their scheduled lessons.

• Students who arrive up to 15 minutes late to their lessons will not be given extra time beyond their scheduled end time. This is done to maintain the schedule of other students who have arrived on time for their lessons.

• No make-up lesson, refund, or additional lesson time will be given to compensate for the shortened lesson due to

• late arrivals, except when the shortened lesson is due to the late arrival of the instructor.

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No-Show

• Student attendance is considered a “no-show” if a student is more than 15 minutes late for their scheduled

• lesson or fails to show up for a scheduled lesson without cancellation.

• A no-show - The lesson will be forfeited, and no makeup.

 

Appointment Reminders

• Appointment reminders are sent to the email address on file 24 hours before the scheduled lesson starts. The parent’s or legal guardian’s responsibility is to keep track of the student’s lesson schedule. Please check the junk mail folder for reminder emails if they do not show up in the email inbox.

• Please note that if you have not received a reminder for any reason, you can still access your WellnessLiving account to check the scheduled lessons.

• It is the parent(s) or legal guardian’s responsibility to keep your account with up-to-date contact and

• Credit card payment information by notifying the school or updating the information on the WellnessLiving

• website.

 

Lesson Duration

• Lessons are 30, 45, or 60 minutes in duration and are scheduled back-to-back from each other. It shall be understood that not 100% of the lesson duration will be devoted to teaching and that instructors may spend up to 5 to 10 minutes during and before the end of the lesson to add lesson notes and assignments to the student’s Music Journal.

• No Make-up credits, refunds, or additional lesson time, will be given to the student, for the instructor does not spend 100% of the lesson duration providing instructions.

• Sometimes instructors may, at their own discretion, choose to give the student a longer lesson than what is scheduled, at no additional cost to the student. The instructors are not obligated or expected to spend additional time with the student every time.

 

The Substitute Instructor

• If an instructor is absent, HMSM reserves the right to provide a substitute instructor to teach the lessons. HMSM is not required to notify parents or legal guardians of the change of instructor.

• HMSM reserves the right to change instructors for private and group lessons at any time.

• Requests to change instructor or for cancellation due to a change of instructor will not be accepted. Failing to show up for the lesson due to a change of instructor will be treated as a “no-show” (see policy above for No-Show).

 

Insufficient Class Enrollment/Cancellation

• If any group lessons or class has insufficient enrollment, HMSM reserves the right to cancel the class.

 

Inclement Weather

• If the school is closed due to inclement weather, the student can take the lesson remotely at home or be invited to attend special make-up group lessons.

• The make-up lessons must be scheduled within 30 days of the original lesson date. HMSM cannot guarantee that the student’s regular instructor will teach make-up lessons.

• If the HMSM needs to close the school for inclement weather, we will post a message on the HMSM Facebook page by 12 pm.

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Holiday Closures

• Please check HMSM yearly calendar for HMSM holiday/break closures. No make-up lessons are given for holiday closures. You will be notified in advance of any exceptions.

• Please plan your lessons in advance during the Holiday season.

 

Discontinue Lessons & Tuition Refund Policy

• To discontinue lessons at HMSM, written notification must be submitted via email to info@happymindsschoolofmusic.com a minimum of 15 days prior to the month that students wish to stop lessons, except newly enrolled students may discontinue lessons by canceling the first lesson 24 hours before the scheduled time.

• If notification to discontinue lessons is received less than 15 days before the end of the month, the lesson will stop at the end of the following month.

• Tuition payment will be fully refunded for newly enrolled students if cancellation is made before the first lesson.

• No refund on tuition if the termination is made after your first lesson of the month.

• No refund on tuition will be given for failure to schedule lessons before the expiration of the

• remaining lesson credits per month.

 

Marketing

• Any photographs, audio, or video recording of students or other family members on Happy Minds School of Music facilities or during HMSM events or other performance events may be used for promotional purposes, such as on the HMSM website, social media sites, or other publications.

• There is no compensation for the use of photographs, audio, and video recordings.

 

Declined Payment Fee

• There is a $30 fee for any returned checks and any additional bank charges we incur.

 

Delinquent Accounts

Happy Minds School of Music reserves the right to suspend or discontinue instruction of any student with delinquent accounts. Accounts are considered delinquent if they have an outstanding account balance past due.

 

Dismissal of Student

• Happy Minds School of Music reserves the right to dismiss any student due to frequent absences, disciplinary problems, overdue tuition payments, and/or noncompliance with any of HMSM’s policies stated herein.

 

Policy Changes

• Happy Minds School of Music reserves the right to change its policies, tuition rates, fees, or waivers at any time.