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What is the price of a BJJ belt promotion?
I am relatively new to Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. I have been training for roughly 18 months. I recently received word that I would be promoted to blue belt and that the price would be $250. Say what?! I thought the price had already been paid in hard work, monthly membership dues, pain, perseverance, and respect. Apparently not. This brings me to a question then. What is the price of a BJJ belt promotion, and is it right to add a cash value to it? Since it seems that line between the gentle art and business is increasingly becoming blurry. I will present a business analogy and later relate it to the practice of charging high BJJ belt promotion fees.
How are prices determined in business/stock markets?
I come from a finance and economics background. Much of my coursework in college and professional work involve studying and applying methods for determining the price of a financial contract such as a mortgage rate, stock, bond, stock options, etc.
Suppose a financial asset which we will call A pays its owner $100 each month for 3 years whenever the S&P 500 Index is above 1900. Now suppose that I know of a way to create an Asset B with the same exact pay out structure and timing for a lower price than asset A. I can then create asset B and sell it at the price of asset A until other market participants realize how to do the same thing and drive the price down. I can know with surety that the price of A will come down as other market participants create similar assets for a lower price. This is referred to the rational pricing theory.
In other cases an approximate price can be found by looking at comparable assets, I will call this the Comps method. For example, if I wanted to know if it was a good time to purchase stock in Caterpillar, I would likely want to look at its financial characteristics in comparison to Komatsu, John Deere & Company, etc. In simplistic terms, if I found that Caterpillar was financially sound, had a price to earnings ratio lower than or similar to its competition, and the construction equipment industry had good prospects, I might be inclined purchase Caterpillar stock.
Relating the business/stock markets analogy to Jiu-Jitsu.
Suppose we are new to jiu-jitsu and we are going to evaluate three schools in our area which we will call A, B, and C. How do we choose? We most likely use the Comps method from above. We look at their characteristics. How nice are their facilities? Is the instructor well-known? What is the gym culture? How well do their competitors perform? And probably one of the most important characteristics for a new person is the price. At this moment suppose gyms A, B, and C are all quite similar. They have nice facilities, great instructors, high performing athletes, and cultures of camaraderie. However, gym C has a lower price. Based on your comparable analysis, you choose gym C.
Time for self-reflection.
Time progresses, you train regularly, work hard, lose weight, increase your cardio, become stronger, get submitted countless times, learn to defend yourself, and on occasion you are able to submit and control some of the higher ranked students. Based on this hard work you receive word that you are being promoted to blue belt. Then you find out that your promotion will cost you $250.
You may wonder the following.
- Is the professor promoting many of these people to make a year-end bonus? You may wonder why some of the others being prompted are moving up. You have rolled with them and know that there skill level(s) and/or work ethic are not admirable. Am I really ready or am I just augmenting his bonus?
- Wow, it’s back to school time and I have to buy clothing and supplies for my children, can I afford $250 right now?
- Why didn’t the professor tell me about this up front? I made my decision to join gym C in large part because of the price. Now I know that the monthly price is really much higher than I had thought.
- Are gyms A and B charging outrageous promotion fees?
- I really don’t want to pay for my belt promotion. I feel like I truly earned it on merit. I feel like it taints the art. If I go to gym A or B will I have to spend another year or two before receiving a promotion? What do other gyms think of my belt? Do they view it as a cracker-jack toy that I had to pay for?
- How can my professor put a high monetary price on something I that I’ve already earned based on merit and hard work? Is it because he/she knows that I want it so badly that I will probably pay for it in spite of the price?
After reading these questions do you think the practice of charging high promotion fees is ethical or does the gentle art justice? Probably not. And based on the rational pricing theory described above you can expect that if gyms A and B are not charging outrageous promotion fees, they are going to get more students as the word gets out. And if gyms A, B, and C are all charging promotion fees, some disaffected brown or black belt may create gym D which doesn’t charge outrageous promotion fees. Gym D would be, in a sense, offering a similar benefit/payout/product for a lower price.
Ok, so when is it ok to charge for belt promotions?
At this point some of you may be saying, “Well I paid for my belt promotion and nothing in life is free. To this I say, “I agree that nothing is free and furthermore not all prices are monetary”.
So what does it cost a gym to hold a promotion ceremony? Is the gym paying to fly in a special guest black belt? What does the actual belt cost? Is there a big BBQ or diner accompanying the event? Is there an added belt evaluation test which requires extra time from the professor? In my opinion there may be merit to these types of charges. But maybe these should be baked into the monthly dues. Additionally gyms must recognize that there are market forces out there and in a growing sport, gym D is always ready to emerge.
No revenue stream should be tied to promotions! Charging BJJ belt promotion fees taints the art by creating doubt, preying on student’s emotions and desires for progress, and by creating an incentive to promote students for monetary reasons.
Your ability to pay should not be used to hold a rank you have earned hostage. The school should have been upfront about this. If you like Tracy’s Chinese Kenpo or not you have to say that the business model of low monthly fees, no contracts and no belt testing fees is nice. (Those schools however are full-time)
Wtfffffffff leave that school no respectable school would charge you for belt promotions, I didn’t pay for a blue belt promotion and all the kids I started with who recently got their purple belts didn’t pay either….that’s straight b.s.
I dont know where you are,but no legitimste school charges for promotions.they are earned as real brazillian jiujitsu professors take jiujitsu very seriously.
I would find a different school. I’m fortunate in that my school cares nothing for that. We have something special at Guetho Texas!
Charging for belt promotion? That is straight BS.. Your belts are earned and handed to you by your professor at no charge…. I would find another school…
Every Gracie school I have trained at tends to pull shit like this out of their ass. I’m sure there are some respectable Gracies, but Relson’s schools and Gracie Barra schools are nothing but businesses out to get as much money from you as possible.
You clearly have not been promoted at a Gracie Barra as there is no charge for any promotions. i would suggest you get your facts right before bad mouthing gym’s.
I’ve never heard of Gracie Barra charging for promotion. Where do you train?
I train at a Gracie school. Now while my instructor doesn’t require us to pay for belts (thank god), he’s a complete fucking hypocrite about it. He’s stingy but at the same time plays favorites and hands out belts willy-nilly to slobs that don’t deserve it and just show up out of the blue for one class.
Relson’s schools do not charge for testing / rank. You’re talking out of your ass.
the only thing that I paid for a belt with, was time, sweat, and blood. Run fast, run far.
As a lifelong martial artist I can tell you BJJ rank is unlike any other art I’ve achieved rank in. It is very common to have testing fees in other arts. But, I’ve never seen testing fees or promotion fees in BJJ. In some schools instructors require students to buy their own belts. Most of the time though, the school buys the belt and promotes the student with it. As I plan to open a school next year, that is my intent. BJJ rank should be a surprise to the student and should only come when the skill develops to the appropriate level. It also shouldn’t cost the student anything.
I can understand a reasonable fee for Blackbelt, but for Blue or any other? No way, IMO…
why pay for a bely i assume you’ve never train bjj. to buy or coerce a belt cant be one in a real bjj school. Maybe all the other McDojos
None of the 3 schools I trained at in San Diego (all run by Brazilians) charged a belt fee.
I had to buy my own belt, and that felt kind of cheap, but 250 is too much
Nothing in this world is free. The instructor is entitled to earn a living as well as maintain a business etc. so $250 over 18 months is $13.88 US. How many of us toss that much at something without a thought? The authors bullet points only cite a few of the many possibilities that exist. A final observation, did the author ask what additional fees etc vs assume? So the instructor does a seminar and are we to assume it’s free too?
PS: the author should have someone proof their work and or know when to use there, their etc.
A bjj belt is not a McDojo belt its real 100% sparing tested. it is an honour and privilege to accept and to award a £$20 piece of material.
A school need funds to run but a school that considers selling belts is no longer a bjj school its a joke!
Exactly. Some of us actually work in the martial arts field. This does not mean we work for free. We have bills just like you. So, whether the instructor charges a lower affordable monthly tuition and a test fee like 90% of most professional martial arts schools in the world( not garage dojos with teachers who have other jobs and 5 students, but actually have large mat space, dressing rooms, partners for you to train with and other nice things your house doesn’t have) or he charges a higher monthly and no test fee he has to keep the ins, rent, taxes, his payroll and other instructors, program directors and cleaning staffs payroll( because you don’t plan on sanitizing the mats all the time for free do you?) and something for retirement since he probably wont be able to do it like Master Helio till he’s 98. A legit instructor will always make sure his student earns the belt, but he just may have to pay the instructor a test fee which their association many times gets all or a percentage of to officially rank someone and if any is left over for the guy it’s like a bonus or reward for eventually helping you improve by spending hours sweating with you on the mat and helping the student reach his so very important goal of eventual improvement and promotion. Also the instructor many times sacrifices his body especially as he gets older and what’s that worth and what’s the cost for the Professors doctors, chiropractic adjustments, tape and tiger balm? So guys! If you love your BJJ help the teacher make a frickin living. All fees however should be explained up front.
Having belt promotion prices as hidden fees is no acceptable – one should know what the fees are upfront.
That said, charging for belt promotions is an old practice in many martial arts and there is a solid rationale to it:
People who benefit the most are required to contribute more.
As a white belt, new to the art, you know the membership fees, but you don’t really know what you are buying. When you get your blue belt however, you have spent one or two years on the mat, trained extensively with your coach and you should have a much better idea of the value of the service you are getting, and so are in a better position to decided whether or not it is worth paying more.
Also, a belt promotion involves (or at least should involve) additional effort on the part of the professor.
Once he thinks you are getting close to ready for the next belt, he should start paying more personal attention to you. He should be checking that you know your requirements and that you don’t have any glaring hole in the curriculum – do you know your self defense moves? Your butterfly guard is good, you play it all the time, but can you pull off a closed guard pendulum sweep if you want to? etc.
And of course any hole found in your game should be corrected before promotion time, so your professor may have to adjust his lesson plans in the month(s) leading to the promotion to cover the missing bits in your game so that when he says “you are ready for X belt”, you are. There could also be some one on one coaching. Then there might be the belt test itself and organizing the promotion ceremony, possibly in addition to the normal school schedule.
Depending on what the belt promotion really entails for that specific professor, he might have been spending more than just a bit of time working especially on your blue belt.
Looking at your case, you are being promoted after 18 months of mat time, which is not unduly fast. You “train regularly, work hard, lose weight, increase your cardio, become stronger, get submitted countless times, learn to defend yourself, and on occasion you are able to submit and control some of the higher ranked students”.
Sounds like a legit blue belt to me. If you don’t trust your professor’s judgement or don’t feel that you are really learning at that school, it’s a different issue, but in all cases, I think you should talk to your professor and tell him what’s on your mind – respectfully.
My personal preference is for free belt promotions, but I can understand that different schools have different pricing systems and the pricing system doesn’t make them good or bad.
This year, I received my judo black belt from the Kodokan. Got my competition points and passed the kata examination. Several Senseis had a meeting and decided I had done enough to earn my Shodan and they told me so.
Then I was asked to pay about $60 for my first dan certificate, because that’s part of how they finance their organization. A second dan is more and high dan grade can be quite expensive, or so I am told. That’s the Kodokan, the same school that taught Judo to Maeda Mitsuyo and gave him his belts. The same Maeda who then taught Judo to Carlos Gracie and Luis Franca. As you can see, paying for belt is not a new practice and your instructor is following a tradition older than BJJ itself.
I don’t know your professor, and I think $250 is a bit steep, especially if you didn’t know it was coming, but talk to him, and at worst, you can always refuse and change academy if you no longer trust your professor.
Dude you have no idea. the fact you talk about you first dan cert says McDojo.
We are BJJ, he are rea, we get belts from real 100% sparing not katas .
Go roll with a 6 month bjj white belt and be humbled you kata certs mean nothing but wasted money.
Your not qualified to talk about bjj.
Mr. Hitchens, I address no other points but the issue of katas in Judo. The Katas in Judo are meant to preserve historical principles, and kata practice in Judo is required by almost every Judo organization in the world. However, most Judo players regard the kata a bit like many people regard broccoli. They will eat it when it is put on their plate and told they must eat it, but they otherwise might end up avoiding consuming kata in preference to the other parts of Judo (particularly randori, uchi komi, and nage komi practice). In BJJ there are an infinite number of flow drills, and set up chains (your opponent resists the choke, you armlock, he resists the armlock this way, you sweep). Each one of those flow drills is by definition a kata. A kata is just a predetermined sequence of movements used as an educational device to help teach principles, strategy, or tactics. In Judo, kata is usually meant to imply the formal Kata of the Kodokan (and the kata developed by key figures like Mifune that for some reason were not added to the official Kodokan syllabus). But, any series of movements in a sequence used for teaching is technically a kata. We use them in BJJ, too. We are just usually very informal about it, and knowingly consider that the variations are infinite.
Put another way, in Judo, a kata is a pre-determined drill with two people. Much like a pre-determined drill done by two partners in BJJ.
However, the Kodokan kata are very formalized, and they are the ones most often used for promotion by the Judo organizations.
Icon JJ in Lowell-MA. That’s the school that he’s talking about!
That’s absurd!!!
ICON only charges a set fee. Not by belt. It’s not $250. They charge for a belt, certificate, and a fee that goes to the main school to pay for visiting professors and managing the overall business.
Belt: $6.00
Certificate:$0.50
Frame:$15.00
Fee:$228.50, or $278.50, or $478.50?
Don’t get me wrong, i did pay $100.00 for a blue belt and i know for a fact that the Black Belt that graduated the same day as I did paid $200.
But $250 to $500? $500 for a Brown Belt? Does that include a Leandro Lo DVD at least????
any cost is a disrespect…your coach buys and its his honour to award you a belt you earned.
Paying is sick and shameful for coach an student.
this article is dumb. you dont need a fucking belt to fight. If you need validation through a belt then fucking pay for it… because it dont mean shit on the mat…
Belt fees or not hopefully people get to the point of just training. If someone else gets promoted before you or not, congratulate them. If you could not afford or want to pay for a belt fee, take it upon yourself to let your instructor know and thank him/her for even considering you for a promotion. I did used to get caught up in emotions like that during my first few months of training, but I decided to let that go and just enjoy the journey. It is something to think about for those interested in opening an Academy or who have one already though.
Bloody hell i feel sick and angry that this question is being asked.
Belt promotion is zero £$ apart from your coach buy you a new belt!!
Change schools as even if they are teaching you good bjj they are failing you on bjj and life ethics.
ANY SCHOOL THAT CHARGES FOR A SKILL PROMOTION IS NOT A BJJ SCHOOL ITS A BUSINESS.
MOVE MOVE MOVE.
What are your thoughts about a school that charges for stripes, in addition to belts.
What a joke. Paying for a piece of tape? Maybe you are paying to the labor of wrapping it around the belt. 😉
MY NON-TECHNICAL FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF BELT FEES
You need to consider the overall cost to truly gain perspective on belt promotion fees. Academy A charges $250/month, Academy B charges $150/month and Academy C charges $100/month. If you spend 10 years training to earn a black belt, then the amount of tuition you can expect to pay over ten years is as follows:
Academy A – $28,200 ($235/month) A Reddit user was quoted $235/month for unlimited training based on a 6-month contract. This is probably the high-end of the market in Socal (where I live).
Academy B – $18,000 ($150/mon typical for my area)
Academy C – $12,000 ($100/mon low for my area)
Every market will have its own high, mid and low markers for tuition but this is based on what we see here in SoCal. Also keep in mind that there may be registration fees, uniforms costs, etc that could influence the tuition. What’s included with the tuition? Gi, no gi, Muay Thai, MMA, fitness classes, gym equipment, circuit training, nutritionist, laundry service, showers, fitness trainers, etc. There are many many variables.
The highest belt fees I have heard of are through the Royce Gracie Network and I haven’t received confirmation that this is correct from anyone in that network but I have read them posted in forums. They were as follows:
Blue $200
Purple $400
Brown $800
Black $1600
If you find yourself in this group of practitioners and you are paying moderate to high monthly tuition, then you should ask yourself what are the compensating factors. For some people that aren’t on a tight budget the convenience, brand and training partners are enough compensating factors. Others may need many more compensating factors and some may not ever have enough compensating factors to justify high tuition and belt promotion fees.
The total amount of belt fees on the high end would be $3000. I suspect that the fees are much lower at most academies that charge for belt promotions. According to Bjjsurveys.com, 79% of their 727 respondents (mostly North American males) indicated that they did not pay any belt promotion fees. Of the 21% that did pay fees, 83.2% paid $100 or less (most of these people paid less than $51). 17.7% paid over $100 and it is likely that these included seminar fees and federation registration fees.
According to the survey, most academies that charge belt fees will charge $400 for all the belt fees through black belt. You have to ask yourself, “Does $400 over a 10 year period make a big difference when I am already paying $12,000-$28,200?” For most people that are going to pay $400 or less in belt fee promotions that would only come out to less than $3.33 when spread over the 10 year period. I don’t know about you but that seems negligible in comparison to monthly tuition. I would even say if you are paying $800 in belt fees over a 10 year period, its negligible.
My belt promotion fees were $135 for blue belt, $180 for purple belt and $180 for brown belt and will be $200 for black belt. Monthly fees at the academy are $150 per month for unlimited training. So my belt fees add about $5.79 per month which isn’t a deal breaker for my budget. Paying $235/month plus $25 in belt fees ($3,000 high end) would really suck for me but I would still pay it, if I didn’t have other options.
Of course, most schools that don’t charge have already baked belt promotion fees into the monthly tuition… TNSTAAFL. Maybe they just added an extra $5/month which over a 10 year period comes to $600. But wait… what happens if you quit before you get your blue belt. You already paid for at least part of that promotion fee because it was baked into your tuition. Sit on that one for a minute. maybe it’s better to pay the belt promotion fee? Haha! I don’t mean to ruffle your feathers – we are all in the same boat! Some academies separate the fees and some don’t. All of them have to make $X amount in order to survive so they may sell t-shirts or gis or private lessons or promote inhouse tournament or seminars with various profit margins to compensate for a lower tuition or no belt fees to help get them to that number. In one way or another they will need to collect enough to survive and make it worthwhile to continue. I applaud this… it’s capitalism. Let them make money so that they can continue to teach us. If you don’t like their way of charging you for their services, don’t sign up. We shouldn’t expect them to live in poverty so that we can learn from them. We don’t expect that from anyone else that helps us.
ON ANOTHER NOTE….
The PRINCIPLE of people paying belt fees seems to trip up some folks because they think they are buying a belt. It tripped me up the first time and then I began to consider why I was paying for belt fees. My blue belt promotion included a 1/2 day testing period (outside of regular class times) where we demonstrated technical knowledge, cage fighting skills against Muay Thai guys, teaching techniques and fitness evaluations. There were two black belts present and they closely examined everyone. All together my test took about 1.5 hours. I was shocked about the fee at first but I realized that the black belts and the Muay Thai guys deserved compensation for their time. These guys aren’t rich and this is how they are trying to make a living. I was only paying $85/month at that academy so in retrospect it was fine to pay the fee. Nobody was buying their belt – we were beat up afterwards! We spent 2+ years training hard for it. My purple belt came from a different academy than where I earned my blue belt but the testing process was similar (more difficult) and under the close eye of a handful of black belts and a coral belt. It was difficult to achieve the standards and the tests took 3 hours. a considerable time investment from each black belt and the Coral belt. My brown belt was earned from another academy (all of the instructors that promoted me are related – not gym hopping) and because I was already teaching for years, competing and had recently begun running an academy, they waived the testing process. I was somewhat relieved but then I felt unsatisfied and decided asked to take the test. I will tell you, it feels much better to receive a belt after testing. I would have been nice to not have any belt fees along the way but It’s not like those that promoted me are loaded with cash. The belt fees often times get shared by the instructors (none for me) because the life of a BJJ instructor/professor/master is not usually a financially rewarding path.
RANT
The self indignation that sometimes comes through some posts concerns me. On one hand, some of us practitioners have been fleeced but scoundrels masked as good instructors. I can understand their contempt based on what they have gone through. What irritates me is that some feel like it is owed to them to get the belt because they can kick everyone’s ass in their school and maybe even tournament performance is good. These people do not deserve the promotion – could you imagine the size of their ego if they were black belts??? I sometimes see that these people are also the people that complain about promotion fees and that just rubs me the wrong way. If I was in a position to consider their promotion, I probably would tell them their attitude keeps them from getting promoted. It seems so obvious to everyone but them. I get that some people struggle to just pay the monthly tuition and that does suck when you are slapped with a belt fee. It’s especially important for these people to keep perspective of the fees. Some instructors will allow students to pay the fee as a part of their monthly fee until it is paid off.
My 2 cents…. 99 cents actually.
Im glad the person writing this article felt the urge to explain how their college education allowed them to underatand in a far round avout way they were being screwed lol. I mean it doesnt take a degree to realize paying for a belt promotion (other than the cost of the belt) is fubar.
$250 for a blue belt is head scratching. But I see NO REASON why people are so upset about paying a NOMINAL and MODEST fee for a belt promotion to cover the cost of the belt, overhead for running the facility, cost of certificates, and perhaps a few other awards/gifts for special accomplishments. If you have to pay $50-$75 once every 18 – 36 months for a belt promotion, then you are really not being taken advantage of. And NOBODY is getting rich charging $50-$75 to cover the cost of your promotion. Trust me.
How many of you above own a dojo? Rent a space to teach??? I can tell you between me and my husband we spend nearly 6 tho a month in having one. Our passion is to teach however there is absolutely nothing wrong with a year end bonus if that is how you want to see it. With that said, we do charge $250 for blue belt in our school too, and higher for higher belts. It’s our sweat and countless hours a week that goes into teaching the students, kids and mingling with the parents daily. It’s also hours daily of work that you don’t even think of, marketing, cleaning etc do you think that is free? So when you do the math and think ok… he is charging me monthly x’s ex amount of students he is banking big, think about it? What about the City, the insurance etc etc the so called “hidden” fee’s that you don’t see an instructor having! We don’t hide fee’s, we don’t announce them either, we simply say graduation is once a year and not included… take it or leave it. The gym down the street charges almost twice monthly for memberships for BJJ, maybe he does not charge a test fee however he gets an arm and a leg more for his memberhsip fee’s. Why is it a horrible thing to make extra at the end of the year. Isn’t it nice to have a Christmas bonus at your job>??? so have some RESPECT, you don’t like it don’t graduate.
I have to agree with above here, nothing wrong with making some money at the end of the year, as long as it comes with something, certifications, belts, maybe a seminar… who are you guys to judge? Students? Have you guys owned a school before? Do you know or have an idea of what it takes to maintain one? I’d say if you are not happy, go get happy somewhere else…