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I require 48 hours notice otherwise the full lesson charge is incurred. However I set this as a deterrent so people don't cancel last minute etc and mess me about. I do relax these terms if it's genuine and if somebody that comes regularly is I feel genuinely Ill then occasionally I don't charge.

My husband the teacher has a policy in place that requires 24 hour notice for cancellation.

Does he stick to that?

No.

But most of his students/parents are pretty good about giving notice when they can. He always SAYS no make-up (MUP), but then drives himself crazy finding a place in his scedule for the MUP. Go figure. I think he likes being crazy.

When I've proposed that these missed lessons should be forfeit, he absolutely cringes. But like I said, I thinkhe likes being crazy.

My son, who teaches guitar, is quite the stickler. If you miss two lessons in a semester, OR if you come unprepared? You're out til next semester. Dont' come back til then. I find this harsh, but his studio is thriving, and it weeds out the riffraff.

Currently my policy is that if the conflict comes from the student, it's their job to swap lessons with another family or otherwise find a makeup time that I have available. If the conflict comes from me (I am an active accompanist/performer along with teaching) then I take responsibility for finding a makeup that will work for the student. Lessons missed due to illness, theirs or mine, are not made up. Weather cancellations are made up if possible.

I don't penalize students for missing a lesson here and there because I feel that the push to attend lessons needs to come from them, not from me. I am providing a valuable service and if they don't want to use it I'm not going to waste my time forcing them to. Someone else will want to. Cancellations become openings that other students can use to have a make-up lesson or that I can use to practice or wash the dishes or whatever. I have a busy week with many back-to-back students during the school year, so a missed lesson is sometimes even a welcome little break. And then what about those Monday students with all those Monday holidays. This way I don't have to go through defining what is and is not a holiday. On holidays when they are in town and they want lessons and I don't have to be elsewhere, they have lessons. Otherwise not.

I do say in my studio policy that students who make a habit of missing lessons may be asked to stop lessons so that another student can use the time. In reality this has never happened. I have had a few conversations with students and parents about frequent missed lessons, which resulted usually in student families figuring out how to get the student to lessons reliably; occasionally the student decided to stop lessons in favor of other conflicting activities (overscheduled students who were kind of looking for a way out anyway.)

It's true that most teachers do charge for missed lessons. One day I might change to that policy. But at present I feel that the fact that I sometimes move or cancel lessons due to gigs/performances balances everything out.

It is certainly a common practice. That being said, there are a number of fine teachers around who do not do this, particularly for adults. If it is a problem for you, you can definitely find an alternative teacher.