Training Fees
We offer a drop-in rate (recommended for those training once a week) or monthly rates. Our monthly rates have deep family discounts!
Drop-in rate
- $17/class
Monthly subscription
- Individual: $98/month
- 2 family members: $136
- 3 familiy members: $174
Family discount applies to students in the same household
No long-term contracts, no high-pressure sales.
Sliding scale available. I do not want to turn away dedicated students for financial reasons; if you sincerely want to train with us but cannot afford to do so, we will make arrangements.
Other Costs
Training fees do not include additional expenses, such as:
- Purchase of a uniform ("gi"). I suggest that new students - especially kids - wait a few weeks and see if interest continues before purchasing a gi; you can train in a t-shirt and sweatpants at first.
- For summer training, please purchase one of our Catonsville Seido Karate t-shirt designs.
- World Seido Karate Organization membership. $20/year, 3 years for $40. Must be a member before taking promotion; again, I suggest new students wait a bit.
- Seido Karate patches for the gi. Buy a set when you join the organization. $25 for a pair. Patches last a long time, they will likely outlast your gi and can be transferred to a new one.
- Promotion fees. Promotion exams are held at the Howard County YMCA Seido Karate Program. For students below green belt, the fee is $35. Your first few promotion exams might be at three to six month intervals; they get further apart as you go on. (Black belt promotions are held at our headquarters in New York and are more expensive - but it's a little early to worry about that...)
- Sparring safety gear. You don't have to worry about buying this until you reach green belt, typically a year to eighteen months of training.
- Books. Not a mandatory purchase, but I recommend Kaicho Nakamura's
"textbook" Karate Kyohan, and his autobiography The Human Face
of Karate to all students. Both are available
at the Seido
on-line store. (We have a dojo copy of Human Face of Karate
for lending.) Kaicho's older book Karate: Technique and Spirit is also
recommended.
Outside of Seido, other suggested reading includes Gichin Funakoshi's autobiography Karate-do: My Way of Life, and Eugen Herrigel's famous Zen in the Art of Archery. If you keep training you might find yourself collecting martial arts books - it can become an expensive habit!