Creative Arts Theater & School will raise tuition for classes in January. It's never easy to tell our customers and friends this news. It's the kind of news we want to bury on the back page and hope it blows over. Most of us are parents and we don't like hearing this kind of news either.

CATS hasn't raised prices since 2004; however, our operating costs increased 25 - 40%. There are many costs that make a class happen, such as having a theater building with classrooms, with a $40,000 mortgage, heating and cooling for $40,000 per year, administration costs, insurance, taxes, etc. CATS is a non-profit company, but we're a business like any other. We must operate CATS by balancing our expenses against our income. Granting agencies now expect a non-profit business to run on its own internal funding and use grants only for specific projects. We don't get general funding from grants.

We will raise the base class price to $60 ($10 increase) and change the way we set multi-class discounts. This means most students will only pay $10 more per-month on a class. Some families who take multiple classes may pay a bit more in-total, but their per-class cost will still be a significant discount. Homschool classes will also increase $10 per month, but will still be $10 less than the new base price.

CATS is dedicated to teaching performing arts to young people. In that vein, it has always been our goal to make programs accessible to students by keeping prices low; however, our expenses exceed our income and we do not get grants and donations which were once plentiful. Unless this price increase is implemented, along with the expense cuts we're making, CATS will have to cut back on essential costs that will make it difficult to continue offering classes to the kids of DFW.

The Board and staff of CATS are working to reach for our vision of sharing our passion for theater. We are cutting costs, renegotiating expenses, reducing costs of administration. But we must also raise our prices a little to balance our budget. We recently lowered prices in the theater so families could easily attend our kid's shows. We must support families with family-friendly shows at prices that families will find as affordable entertainment. We're now in-line with low-cost entertainment in DFW. And our average attendance has risen as a result. Now we've compared our tuition with theater education choices across the area. The changes we are making will continue to keep us the low-cost choice for theater education.

New tuition changes will take effect January 1 for all classes. Spring Classes are already enrolling at the higher price. HOWEVER, for parents who want to lock in current class prices for the rest of the fall class year, you can pay for January through May in a lump sum payment by January 15. Call or visit the office by January 4th to make this payment choice. We can take your payment over the phone or in-person. If we currently charge your card monthly for payment and you wish to select the pre-payment option, please let the office know by January 3. We will draft your account on the date you select and then cut off further charges. If we do not hear from you, we'll assume you prefer the month-to-month plan and will draft at the higher rate Jan 2-3.

If you choose to continue monthly billing, we'll refigure your totals by December 31. Automatic payments will be drafted January 2-3 unless you call us to change your plan.

The Staff and Board of CATS are sensitive to the needs of our parents and we are sorry for the inconvenience this may make for your family. Our price for classes will still be the lowest in DFW and we will continue to look for ways to make CATS the best experience you can find for the price. Thank you for choosing to support CATS and our vision. We love our kids!

-- Charlie Bowles CEO, Cindy Paslay CFO, The Board of Directors & the Staff of Creative Arts Theater & School