By Mumtaz Moosa Saley
10:03:2021
The Instagram page called the Tiny Little Humans asked an interesting question that has been met with some mixed reactions. The lady behind the page asked why parents should pay admin fees for already expensive after school classes or lessons.
While reading this post it made perfect sense, living in Johannesburg North meant that everything, including soccer lessons, has almost doubled in price when compared to smaller towns such as Lenasia.
So why do parents have to pay the admin fee? Is it for the drawstring bag and water bottle that no one ever uses or is it a fee of commitment?
Some responses were harsh saying things like “small businesses need to survive.” I do understand this, honestly, I do especially as I run my own small business, but we have to also take a moment to understand that the middle-income parents are being squeezed so much between school, madrassa and extra-murals that we all have to work on a budget to the T.
Some of the places that offer kids lessons had responded to say that the admin fee covers equipment costs, which can be justified, while others simply say it’s an admin fee.
While doing a deep dive I found that some soccer clubs charge a R350 admin fee that is used to help keep the website updated and toward some running costs. This makes me wonder if we are getting value for our buck?
What do you feel about admin fees?
Actually gets worse than that – one Aunty running a pre-school in Benoni used to charge extra for extra-mural activities during normal hours.
If you don’t accept, then the child has to sit on the side while the rest of the kids participate, so in effect blackmailing you to hand over the extra cash.
Unfortunately this is a prominent Muslim aunty, and based on her status you would think that she would run her business ethically, but unfortunately many Muslims, when money is concerned, don’t care. Their adverts are misleading, see nothing wrong to charge for services but then not folllowing through completely.