How much should Diver Training cost?

[ajduplessis]

When I eat at a restaurant I don't mind paying a premium of good quality food and great service. I refuse to pay for poor food/service. The same applies to training. I don't mind paying a premium for exceptional knowledge transfer and a instructor that demands excellence form the students.

 

[corvettejoe]

I think OW should be as affordable as possible and that shops should concentrate on getting their students to continue their diving education and offer as many dive opportunities as they can. Dive clubs making local dives and offering affordable travel will keep divers interested. My OW class was six weeks long and included all gear for the entire time for $160. Of course, that was a thousand years ago, but I think shops will make more money if they keep divers interested in diving and take their money in small chunks.

I agree...

This is the best way to get people in... give them beginner stuff cheap... keep them interested, keep selling them more advanced courses based on them wanting to learn more.
Offer discounts on shop items if you train there, discounts on gas fills for repeat customers, etc.

Now, that's something a shop can do... but if the OP was discussing a non-shop-affiliated training class on your own... he has to remember, that same student can and will shop around, and sometimes cheaper is always better to them (regardless of quality) why pay $500 when they can pay $189 at the local LDS for the SAME class? You would just have to balance out how much they're willing to pay and more importantly, how much time YOU are willing to spend with them for the money you are hoping to make from their classes.

 

[boulderjohn]

Now, that's something a shop can do... but if the OP was discussing a non-shop-affiliated training class on your own... he has to remember, that same student can and will shop around, and sometimes cheaper is always better to them (regardless of quality) why pay $500 when they can pay $189 at the local LDS for the SAME class? You would just have to balance out how much they're willing to pay and more importantly, how much time YOU are willing to spend with them for the money you are hoping to make from their classes.

That was my thinking when I was initially certified. I as so ignorant of the true nature of scuba that I figured it didn't matter how or where I was trained. I had simply no idea about anything except the fact that they train you to breathe from a scuba tank underwater.

 

[AfterDark]

By 1975, at least, YMCA and PADI both required 4 checkout dives, the same as today. I don't know about 1968, though. AfterDark must have been certified during kindergarten recesses.

If only I were that young! We had 4 OW dives: Two shore dives, one was a night dive and two boat dives. This was the instructors mod to the course. He was a good instructor and he owned his own boat. It a NASDA course.

Boulderjohn you are correct about the instructor certification. I didn't consider it a cert that most people would have sort after but it is another cert beyond what was called the basic scuba cert. I was referring to learning more thru sport diving courses. Example: We learned about decompression theory and practice as it was practiced then with the navy air tables. We did not however do any actual deco dives. There were no courses that would do that back then. You learned by doing it with people that do it. I was lucky to have hooked up with some interesting characters of vast knowledge and experience thru the local dive club. They took me under their collective wing(s) I was their gofer for a few years but I learned a lot.

 

[corvettejoe]

That was my thinking when I was initially certified. I as so ignorant of the true nature of scuba that I figured it didn't matter how or where I was trained. I had simply no idea about anything except the fact that they train you to breathe from a scuba tank underwater.

I think this would be the main issue with pricing this stuff out. People don't understand the differences between the quality of learning in a cattle class vs smaller classes, or simply a higher priced instructor that has higher quality training. It takes previous students of theirs to get out and preach recommendations for them.

I have a few friends that teach and are slightly more than some of the shops. But knowing what I know, and me caring for the safety of that person I'm recommending and hoping they can get more out of a class than the cattle class offers... I highly recommend them paying a little more to get better training from a smaller more expensive class.

I think things like incentives could easily be worked out, such as any previous student that brings in a new student to said instructor could get a discounted next course or something like that. It keeps them coming back over and over, while bringing in more people for that particular instructor.

 

[SailNaked]

we should do like the drug dealers and Microsoft do. give it away free. but then you have to pay a yearly fee to continue to dive, with a portion to your instructor, so the more years you dive the more the instructor makes. if he is good you will dive forever if not not so much. that and he has a life long commitment to you.

 

[mathauck0814]

I'd rather see this come down to effort based rather than outcome based. Fix your time at a price (~$100/day/student, maybe?) and allow people to progress at their own pace. People who spend the time to read their material and come prepared will go through the paces at a different rate than those who just show up. Some will get the in water skills faster than others. Reward proficiency and get compensated for working with challenging cases.

 

[DevonDiver]

Once you have that "learners permit", there are plenty of ways to acquire the knowledge, skills, and abilities of a "well trained" diver.

True.

Is that why we see so many excellently skilled OW divers around the resorts? LMAO

 

[Scubagolf]

Most OW students do it either on a whim or because a friend or relative piqued their curiosity. I see the top dollar for the OW cert as $500, including the required book, DVD, etc.

 

[Progen]

In 1968 I paid $125.00 for a 100 hour course that was very comprehensive. ....

Wow! I can't even boast of 5 solid hours for eLearning, confined water and the 4 open water dives combined BUT I have personal drive and I hope that counts.