Hello everybody,

I have an ex-student who has stopped taking lesson with me a couple month ago because she was very busy in school. Till now, she still doesn't want return back my book. I have asked her by phone call many times but she always say, "Sorry, still don't have time to return it".

As a teacher, I realize that should not lend the books to students. They should buy by theirself. But that time, the book was out of stock in store and I was forced to lend her the book.

How to get my book back soon? I really need it but seems it's so difficult to get it back. Thanks a lot.

-- noname (noname_poster@yahoo.com), October 15, 2003

Answers

Have you gotten your book back yet? I have a student's mother who kept about $20 worth of books and did not pay her tuition, either. I could have pursued it in court but I let it go and chalked it up to a lesson learned.

You can drive to the student's house to get the book. You can send someone else to get the book. You can send a self-addressed, stamped package or envelope for the student to return the book in. You can forget about it and promise yourself to never lend books that you want back, no matter what the circumstances.

It's not rude to refuse to lend your stuff out. It's your stuff, you paid for it, and you are not a lending library, unless that is your studio policy. If you have a policy of lending out materials, then charge a deposit at the beginning of the term to cover unreturned materials and refund the deposit at the end or apply it to the next term.

It's like loaning money. The advice I heard is to never loan money to friends or family unless you are prepared to count it as a gift.

-- elaine (noname_poster@yahoo.com), April 07, 2004.

Elaine thanks, I have gotten my book back finally. Yes, you're right, I won't lend my books anymore to students.

-- noname (noname_poster@yahoo.com), November 09, 2004.

I lend books out all the time. My solution? I upped my tuition to cover the cost of replacing books. My students, in fact, don't pay for any books. I buy them all and take it as a tax deduction. If they want something to keep, they usually go out and buy it themselves. But this way, I have a full library and if I give something to a student and it turns out it doesn't work well for them, I don't feel bad about switching them into something else.

Since I started doing this, I haven't had any trouble getting books back. It's just what they all expect now and it works pretty well for me, even with people who drop lessons.

-- Arlene Steffen (asteffen@fresno.edu), November 11, 2004.