What a great thread!
As for myself, 1st Dan, from memory, was around $650 Canadian. It included quality heavyweight uniform, TSD MDK trimmed, custom embroidered belt, two dan certificates (one personally from my instructor, the other from the American Tang Soo Do Association), registration with our org (at the time it was ATA) and it was for a 2.5 day test. Instructor training course on Friday evening was mandatory, and 2 day black belt test over the weekend. It covered all food during the test, but paying for the banquet on Sunday night and the GM's meal was extra. I think that was about $40, but I didn't care at all. I was massive starving!
All in all, I thought the fee was very reasonable.
One aspect that hasn't been mentioned, I think, was this:
Our instructor made it very clear that the cost of the test was based on the idea that if the cost of entry was too cheap, there was little incentive for the applicant to take the test seriously. By putting a monetary price on the test, in essense, constitutes a barrier to overcome mentally and physically. He used to semi-jokingly tell us that if we just so happened to want to back out of the test, that the fee was non-refundable. And that he would be enjoying his steak dinner on that particular dropout. He rarely ever did get that steak dinner for free though. We were all too determined not to let him have it
Some take this as a sign of a McDojo. Let me tell you, never did I ever consider my school a McDojo. There was too much other professionalism displayed all around for it to ever be cheapened to that level. You got out at least 2x as much as you put in financially and it was worth every penny.
My experience regarding mini tests is very similar to Michael89's. We would receive 4 blue stripes on our red (senior gup) belt before black belt testing. There were 2 pre-tests before 1st dan, and every year dan's were expected to "re-certify" or go to those pre tests with the senior gup's. Cost has always been about $40 and it is run on a non-class day, like a Saturday morning. It was always reasonable along the lines that tests and seminars should have a small fee to cover the costs of running the dojang.
DC is an expensive area. Expensive to live, expensive to run a business. The schools there have to pay the bills, and I suspect the instructors are fond of things like eating, sleeping indoors, and maybe even driving a car.
In the oil rich and spoiled city of Calgary where I'm from, leasing a commercial space for a reasonable Dojang runs around $4-10k/month, including fees and utilities, taxes and the like. With over 150 martial arts schools in this city of 1.3 million, running a competitive school is really really really hard, compared to the Michigan where my teacher was from before, and lease was $500 USD/month all in.
Dirty Dog hits this issue dead on the money: you teacher deserves a decent life and if you appreciate the training and mentorship, pitch in to support them. My teacher sacrificed so much to be there for us, on the other end of a phone, in person, after hours, at seminars and tournaments all around the world, and for training in martial arts for over 40 years. And, god bless him he's really not that wealthy. He still can't even afford his own house, doesn't drive new cars, and works full time during the day to support his family.