Martial Arts for Uni?

I can see why someone might look favourably on someone with a black belt for all the reasons you suggest.

Presumably, having a black belt and being able to protect yourself are synonomous to the parents. That's fair enough cos what are they supposed to know about it? It's their job to push for the best for their children. It's your job to keep the standards up.

well here lies the problem some students can only be bothered to train 1 hour a week and expect to make Dan grade quite quickly no matter what I say about it taking more then 1 hour a week I would of of put a time frame of about 6 months- 1 year training 2-4 session a week but they seem to believe it should change no matter what the grade

But I wouldn't expect them to know. Isn't it down to you to inform them and set reasonable expectations from the start?

What was your 6 months to a year time frame refering to - from white belt to what?

6 months from 1st Kyu to 1st dan depending on the time spent training 3 kata to be learnt Nihanchi,Seishan and Chinto plus Kihons 1-2 and Ohyo 1-2-4 also to be able to proform any old previous syllabus stuff

Phew - for a minute I thought you were talking about white to black belt in a year!

It sound massively frustrating but I guess you just have to stick to your guns and tell them not to expect to grade for at least a year.

I was just starting to think maybe I'm wrong and asking for too much I have read your work and respect your thoughts but thought it odd they way this was leading,The standard set for myself when looking for dan grade was everything from day 1 to the time that I graded including the 3 Dan grade kata I know that from previous some people only did 1 dan grade kata and the rest was the same I just want the students to be able to understand as much as possible to the point that they grade but it seems as though for many its just like finishing a book and after time to move on to another book their is so much more that they miss

I guess the grading system is always a balance of 'stick and carrot'. 

For many the carrot is the new belt and that's fine as long as the stick remains a hard grading where you will fail if you don't know your stuff.

I have heard a lot of people who teach kids saying that it is the parents who give them a hard tome, not the kids themselves and it sounds like you might be in a bit of that boat chops.

Meh... don't do it.

I'd like to say I find it odd yeah, but think about the number of adults you've probably seen quit once they got shodan, people are goofy that way.

As far as the self protection bit..i'm not sure i've yet seen a parent who was primarily concerned with that. It seems like the standard selling points of confidence, discipline,  whatever are usually what they put their kids in for.

Not talking about Dan grading but my Jujitsu Sensei was asked to give a reference for one of his students joing the army at age 18. I don't know what grade that student was a frankly it's not important. A army representative wrote back to Sensei thanking him for the reference and saying that they always look favourably on references from Martial Arts. Assuming the dojo is any good this would make perfect sense.