How to Calculate Tutoring Fees
It’s not just about covering your online tutoring cost when deciding how much to charge for tutoring. Whether you’re just starting out as a tutor or looking to adjust your tutoring fees, deciding on the right price for your services is critical.
In other words, your rate will not only affect your income but also how students and parents perceive your expertise and value.
Keep your Offerings Simple
The biggest mistake I see is a complicated pricing structure and too many offerings. You may think you are being helpful and providing good service by developing a ‘something for everyone’ pricing structure, but that’s not the case.
Overly complicated pricing could lead to errors and confusion for you, your tutors and your customers. So starting out you will need a pay-as-you-go hourly rate and a pre-purchase rate. You pre-purchase rate should be a package of hours, 8 for example, where the hourly rate for the 8 works out to be less than the pay-as-you-go rate.
Don’t be tempted to start out with a 4 hour package and an 8 hour package and a 20 hour package. Keep it simple!
Research Local and Online Tutoring Fees
Your tutoring cost will differ depending on whether the sessions are face to face or online.
Local – That is to say the price you will set for in person tutoring will depend on the local market. So check out the going rates in your area as well as if there are any local laws requiring you to refund travel expenses. If you have a tutoring center then overheads will also need to factor into your calculation.
Online – Your online tutoring cost will differ from face to face as your students and tutors can be anywhere with differing financial landscapes. Additionally, no travel and no overheads will help you to be competitive.
Tutoring Cost for Tutors & Subjects
We are human! Therefore some of your tutors will be more qualified and more experienced than others. Additionally, some will offer harder or niche subjects.
When your company is small try to have one hourly pay rate for your tutors and one hourly charge for tutoring for customers – keep it simple.
However, as you grow and employ more staff you will find you will have to offer different pay rates. But try to avoid having a different pay rate for each tutor.
Group your tutors into 3 levels based on experience and qualifications. Then name them accordingly. You could go with level 1, 2 and 3 or Gold, Silver & Bronze. All tutors in a group will be paid the same hourly rate. So now you can offer 3 different tutoring fees for hourly and package:
- Gold Hourly Rate for Pay-as-you-go
- Silver Hourly Rate for Pay-as-you-go
- Bronze Hourly Rate for Pay-as-you-go
- Gold 8 Hour Package
- Silver 8 Hour Package
- Bronze 8 Hour Package
Other Factors
Tutoring Fees are not just about the time spent in sessions. You and your tutors may also need to prepare lesson plans, review materials, and even create assignments.
If you’re preparing personalized resources or materials for each student, you might consider charging a higher rate or, alternatively, adding a preparation fee. Using a tutoring management system that stores work, tests students and produces Learning Plans is also helpful.
What you charge for tutoring will be: Rate – (Tutor Pay + Costs) = Profit
Ensure the profit will be enough to pay yourself!
Manage your data and tasks, increasing efficiency with:
and so much more!
Tutoring Management Software Rollout
Create Tutoring Schedules – Tutor & Student Schedules
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