How much can I charge for tutoring?

[Premed2003]

I'm going to be tutoring a student, and I'm not sure how much I can charge per hour? I live in a fairly affluent suburb (not extremely affluent, but a good school district). What do you think is a reasonable price I could charge?

Thanks

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[m2006]

It depends on how affluent...in parts of Boston, you can easily get $45 and up. For me, it depends on how old the student is, what the subject matter is, and how much outside work I have to put in to prepare for tutoring sessions. In a semi-affluent area, $25-$30 might be about right (especially if you don't have a graduate degree or years of tutoring experience). That's just a guess though since I don't know which metropolitan area you are in...

 

[Premed2003]

Thanks. I charged $20/hr when I tutored during the summer between high school and my first year in college. Now I'm entering senior year of college. I have ~900 hrs of tutoring experience (I did lots of volunteer tutoring in high school). I'd say the average income is roughly 100K in my town, but that estimate may be way off, but I'd say roughly...

Do you think $40/hr would be okay?

I have a student I'm going to tutor because her teacher (my former teacher) asked me to tutor this student b/c she already tried professional tutoring services but those didn't work so now they want to try to see if I can help...
I'm doing it more as a favor on top of everything else, so I'm hoping to make some dough in the process )
$40/hr do you think?
Thanks!

 

[m2006]

$40 sounds a bit high to me if the avg income really is $100K. However, the student has tried professional tutoring which doesn't come cheaply. Here's an idea-- can you call Kaplan or Princeton Review and ask them how much they'd charge a family for similar tutoring (pose as a parent)? Then, undercut them by a few dollars because they have overhead that you don't...You could always tell the family what your rates are and if that seems too high, you could cut them a deal. Maybe $40 an hour or $75 for a 2 hour session...just some suggestions...

 

[Assassin]

kaplan charges over $100/hr, so even at $50 you'll be doing everyone a favor :wink:

 

[Premed2003]

Wow! $100 is a lot!

I just called the professional service that this student had tried, and they charge $43-48/hr. Do you think $40 would be too high, or about right?

 

[seaturtle112]

my buddy tutors high school kids and charges $20/hour. sounds like good money to me. and they're happy to pay. it seems like half of the business of tutoring high schoolers is getting them to like you and want to hang with you. then your clients keep coming back. you can make a lot of money this way, it seems.

 

[watto]

Yeah, you can charge whatever the market will bear. I get $40-$50. The interesting thing is, all of the kids I tutor are public school students and the parents have told me they rationalize the expense as being part of their education budget, which comes out far below their private school counterparts.

The interesting thing is, it's the low-income families who have been more adamant about getting their kids private tutoring, and have been better about sticking to a schedule. You would be surprised at how many parents with kids failing three subjects feel the need to prioritize soccer or baseball over schoolwork.

Of course, if you find out the family lives in a housing project or something, I would lower the rates a lot out of simple altruism. That has been the case with my clients at least a couple of times.

 

[efex101]

I am also a tutor but charge $20.00 per hour, I live in a small Southern town. Anyways a good idea (I think) is to give them a little discount if they pay up for ten sessions in advance, that seems to help some folks out and it is also good for you.

 

[SuzyQ]

oh my gosh!! i would be rich if i charged 20-40 bucks an hour!! my prof who recommended me to people told me i should charge bt $8-$10/hr since 8 bucks is what our universities tutors charge.

 

[efex101]

What? That is like chump change. I charge $20.00 and yet think that it should be higher, shoot I charge $40.00 per hour just to personal train and believe me that is nothing as well. You need to up the ante!

 

[praying mantis]

I charge $30/hour to tutor high school chemistry. I have a great deal of experience and have been a high school chemistry teacher for the past few years. In southern CT, this is a very low price. Most tutors I know (especially for math and science) ask for $50 and up. A 5th grade teacher I know tutors in the summer for $60/hour and is booked. So it really depends....