How much to charge for tutoring?

<p>Hi Everyone,</p>

<p>So I landed a small "summer job" by tutoring a 5th grader and his older sister, who is a 7th grader, in math. I myself just graduated from high school and is going off to college after the summer. Just for a brief idea, I consider my self to be very good at math, but definitely not an extremely talented math genius. I have done very well in math throughout K-12 school and have done decent in some math competitions. </p>

<p>The tutoring sessions are going to be roughly an hour long and involves me supervising them doing some practice problems from a workbook and explaining anything they don't understand. I will be tutoring both of them at the same time.</p>

<p>So my main question is how much should I be charging them?
I googled around and came up with a range of from $10-$50 (quite surprising to me).</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

<p>Also, my mom is good friends with their mom. This is the reason I landed this in the first place :P</p>

<p>I tutored a single 8th grader at $20/hr so I’d assume that two kids should be around $25/$30/hr.</p>

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</p>

<p>Wow. Where I live they’d probably give you two quarters and a warm can of Sprite. </p>

<p>I think $15/hr sounds good, though. Note that I’m a cheapskate.
Best strategy: see what they want to pay and keep suggesting slightly higher prices until they’re not willing to pay anymore. :D</p>

<p>Alternate strategy: Start high, like 60, then drop it to around 25. That way they think they got more than 50% off.</p>

<p>Haha, well the problem is that I can’t just rip them off. After all, their mom is a very good friend of my mom. I think I’ll decide on a price between $20-$30. Their mom told me that she just hopes that the price is fair for both me and her and is representative of typical private tutoring costs. Basically, she doesn’t want to rip me off, so therefore, I don’t want to rip her off.</p>

<p>Google the highest tutoring costs you can find, and offer 10% off.</p>

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Huh? Is your goal in life to make as much money as possible, even at the expense of others?</p>

<p>Making money is always at the expense of others.</p>

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</p>

<p>It’s called capitalism.</p>

<p>Give the “friend” discount. Although private tutoring is usually more expensive than say, Kumon - I wouldn’t find it reasonable to pay a high school kid what a certified teacher would get.</p>

<p>I have been casually student-to-student tutoring for around 4 years now. When I moved from California to Louisiana, I noticed a huge difference in the price of tutors. A chemistry tutor in San Diego could make upwards of 60 dollars an hour. Here, it would be closer to 15. I charge 15 for geometry, Algebra is free (I like algebra), and around 20 for most sciences.
My most relevant job to yours was most recently standardized test prep for a 4th grade student. I charged 25 dollars for an hour session that was usually closer to an hour and a half. The parents were happy with the price but, once again, ask tutors in your area and look at the cost of living where you live. There are vast differences in prices around the country, which is why finding one number is very difficult.</p>

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I don’t think so. In a trade two parties willingly exchange something they value less for something they value more. In the case of tutoring, the tutor exchanges a certain amount of his/her time and effort (which the tutor values less) for something the tutor values more (monetary compensation). The tutee in return exchanges a certain amount of money (which the tutee values less) for the knowledge gained through tutoring (which the tutee values more). Ideally, the result is a net gain in value for both parties. Obviously this process can be subverted but I posit that this process does occur sometimes and thus making money does not necessarily result in the expense of others.</p>

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Capitalism is a goal or a purpose in life (and not, as I understand it, an economic system)?</p>

<p>My sister tutors one kid in all subjects, multiple times a week during the school year and gets paid 20$ for each time (usually is just an hour) because it’s 2 kids I would say anywhere from 20-40. Tutors who make 50 and 60+ are usually qualified teachers and your just a teen so definitely keep it slightly lower.</p>

<p>Ok sounds good. I live in Texas, so I assume the overall costs are a bit cheaper here. I know that Kumon charges about $40 an hour for tutoring a high school student in all subjects. So I think I am going to charge about $20 per hour + $5 for gas, since I have to drive to their home (about a 30-40 mile round trip)</p>

<p>Nah capitalism is an economic system, not a goal in life. You need to squeeze every penny possible out of this job. You’ll sleep better at night knowing you provided for yourself. Don’t be such a spineless pushover.</p>

<p>It does depend some on the location since different areas have different cost of living.</p>

<p>We are in CA. A few years ago when my son was a high school senior, he tutored several students 7-9th grade in math/science. He got $20-25 per hour.</p>