I’m a sophomore in high school right now (one week left yippee!) and theres this girl in my grade who I’ve known since like fifth grade. Oddly enough from like 6-8 we were good friends. There was like a whole group of us that were best friends but once we got to high school rings changed. I was in all honors classes with new people making new friends, while they were all together in the standard classes getting closer. Needless to say we aren’t really friends anymore. They’re all party people who like getting drunk every weekend while I spend more time reading and studying. We never had a fight or anything we just grew apart and I don’t really talk to any of them anymore. Anyway to get to the point this one girl in the group texted me today and asked if I could tutor her in Chemistry for finals (In their group I have the reputation of being the “super smart” girl, even though compared to my classmates I’m nowhere near how smart they make me out to be). I love helping people so of course I said yes. She responded thanking me and saying how she would of course pay me and everything. I hand’t even thought about getting paid. Should I let her pay me? It would feel weird to have her pay me money. I mentioned it to my mom who said if she were me she’d let her pay me, especially if I feel like I’ve helped. I live in a very wealthy area and the girl I am tutoring belongs to a very well off family. Most people around here pay $80-$120 for a private tutor, but those are like professionals. Anyway if I let her pay me, how much? It is a lot of time, seeing as I too have finals the next two days after we’re doing tutoring. What would you do if you were me? Let an old best friend pay you to tutor her or do it for free? Any other time I’d say free,but my time is so valuable these few days… but at the same time I’d feel really greedy if she did pay. Ugh i don’t know what to do. Help?
Personally, I would do it free, but at least get service hours for tutoring her. If you need service/tutoring hours for a club, civics seal, service cord, etc., it would be useful. Unless you don’t need service hours or you already have enough service hours… Then sure, if you really want the money, as long as she’s cool with it and you’ve truly helped her, I guess she can pay you.
thanks @SirSly yeah i don’t think theres any way i can charge her i would just feel way to bad. I wish I could get service hours for tutoring her but in order to you have to have a volunteer supervisor sign off on it and since were doing it at the public library theres no like volunteer supervisor or anything so i can’t get credit
If you cant get volunteer hours then charge her. Time is money.
@KE3299 Could you ask one of the librarians that work there to sign the hours off for you?
I honestly would have told her to screw off but if you kept tutoring her then charge her cheaper than a tutor.
Yes.
Don’t have her pay you. Even though you guys may have drifted a part, maybe she stills considers you a friend and maybe you still consider her a friend even though she might not be a close one anymore. And friends should never have to pay another friend for help, at least that’s one of my rules.
I’d ask her to buy you both some lunch or something like that if you’re friends and feel uncomfortable asking for money
Would you like to spend time with this person? If so, you can say casually “why don’t you just buy me lunch?” If you don’t want to use this tutoring to get closer with her, then just accept the money that she offers you. I wouldn’t say anything about payment amount, you don’t even have to bring it up. That way, if she pays you, it is a bonus, but it is not a demand.
I would just do the tutoring and see how it goes. If she respects you by arriving at the time you specify and appreciates your help, you can decline payment. But if she abuses your offer of help, or disrespects you by not doing any of the assigned problems or arriving late, leaving early, talking on her phone during tutoring, well the money you get will ease your soul a bit.
I like the idea of treating to lunch. You get lunch and a renewed friendship. I’d say that’s better than cash
Yes, the lunch idea is good. Don’t feel like you are wasting your time for nothing though. As a university professor, i can assure you that every time you tutor or teach, you are also deriving benefit from the experience. I have been teacing for 32 years and even if I teach introductory physics courses, I always learn something new in the process.
I tutored my son’s friend for a year for most of a year… for free. She’s my friend.
This year, with her second son, she insisted on paying me. So I gave her the “family discount” about 1/3 of what I would charge a stranger.
And I agree with the previous poster: the best way to learn material is to teach it to someone else.