What is a reasonable rate for a math tutor?

<p>In our area, certified teachers were charging over $100/hr, so my high school kid was paid $75/hr. If teachers in your area are getting paid $40/hr, then a good tutor could command $30/hr. NOw, I don’t know where OP lives and how much teachers are getting paid.</p>

<p>Oldfort, I’m not saying it ain’t so, but $75/hour to a high school kid leaves me shaking my head. What must the cost of living be where you are, to justify that? Where do you live…in an airport? (Rhetorical question.)</p>

<p>He probably lives in a gated community, and his school’s median income was probably $200,000. How else would a high school student be making much more than an average teacher?</p>

<p>Btw oldfort, I checked the university tutor list at the beginning of this year, and I am pretty sure that I could get a math PhD to tutor me for $100/hour.</p>

<p>But do you need a PhD to tutor you college or high school math? My kid was tutoring a kid in math and biology, but the mother asked her if she could also teach history and Spanish because her kid didn’t like those tutors. It is not what degree you have, it matters whether you could actually connect with a student to teach.</p>

<p>OP needs to find what out what people normally charge in his/her area. We happen to live in a high cost area, so what’s normal here may not apply where he/she is at.</p>

<p>I don’t think someone with a PhD is exactly necessary for tutoring algebra I and II. The algebra I and II teachers at my school aren’t even full time teachers…they’re adjuncts. I honestly don’t think that a kid would have any better of an experience being tutored by a PhD than someone else that had a very good understanding of the material.</p>

<p>I do tutoring for a lot of other subjects too…but as far as private tutoring goes, I really only do math. I’ll help my friends with english papers at times…proofreading/grammar checking…citations etc…but, that’s usually just something that I do for my friends. </p>

<p>I get paid for a lot of that kind of stuff when I’m working in the tutoring center though. </p>

<p>Regardless, I really don’t feel like $20 would be out of line. I was actually talking to a girl earlier today who is going to be taking college algebra over the summer…and she asked me if I’d be available to tutor her during summer sessions. I said that wouldn’t be a problem, and threw a $20/hr figure out there…and she seemed very agreeable to it. </p>

<p>I don’t think I could personally justify charging anymore than that. But, I do feel that I deserve fairly adequate compensation for it. I usually go to them, which incurs some travel costs. Granted it’s usually not too far of a commute, but gas is freakin expensive these days.</p>

<p>When you do a tutoring session, how long does it last? Is it a one hour session, and do you travel to them? Is it a 2-3 hour session? Factor in the amount of time you need to travel to/from and the time you give up around that period into your price. If it’s a 15 minute drive, a one hour session “costs” you at least an hour and a half (likely more with getting your stuff together and making sure your schedule has buffer room). You could always do something with price breaks for longer sessions.</p>

<p>You can also try looking on Craigslist or somewhere else to see what other tutors are charging.</p>

<p>I’ll agree about a tutor not needing a PhD. When I was tutoring HS students (did Chemistry for free along with some friends as part of a program we set up with a teacher and charged for calc) I was only a HS student. The difference was we were really good at connecting with students and figuring out ways of presenting material that clicked with them. That said, now almost with my PhD, I will say someone with a lot of extra education can bring a very difference perspective to tutoring. You have a much larger view of the field, and sometimes that can help bring perspective to a problem.</p>

<p>Sometimes a PhD could also confuse a high schooler too. Whenever someone asks about where to find a good tutor, I always recommend to get an older student who has done well in that class.</p>