Online tutoring is a great way for busy parents to provide their children with extra education. It’s also a wonderful opportunity for students who want to learn online.
While there are many different types of online tutoring services, there are some general guidelines that you should keep in mind when pricing your tutoring services.
When it comes to pricing, there’s no perfect formula. The amount you charge depends on several factors including the type of tutoring service you offer, your location, your experience, and your qualifications.
If possible, it’s always better to find out exactly what other tutors are charging before setting a price.
However, if you’re new to this business, here are some basic guidelines that will help you get started.
The average rate for online tutoring platforms in UK, is £15 per hour. This includes all aspects of teaching such as lesson planning, preparation, delivery, grading, etc.
You can expect to make around £10 an hour after covering costs like equipment, internet access fees, and any additional expenses associated with running your own business.
This means that you need to be able to teach at least 3 hours each week to cover these costs.
What to charge for online tutoring?
If you haven’t offered online tutoring before, start by asking yourself how often do people need tutoring? This can give you an idea about how frequently you’ll be able to tutor someone.
For example, if most of your clients only need one-on-one tutoring once or twice per week, then you may not make as much money from each client as those who offer more frequent sessions.
Private tutoring can also vary depending on where you live. If you’re based in London, you might earn less than someone living in rural areas because they don’t have easy access to local schools.
Tip #1 – Price yourself high
If your goal is to make a lot of money, then price yourself high and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want.
If you are charging $20 an hour but only making $10 per session, it doesn’t matter if you have 5 students or 50 because you aren’t going to make any profit at all.
You need to set up your pricing so that you can actually cover expenses while still being able to pay yourself well.
Tip #2 – Be prepared to walk away
If the client doesn’t like what they see in your proposal and wants more money or changes that are not possible for you to do, then it is time to walk away from the project.
You don’t need to be rude about this; just politely explain why you can’t accommodate their request. If they continue to push back on your terms, then move on to another job.
Tip #3 – Don’t argue
If someone tries to argue with you about your rates or how much work you are doing for them, simply say “I’m sorry but I can only give my best advice when I know what my bottom line is.” This puts the ball in their court.
They either accept this as fair game, or they don’t get anything out of working with you at all. Either way, you win!
Tip #4 – Know your market value
It’s important to understand what others are paying for similar services. For instance, if you are offering private lessons, try looking through websites like TutorVista or MyTutorSearch to compare prices.
Also, check out sites like RateMyTeachers and Teacher Ratings to learn which teachers are getting paid what. These ratings should provide valuable insight into whether or not you are underpaid compared to other tutors.
Tip #5 – Offer more than just lessons
For your online tutoring business, there are many ways to expand beyond providing individualized instruction. Here are some ideas:
- Create lesson plans that will help your students prepare for tests or assignments.
- Provide homework assistance via email or phone calls.
- Teach classes on specific topics such as math, science, English, etc.
- Help students build confidence by giving feedback on test scores or grades.
- Work with parents to create learning programs tailored specifically to their child’s needs.
Following this tips can help you get more online tutoring clients and can help you build a good business Pricing strategies, for your online tutoring services.
What kind of tutoring does your company specialize in?
There are two main categories of tutoring: academic tutoring and life skills tutoring. Academic tutoring focuses mainly on helping kids improve grades while life skill tutoring helps them develop essential social skills.
Academic such as elementary math tutoring, middle school algebra, high school chemistry, college physics, etc., require specific knowledge and expertise.
You must know the subject matter well enough to answer questions accurately and quickly.
Life skills tutoring requires a broader set of skills. These include things like reading comprehension, writing, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, study habits, time management, organization, problem solving, critical thinking, test taking, etc.
What are other factors to consider when making online tutoring rates?
Online tutoring is an excellent way to earn extra income, especially if you live in an area where there is a high demand for tutors.
However, there are a few things you should keep in mind before starting out as an online tutor.
You will want to charge enough to cover your costs and make a profit. The first thing you will want to do is set a rate that covers your costs.
From there, you will want to charge a bit more than this rate because you will also want to make a profit.
There are several different ways to set your hourly rate. First, you can use the average hourly rate for tutors in your city.
Some sites such as Upwork offer information on what the average hourly rate is for tutors in your area.
Another option is to use the average hourly rate of tutors in your field. For example, if you are a college student who wants to become an academic tutor, you could look at the average hourly rate of math tutors.
Here’s more:
- Location
Location plays a major role in determining the cost of living in different parts of the world. For example, London costs more than New York City due to its higher property rates.
Similarly, Singapore is known as the most expensive city in Asia. This means that even though you may live in a small town like Delhi NCR, you will still need to factor in the high cost of living there.
- Demand for online tutoring market
The second important consideration is how many people are looking for online tutoring services. If there isn’t a lot of competition then it might be easier to find work.
However, if there are already plenty of tutors offering similar services, finding new customers becomes harder.
- Competition level
If there aren’t any competitors nearby, you’ll have no choice but to start charging less than others. But once someone else starts competing against you, you’ll have to raise prices accordingly.
- Subject complexity/ level
This factor also plays a major role in determining the amount that students are willing to spend on learning from you.
If they want to learn something simple like English grammar, then they won’t expect to shell out as much as someone who wants to master calculus.
- Time frame
Students usually prefer short term solutions over long ones. They don’t want to invest too much time and effort in solving problems which may take them months to solve.
- Experience / experience level
Experience matters! People trust experts over novices. And they also expect better results from experienced tutors than inexperienced ones.
This means that charging less won’t necessarily fetch you lesser revenues as compared to charging more.
- Time commitment
Time is another factor which plays a major role in determining the amount that you charge per session. Clients usually value quality over quantity.
They want to spend only enough time with you so that they receive maximum benefit from your expertise.
- Lesson planning
When setting up lessons, consider whether or not you should plan each lesson ahead of time. Some clients prefer having their lessons planned while some prefer doing things spontaneously.
In general, those who prefer spontaneous sessions tend to pay lower fees.
However, when you’re starting out, it makes sense to prepare everything before hand. You can always adjust later based on client feedback.
- Ability levels
Your teaching styles will determine from your experience in teaching, what kind of approach works best for your audience.
For instance, if you’ve been working with kids all along, you know exactly how to teach children. On the other hand, adults often require slightly different approaches.
You can either choose one style and stick to it throughout your career or try various methods until you find the right fit.
- Education level
Mastering advanced subjects for example requires years of training. So unless you’re an expert at these topics, you shouldn’t expect to get paid well for teaching them.
On the contrary, basic subjects such as math, science etc., are relatively easy to understand. Therefore, anyone can pick them up quickly.
So depending upon your education background, you can set yourself apart by choosing the appropriate subject matter.
- Annual income goal
How much money do you need to make every year? This question helps you figure out how much you should be charging.
- The numbers of customers for tutoring
One of the factor you must consider is the number of online tutoring clients you can handle in a day.
Your actual tutoring time must be equal to your average tutoring rates, Tutors who only rely on their tutoring business will eventually run out of ideas when trying to come up with new strategies to boost revenues.
In addition, most parents would rather pay someone else to help their child learn instead of doing it themselves.
They feel like paying for lessons is too expensive. However, once they see what kind of results their kid gets from learning via online tutoring, they realize that investing in quality instruction isn’t so bad after all.
The answer depends on several factors including:
- How many hours do you work per week?
- What’s your hourly rate?.
- Do you offer discounts for multiple-session packages
- Are you offering free trial periods?
Why should you increase your tutor rates?
There are two main reasons why people start charging higher prices. The first reason is because they have increased skills and knowledge about the topic.
As mentioned earlier, this increases your credibility among potential students. It shows that you care about your craft and that you’re willing to put in extra efforts to improve your skill sets.
Second, there’s competition in the market. As soon as you raise your price, others follow suit.
However, don’t just go around raising your rates without any justification. There has to be a good reason behind it.
For example, if you’re going through tough times financially, then you might decide to cut down on expenses. In order to compensate for this loss, you’ll have to increase your revenue.
The cost of tutoring services varies greatly across countries. If you live in a country where tuition costs are high, then you may want to look into ways to reduce your overhead costs.
This could include cutting back on travel expenses, reducing office space requirements, lowering employee salaries, etc.
If you’re looking to earn more than $50k annually, then you probably won’t be able to afford living off of tutoring alone.
Therefore, you’ll also need to supplement your earnings with another source of income.
A Wife, a mum and a Tutor! I am the Lead Editor at TheTutor.Link & also the Head Tutor there. I love teaching seeing young minds flourish. I also love blogging and sharing my experience on the world wide web.