With the events of 2020, online tutors are in increasing demand. It can be hard for parents to provide the necessary support to teach their children at home, and the lack of interactive classroom time has had a large impact on the teaching of subjects like math and science. Even before the pandemic, tutoring was a great option for a side hustle or even a full-time job for those who enjoyed teaching and helping others to meet their educational goals.
If you have been thinking about becoming a tutor, there is no time like the present! Many school systems and colleges are moving toward full-time tutoring job options as well as tutoring programs. There has never been a better time to join the ranks of tutors who help students to increase their knowledge and get better grades every year.
If you have been considering offering tutoring services, but have not been sure what to charge or what kind of tutoring to offer, read on to learn more about the ways that you can make tutoring your full-time or part-time job!
Related: 10 Best Online Tutoring Job Companies
What Kinds of Tutoring Can You Offer?
There are many variables to the tutoring reality. If you work for yourself, you might teach many different subjects to your students. If you have been hired to tutor, you might be assigned specific areas of study like math, English, or science. Tutoring can run the gamut from helping with specific skills to assisting with a complete term of school.
This is one of the strengths of tutoring. Teachers with large classes full of kids or college students would love the chance to work one-on-one with students who need some extra attention, but this is usually not practical. Being a tutor allows you the unique chance to teach one student anything that they need to learn in order to succeed in school.
How Much to Charge For Tutoring?
The answer to this can vary based on a variety of factors. If you are not sure what to charge, you will need to look at the variables in this list to help you to define the right charge per hour of your help.
1. The Subject
This can affect the amount that you can charge in a major way. Math and science tutoring often cost more than other subjects, with the average hourly charge for a math tutor ranging from $25 all the way to $80. Within the subjects, you will also be paid more if you are teaching higher-level skills.
For example, you will be paid more if you can teach calculus, advanced algebra, and statistics. This level of math instruction is also typically focused more on adult students in college. If you are teaching kids in middle or high school, you will probably be paid less per hour related to the level of math that you will need to know.
English can be one of the lowest-paying subjects, however you will be able to charge an average of $25 if you are skilled and can teach ESL students as well as native English speakers. It is worth remembering that most of these subjects are always in demand, so you might be able to diversify and teach both math and science, or science and English.
2. Your Level of Education
Your level of education can have a huge effect on the amount that you can charge. If you have a teaching degree or are a graduate student you can ask more for your base prices and you can stipulate that you will only do private sessions. This can be a huge value to those who are struggling with higher level math or science, or who are in need of more than an hour of assistance during each session.
The average amount that tutors charge who have higher levels of education behind them is $50 an hour. This is a great wage for any kind of job and you could find that opening your own tutoring business makes a lot of sense if you are qualified enough to be able to ask this much per hour. If you live near a college or in a large city, you could have regular daily demand for your higher-level tutoring services.
3. Supplies, Travel, or Rented Space
If you are a grade school teacher and need to offer children paper, pens and pencils, or even art project materials, you will need to build this cost into your charge. Likewise, if you are having to rent a space to tutor in, you will need to make sure that you are charging enough per hour to cover the cost of your rented space.
If you are commuting to some students, you will need to make sure that you consider this part of your cost in your fee. You could have one fee for meet ups within a few miles of your home and meet ups in another town farther away. Making this charge clear up front is the best policy, but many tutoring students are used to paying this kind of fee for the benefit of having a private tutor.
If you have started a business for yourself, these will be considerations no matter how you structure your tutoring set up, but if you are working for a hiring entity you may not be able to ask for compensation for these parts of your cost. Always make sure to consider all of the costs associated with providing quality tutoring services and charge for them accordingly as part of your fee structure.
4. Online Versus in Person
Many tutors charge more for in person meet ups than online ones. Some subjects are just easier to teach in person, and some students prefer to be able to see the lesson activities in real-time. However, if you do teach online, you can do group classes, which can offer a more affordable rate for each child or each person who needs the tutoring session. Online tutors are growing exponentially and have much wider opportunities to secure new students of all ages.
You should look at your own preferences for teaching as well as your costs to travel to student locations before you set your in-person rates for each hour of tutoring. Online learning is becoming far more standard these days, and you might be able to do most of your tutoring online, but if that is not your preference or it makes you feel you need to charge less per hour, it may not be the right solution for your needs.
5. Are You Able to Teach Special Needs Students
Like other parts of the new work and learning from home reality, special needs tutoring is an increasingly necessary part of the tutoring offerings that people are looking for. These tutors are not only skilled in their subject, but they are also trained and or certified to teach special needs students either in their own homes or at stated meet-up locations that are accessible for the students.
This can be a great way to earn $35 to $60 an hour depending on your subject, and you will be able to spend one-on-one time with these students in a quiet location which can be a huge benefit to their learning process. This has traditionally been a need that was handled inside the school system, but with people being at home more now, these children and students are slipping through the cracks in some areas.
New studies show that special needs students with more than one teacher scored lower on tests than those who were able to work with a single teacher. The same survey also showed a real need for specialized lesson plans and other study materials for these students as many of them were being taught with less-than-ideal teaching tools and plans that were not tailored for special needs learning.
This is a major area of focus for improvement in the education system in the US, and you could be involved in the solution that makes special needs teaching better than it ever has been before. If this is your skillset, it might be worth examining the amount that you feel you could charge in your area to attend to the needs of these students as well as non-special needs students.
The Amount You Charge Depends on Many Variables
The hourly rate that you set for your time when you are tutoring is a combination of many factors. You will need to consider all of them before you commit to a set rate and start tutoring. Be sure that you are fair to yourself and look at your costs, your level of education, and the kinds of tutoring that you are willing to do for your clients.
Being able to sort out the best possible combination of tutoring offerings while also charging a fair price will take a little research, but it is well worth doing. Tutors can make the difference between scholastic success and scholastic struggle.
The world of teaching and tutoring is changing rapidly, and there has never been a better time to start your tutoring business!
