Are you a thriving online tutor? Even if you are a beginner in the field or just redefining your prices for online tutoring, these five points are key considerations when deciding on how much to charge.

1. Know Your Competition

A couple of things that you need to be sure of as a tutor are the rates of your subject and your competitors. You should only be concerned about the tutors that are working in your niche whose skills, experience, and academic qualifications are similar to yours. Decide on your charges according to the competition. Research to make yourself aware of their prices and talents to know precisely where you stand in the market.

Moreover, your prices should neither be too steep nor too low; they should be just right. If you charge too much, you might end up driving clients away from yourself and towards other cheap tutors. But if you charge too low, you can end up with a damaged reputation as low prices suggest that a tutor is inexperienced with insufficient qualifications. So, it is wisest to decide on a moderate price to charge your students.

2. Experience

The principles for experience in online tutoring are the same as any other field in the world – the more experience you have, the more quality is present in your work. Hence, enhancing your reputation as a professional tutor.

Also, a considerably higher level of experience ensures your confidence and builds trust in your students’ hearts for your work.

You should do a bit of research here too. Look for the rates chosen by your competition, the tutors in the same field as you with a similar level of experience, and decide a decent price that reflects your current experience.

Avoid setting extravagant charges with very little experience at all costs.

3. The Subject You Teach and The Level of Your Students

The subjects you choose to teach will determine most of your career as a tutor. Some will grant you access to rather generous incomes whereas others will only earn you nominal amounts.

For example, while SAT or ACT tuition would help you earn more money, courses like AP Chemistry and higher levels of math (e.g., college) should earn you even more than that.

Teaching the English language may result in a lower rate but teaching Arabic, German, French, Mandarin, and Spanish would surely draw higher rates.

Furthermore, there is no rocket science in realizing that the educational level of the people you teach plays a very important role in helping you choose your price. As mentioned earlier, people who are looking for SAT tutors would be willing to pay higher prices as their need for one is usually urgent. Of course, primary students like middle or elementary schoolers wouldn’t pay as much.

Essentially, one of the simplest ways to determine your price is to decide how much your subject is worth and how much you should demand, depending on the level of your students.

4. Your Overhead

When considering your options for a price, determining your overhead is a must. Note down answers to questions such as:

• Is this a specialty course?
• What did it cost you to prepare for the course?
• Do you need any special equipment when teaching?
• Do advertising and marketing yourself take too much investment of time and funds?
• Do you have to print any material for the course? Or as handouts?
• Do you spend extra time reviewing, grading, and clarifying tests/work?

All of these activities take up extra amounts of your time and effort. Determine any additional costs needed from you to establish your online tutor career. Add these points to consider while charging for tutoring.

5. To Show Flexibility or Not

Creating a good reputation for yourself and your career goes way beyond the bounds of experience and excellence. You also need to show consideration towards education in general and your students in particular.

Are any of them unable to meet your high prices? Do some of them need extra classes, notes, or favors? Does a student need private sessions from you? If so, when someone asks for a discount, consider offering them one. This shows that you care about educating your students and their benefit more than you do about the income you earn from it.

Being flexible in your ways lets your students appreciate your kindness and understanding. They might even grant you some extra advertising by telling their friends, peers, or other contacts about some of your compassionate actions.

Discounting your prices for a few deserving students occasionally shouldn’t inflict much harm on your financial goals.

To conclude, deciding on an amount to charge for online tutoring can get confusing at times. This article and its pointers should help you determine an ideal price that rewards your hard work, earns you a significant place in the market, and helps you prove your worth as a tutor.