What a private tutor should charge for their preparation too

4 days ago
3 min read

Introduction

An hour of tutoring is not an hour of work. There is preparation before it, marking after it, resources to find or make, progress notes, messages from parents, and travel if the lesson is in a home. A tutor charging purely for contact time is working substantially more hours than they are paid for.

The market makes this worse, because parents compare hourly rates across tutors and agencies without any sense of what preparation a good lesson requires. The tutor who plans properly appears more expensive than the one who arrives and improvises. Saying what you prepare is how you close that gap.

Pricing well means covering the whole workload and being able to explain why the rate is what it is. Parents accept a reasoned rate and haggle over an unexplained one.

1. What a private tutor should charge starts with the unpaid time

Count everything around the lesson.

Log preparation and marking for a fortnight

Planning, resources, marking, notes, parent messages. Most tutors find it adds a third to half again on top of contact time. Include the messages, which are constant.

Divide your income by total hours

That is your real rate. It is usually well below the figure on your website. That figure is what you are actually working for.

2. Price by level, not by hour alone

The work differs enormously across the age range.

Charge more for exam years and A-level

The subject knowledge required, the marking, and the stakes are all higher. A single rate across all levels undercharges the hardest work. Publish two or three rates instead.

Consider a separate rate for specialist work

Entrance exams, dissertations, admissions preparation, special educational needs. These require expertise and should be priced for it. Very few tutors offer these properly.

3. Sell blocks tied to the academic calendar

Weekly booking is unstable for both sides.

Price a term or an exam run

Twelve weeks to the mock, or a full term. A small saving for commitment, enough to be worth taking. Ten per cent is sufficient.

Charge for the initial assessment

An hour identifying gaps, with a written plan. It is real work, it justifies the block, and it filters out enquiries that were never serious. Deliver something the parent keeps.

4. Handle cancellations and travel properly

These are where a tutor's income quietly leaks.

Set a cancellation policy and apply it

Twenty-four hours, one rescheduled session per block. A tutor without a policy loses several paid hours a term. State it before the first lesson.

Charge for travel or teach online

An hour of driving is an hour not earning. Either price it in or do not offer it. Online removes the problem entirely for most subjects.

5. Raise rates deliberately and explain them

Tutors under-price for years and then feel unable to move.

Review annually, in writing, with notice

Six weeks before a new term. Parents accept a rise they were told about at a natural boundary. Mid-term rises feel arbitrary.

Charge new families the new rate first

Then bring existing families up a term later. It is a fair and workable transition. Say plainly that you are doing it.

Conclusion

Log your preparation, marking and parent correspondence for a fortnight, then divide your income by the total hours — most tutors find their real rate is well below the one they advertise.

Price by level rather than applying one rate across the whole age range, since exam years and specialist work demand considerably more, and charge separately for entrance exams and admissions preparation. Sell blocks tied to terms and exam dates, charge for an initial assessment with a written plan, and set a cancellation policy you actually apply. Then review annually with six weeks' notice before a term boundary, taking new families at the new rate first.