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I'm a year 11 student (Victoria, Australia) who typically excells at mathematics, science, etc. and have been asked to tutor a younger student in mathematics who is around average performance (C's), and get him up to a higher level (B's and A's).

I've only every tutored another student once before - two years ago, and was paid $20 per session for two half-hour sessions per week (amounting to $40.00 per hour). This seems like a lot, and I'm not really sure if I should ask for that much (the last time it was offered).

I have another two casual jobs, which both pay reasonably well, but take up a lot of my time - so it has to be worth my while to actually take on the student, however as mentioned I don't want to seem rude by asking for too much.

What I want to know is what are the things that I should consider when coming up with a reasonable price for this type of tuition?.

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It seems you feel $40/hour is too much - even though you actually have been paid that? If your previous tutoring results were good, then surely the price is fine?

If the other casual jobs pay better, perhaps $40/hour is too little - especially if you actually have a good (albeit short) track record.

Other things to consider:

What would you rather be doing? The other casual jobs or the tutoring? Could the tutoring lead to more work - or is it really a one-off? Does the tutoring make you better at in school? Are the tutoring hours flexible - or must they always be Wednesday evening?

-- edit from comments --

An hourly rate often depends on the number of hours; the less hours - the higher the rate. In addition, if you need to negotiate - never just lower your price; you need to get something back - even if it's just symbolic, like flexible hours or more hours or perhaps bonus after a measurable result

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  • Not so much that $40/h is too much, just that the parent/s might think so given that I've only ever done this once before. And yeah the results were good - the student went from around 15 or 20 percent test results to roughly 80%. Would that be enough of a selling point? I've seen online examples of uni students charging less than that ($30 - $35) which is making me a little cautious
    – brads3290
    Jun 8, 2016 at 7:45
  • An hourly rate often depends on the number of hours; the less hours - the higher the rate. In addition, if you need to negotiate - never just lower your price; you need to get something back - even if it's just symbolic, like flexible hours or more hours or perhaps bonus after a measurable result
    – morsor ♦
    Jun 8, 2016 at 7:51
  • Ahh okay yeah - I'll probably be looking at 1.5 hours a week, so $40 wouldn't be too bad I suppose. That's good advice on the negotiating, thanks!
    – brads3290
    Jun 8, 2016 at 8:00

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