Ever wondered why some tutors charge more than others? Aren’t all tutoring lessons created equal? Absolutely not, and there are a myriad of reasons why. So let’s break it down here.

If you’ve googled for a maths tutor, you’ll notice a huge range in prices, the cheapest being around $30 for a young person with limited experience and no subject qualifications right up to the most experienced highly-sought after qualified teachers which might set you back over $130/hr. So what do you get for your money each week?

Some things to consider when negotiating tutor prices are:

Education and Qualification: is your chosen tutor a qualified teacher? If not, do they have relevant university qualifications in the subject they are tutoring? Or was high school maths and science as far as they went? Newbie private tutors just starting out will charge as little as $30 per hour without any subject qualifications fresh out of high school. This is close to the minimum wage and often these tutors have yet to prove they can get the results for their students.  If your tutor has not completed studies in maths or science at university, it’s worth checking if they completed Extension 1 or Extension 2 Maths for the HSC. How successful were they? Can they teach? Are they currently studying maths and science subjects at university?

Teaching Experience: how long have they been tutoring for? Two weeks? More than four years? Are they heavily booked out and in very high demand? If so, this is a clear indication this tutor has a good reputation for being an expert teacher/tutor who meets students’ academic goals. Tutors with much less experience will obviously charge less since they don’t yet have the proven track record or reputation as a tutor who gets results. Do they have a special flair for teaching with expert knowledge in maths and science?

Demographics: if you’re living in remote NSW, the demand is high and the supply is extremely low. In this case, tutors will charge a higher rate since there is limited competition. Also, if you’re living close to the city in Sydney, the cost of living is high, and as such, prices tend to be higher than suburban Sydney. When navigating tutor prices, it’s also important to consider supply and demand. For example there is currently a severe shortage of maths teachers in NSW (40% under supply). Consider yourself lucky if you are able to access a maths teacher for tutoring.

Private Tutoring Agencies: In Sydney, expect to pay $80-85/hr for a university student. These tutors have been carefully vetted by their agency which saves time finding the right tutor since their qualifications and teaching experience meet the high standards set by the agency. Consider precious time lost going through multiple tutors who did not meet the learning needs of their students.

Other Factors to Consider: a tutor charging $x per hour must consider the time it takes to prepare their students’ lessons. Tutors don’t just show up and provide homework help (unless requested). Lesson preparation is time consuming. Often one lesson takes 30+ minutes to prepare in order to provide the best and most individualised resources, catering to each individual student and their learning needs. For example to prepare a Year 10 maths lesson, it might take a tutor 35 minutes to prepare the lesson and then a further 1 hour to deliver the lesson and set a topic study booklet or online lessons and perhaps another 30 minutes to get to and from your home. There are also printing costs, and specialist materials costs (online programs charge per month plus textbooks). Technically the hourly rate you are paying for your tutor is for 1.5-2 hours of their time in 90% of cases.

What Fees Cost Last Year: expecting to pay the same tutor price since 2015? That would hardly be fair. Inflation needs to be considered even in the tutoring industry. Also, tutors often make little to no income during the holidays and it’s difficult to stretch funds and cover living costs during this time.

Demand and Reputation: popular tutors tend to cost a higher price; which is either due to their teaching expertise or lack of competition. Similarly, highly reputed tutors can charge more, because people are keen to experience the student success that many people have had with this tutor.

Distance and Accessibility: if a tutor needs to travel to reach you, they will need to charge extra for travel time which mostly means sitting in peak hour traffic for 30+ minutes to get to and from your place and time lost in traffic is time the tutor is unavailable to take on other students. Factor in lesson preparation time and tutors are spending 2 hours of their time on a 1 hour lesson. This means technically that a tutor charging $80/hr is getting paid $40/hr since they are spending 30 mins to prepare the lesson and perhaps another 30 mins in traffic to get to you.

It can be often be more affordable if you meet a tutor at their house or the public library.

Conclusion: As you can see, there are multiple factors at play when it comes to organising tutoring lessons. Like any occupation you pay for the value that you receive. Low quality vs high quality which is all dependent on experience, success, reputation, education and teaching qualifications.

Hopefully this 2020 guide has provided more insight when navigating the difficult terrain of finding the best tutor for the job.