Fair price for tutoring?

[wuglife427]

I'm a senior taking a few grad-level classes, one of which requires some knowledge of syntax and bit of phonology. There is a grad student in the class who does not have this background (coming from applied linguistics) who has asked me to tutor her in the basic stuff that the professor assumes we know. I think $15/hour is reasonable, but I wanted to get the opinion of people with more experience in tutoring. I haven't tutored since high school, when it was the parents paying. I don't want to be greedy or screw her over by pricing her out, but I also want to be sure I'm getting the full value of my time. What do you think?

[biisis]

$15/hour seems quite reasonable!

[ERR_Alpha]

People charge wayyyy more online. I wouldn't charge more than $15 for someone I knew, especially a grad student. I'd probably even do it for a Starbucks gift card or a bottle of wine.

[maelia8]

I'm a grad student with two years of professional training in what I tutor, so I'd charge $20/hour, but if I were an undergrad, I'd probably still charge $15.

[TakeruK]

I think it would also really depend on cost of living in your area! I think $15/hr is way too little to be charging for tutoring--your time is worth much more than that!

 

As an undergrad, when I was tutoring high school or freshman level math and physics, my rate was $25/hour. When I was a MSc student, the rate that I and other graduate students charged was $30/hr for the same level. Our TA rate is $40/hr and our RA rate was $22/hr so $30/hr seems like a good valuation of our time. Once in awhile, there are weird/rare things that crop up and my surcharge was usually an extra $5/hr if there was something extra (e.g. they wanted help with sophomore or higher level stuff). Now that I am a PhD student in the US, my work permit does not allow me to tutor so I don't do it anymore (although I wouldn't have time anyways!). But if I did tutor, based on the cost of living of my current city, I would charge around $40-$50/hr.

 

However, I would say that since this is a colleague/classmate/fellow student, I would not charge my full "professional" rate. Honestly, I don't like mixing friendship (although you may not be nor plan to be friends I guess) and business so I wouldn't even officially tutor but just offer to help instead (after all, they might be able to help you out with something else you don't know). I also feel that it would be a breach of my personal ethics if I tutored someone I was taking a class with. There's just too much potential conflict of interest and also the potential that someone else will perceive your actions as academic misconduct. That is, even if you are tutoring them in something that was not part of the homework assignments etc., someone else might only see that you are charging a classmate to help them with course material and assume or perceive it as them paying you to help them with homework. Although this did not happen to me personally, I've seen other people judge other tutors who have done this. Thus, I would not want to get any money involved at all! Instead, I would just help but not commit myself to more time on it than I would do as a favour to a friend/colleague.

 

All of that said, since you did ask for advice specifically on the amount to charge, and not whether or not to tutor at all (although I felt compelled from past tutoring experiences to share the above), I would say either 1) charge the full rate for whatever you feel is a good valuation of your time (I'd say $20-$25/hr for a senior) or 2) if you are feeling charitable, I would say 1.5 times minimum wage is a good "charitable" rate because don't forget that you would have to spend some time outside of the actual tutoring hours to prepare, too!

[reinhard]

You are charging your fellow classmates? That's not very nice. These people have a high chance of being your colleague and the relationship you develop should not be fiscal. You are going to learn as much (for free of course!) from your fellow classmates just as much from your supervisor.

[wuglife427]

Thanks everyone for your advice! TakeruK, that is something I did not consider, and it is an excellent point. I've mentioned it to her, and we are going to talk to the professor about our arrangement and any topics to be covered so that no one can point fingers. Also, our entire grade for this class is based on a final paper, with the homeworks and midterms serving as "insurance"--they can help us if we don't do as well on the paper, but they cannot bring our grade down. There is no curve, and thus no conflict of interest. The topics I would need to cover with her is basically material from a prerequisite that she didn't actually take (not sure how she signed up for the class, but that's not my business). She really does need tutoring just to have to have a chance of understanding the course material. I think it's worth mentioning that she approached me to ask for tutoring and said she would pay me. If the professor says I should not be compensated, I will not take compensation, although that means I may not be able to make as much time for it. That sounds pretty selfish typed out, but I have a lot on my plate and can't spend all my free time on what would basically be a favor to someone I barely know.

 

Reinhard: Again, she brought up payment. Had she not brought it up, I wouldn't have either; however, based on her suggestion as well as my understanding of the type and amount of help she needs/wants, I don't think it's unreasonable to charge so long as the professor approves the arrangement. We're also on very different tracks (she's an Applied ling grad student going into language teaching, I'm a theoretical-focused undergrad hoping for academia), so I probably won't run into her much after this class ends, or at all once I graduate. Even if our paths were to cross again in a professional setting, I feel like we would be mature enough to handle a different type of working relationship. I could see how your comment would apply to people who are in the same program and on the same general track, but I honestly don't think our situation has as much potential to cause professional problems. Thanks anyway for your input.

[jhefflol]

Just to put this into perspective, I work at a community college as a writing tutor and I make around $13/hr. This is decided on a scale based on experience: I'm a second-year grad student with years of tutoring experience. Just for your reference

[nugget]

I think it really depends on where you live as figures will vary greatly. Where I live, a $13 wage is $2 more per hour than a new employee at McDonalds. 

 

When I was in undergrad, anyone wishing to tutor who was registered with the Office of the Dean as a private tutor in good academic standing was advised to charge $20 per hour as a 3rd or 4rd year undergrad, master's students $25, and PhD $30. At my current school, I recently saw a job posting for tutoring positions at the office for students with disabilities and the pay scale was the same.

 

 

Just to put this into perspective, I work at a community college as a writing tutor and I make around $13/hr. This is decided on a scale based on experience: I'm a second-year grad student with years of tutoring experience. Just for your reference

Edited October 17, 2014 by jenste

[juilletmercredi]

$15/hour is more than reasonable, especially if you are in Washington, D.C.  I actually think it’s a bit low - although I have lowered my tutoring rates for graduate students and personal connections.  My husband charged $20-25/hour for freelance tutoring in Atlanta, and here in New York even low-priced tutors are easily $30-50/hour.  So $15/hour is really good.

 

I wouldn’t compare to the university/college rates, as in my experience institutions always pay less than you can get as a freelancer.  I did statistical consulting for my university and I got paid $20/hour, but on the open freelance market I charged $30/hour to begin with and $50/hour later.

 

You are charging your fellow classmates? That's not very nice. These people have a high chance of being your colleague and the relationship you develop should not be fiscal. You are going to learn as much (for free of course!) from your fellow classmates just as much from your supervisor.

 

Colleagues pay each other, when necessary.  She's requesting an investment of time and, as OP pointed out, SHE was the one who brought up payment.  It takes time to prepare for tutoring sessions and it also takes time to explain concepts to people, and time costs money.  But besides that, colleagues develop fiscal relationships all the time in academia.  For example, it's very common to put colleagues who know special skills on your grants as a consultant.  There's a colleague I'm working on a project with as a consultant which comes with a pay rate.  I've done statistical consulting for colleagues who I like very much - but I still get paid, because I am doing work.  You can be a nice person and still charge for your time because it's valuable.

[TakeruK]

In undergrad, I also tutored for my University (actually the University's student organization) and they paid me $15/hr, but it was free to the students. I was happy with that rate because 1) I felt it was kind of a "service" and 2) it was nice to have a guaranteed 4 hours per week of tutoring work instead of having to set up and find individual students. But I agree that it's not always fair to compare to university rates for the above reasons.

 

In addition, tutoring companies in my area would hire undergrads as tutors and pay them $20/hr, however they would charge the students $40/hr. Some people did this because it takes away all of the work of finding students, developing a good reputation etc. However, I preferred to work on my own and set my own schedule. 

 

But with the above in mind, that was how I settled on an average rate of $25/hr for tutoring while I was in undergrad.

[Vene]

Colleagues pay each other, when necessary.  She's requesting an investment of time and, as OP pointed out, SHE was the one who brought up payment.  It takes time to prepare for tutoring sessions and it also takes time to explain concepts to people, and time costs money.  But besides that, colleagues develop fiscal relationships all the time in academia.  For example, it's very common to put colleagues who know special skills on your grants as a consultant.  There's a colleague I'm working on a project with as a consultant which comes with a pay rate.  I've done statistical consulting for colleagues who I like very much - but I still get paid, because I am doing work.  You can be a nice person and still charge for your time because it's valuable.

Very much this. I also think it depends a bit on the nature of the assistance. Helping a collaborator to learn a method you use is a lot different than teaching the lab in the next building. With the former you're already partners and I wouldn't expect any money to change hands. With the latter you're taking time out of your day to instruct others purely for their benefit and some type of compensation is appropriate, even if it's not strictly monetary.

 

Related to this is how I wouldn't expect students who get together to study to pay each other anything as they are all contributing and gaining from the experience. But that is worlds apart from asking somebody to tutor you where there is a very clear service being rendered.