“highly variable” - ain’t THAT the truth! Certified teacher here, master’s degree in chemistry, and I get $40 an hour to tutor HS chemistry.
@scout59 - where do you live? I just paid $150/hr for LSAT tutoring for D2.
^ I live in the Midwest, and $40 -$50 is the going rate here for tutoring academic subjects. I have no idea what ACT/ LSAT/ MCAT tutors charge here…
I’m a sophomore in high school and I make $40-$50 an hour tutoring higher level math.
Op,
Look at this website and plan your prices based on what other tutors charge in your area with your level of education and experience.
Also, you can place your own ad here.
If cc blocks out the URL, the website is called wyzant.
Also note that Classroom subject tutoring will pay less than SAT/ACT/SAT2 tutoring.
Typically, a HS student would charge $10-15 per hour.
S was looking for tutoring work in a foreign language as an Ivy college student, with credentials such as #1 in the state in national French exam, various prizes, et al. Found one client at $15 per hour. Actual HS teachers charged $50 per hour. H worked as a math tutor for $25 per hour: certified teacher with extensive professional experience in finance, BA Economics, MBA, CFA. (The agency charged more, but that was what he was paid.)
In some areas people report very high compensation for tutors. Not here.
Seems like this really depends on where someone lives. In addition to focusing on English, I am willing to tutor for the SSAT. I’m thinking $18-25 for English depending on location and then maybe $80 per hour for test prep seeing that people who are taking that exam are probably loaded lol.
Calicash…I’m a parent. I am also a former educator who provided tutoring in my field. And I live in an affluent area.
You have no paid tutorial experience, and no experience tutoring students in the areas you are listing. Therefore, your rate needs to reflect that.
@thumper1 That is not true actually. And being unpaid doesn’t somehow make me less qualified as a tutor. If someone has been tutoring for 20 years for free, that doesn’t make them less qualified than someone who has been tutoring and charging for 10. And obviously I’m not going to post all of my experience so that someone can identify me.
Frankly, I would not pay a new HS graduate to tutor in English OR standardized tests, unless perhaps it was a family situation. Perhaps some people would. I don’t think that HS students have sufficient sophistication as writers or readers. (And I would have included my own S, who scored 800 on the CR portion of the SAT twice, in that description.) I would look for someone with an undergraduate degree in the discipline from a good school.
When S was an incoming HS freshman, he wanted to add Spanish as a second foreign language. Because he was going to be entering HS in French III, the FL department head suggested that if he studied a little Spanish over the summer he might test into Spanish II. She suggested we hire an incoming AP Spanish senior to spend some time tutoring him–mostly to speak the language–over the summer, so that’s what we did. We paid her $10 hr.
I don’t think you could even get a babysitter for $10/hr.
That was about 10 years ago. 
It’s probably gone up to $15.
And I don’t live in NYC.
Tutors get paid very different amounts from region to region…even town to town. Cali…you need to find lu what others are getting paid…and then adjust for your qualifications. I’ll give you an example.
My son is a musician. He started his own music studio when he was in 9th grade, but he only taught very beginning students. At that time, we were paying his private teacher $75 for a 45 minute session (1999). My son charged $15 for a 30 minute session.
This same son now has a masters degree and a number of years of playing experience as well as teaching experience. where he lives, private instructors get about $100 an hour. The first trumpet in the symphony gets $200, but that is the exception, not the rule. My kid charges about $90 an hour. Most of his students take 30 minute lessons…so $45 for 30 minutes.
BUT when he had no college degree, and np professional experience, his rates per hour were far less than what the experienced professionals charged.
HS students in our area get $20-25/hr, assuming the student comes to the tutor’s house, you meet at the local library, or don’t have to drive more than 5-10 minutes away. This is in CA.
What you can charge depends on the going rate and the demand. Look on craigslist and you’ll get an idea. You obviously need to charge less than a professor or teacher. You may want to offer the first hour free or half price. Always meet in a public place. You can also start out at a lower price and as you get experience and thus references, you can ask for more with new clients.
I’d be careful about making an arrangement on the internet to go to someone’s home to tutor. If the kids you are going to tutor are known to you or family friends that would be ok, but if you have never met the potential customer in person it could be a potentially risky situation, especially for a young girl.
Meeting at a public library usually works.
Even teachers do that, probably for their own protection. Especially if an adult would not be at home.
My daughter had math tutoring through the owner of an independent bookstore. It was a great little store but as with all bookstores, struggling. The owner started tutoring, then had much more business than he could handle so hired other tutors. This was in California a few years ago, and I think it was $40/hr. Not sure how much the tutor got and how much the bookstore owner got (probably $35/$5). It was convenient, safe, and my daughter who hates math didn’t mind because she was surrounded by books, which she loves.
I’d also check Craigslist for the rates in your area. If you think you can get $75/hr, go for it. If you get no customers, try a lower rate (I would not have paid more than $20/hr for a 17 year old when I could get a high school teacher for $40). Ask your high school guidance counselors if they have any leads for kids drafting their essays for next year.
Customer service is important no matter what line of work you do. As a tutor, it goes a long way to be encouraging before a major exam and follow up with an email after the exam. The email could be as simple as, “Hope the test went well. I know how hard you studied for it…” Even though you are getting paid for your services, parents like to know you care about their kids beyond getting paid. Your want referrals for future work.
I paid tutors with masters degrees essentially $1/minute at the high school level. My son is a college senior and is getting $20 - 25/hr for college calculus.