Considering Group Tutoring Rates

It's better to know how to learn than to know. Dr Seuss

Tutoring is surely a growing industry in South Africa. Many South African parents call on private tutors to help their children to learn how to learn the subject material that they need to know.

Besides the fact that many South African students struggle with knowing how to study, many students get lost in classrooms because of the large role of students. Teachers, due to curriculum demands, and having to deal with the behavioural problems of a large group of students fail to support the learners in the classroom who really need the support. If you are considering becoming a tutor for financial gain, you are looking at the right field to get into.

You can rest assured that parents are willing to go the extra mile to ensure that their children are supported on their learning journey. As a tutor, you can decide to conduct private lessons for students at their homes. You could charge a hefty sum for private tuition lessons especially when you are traveling to your student's homes.

However, you must keep in mind that for many parents having to pay for a private tutor who comes home may be overwhelming. Plus, you will have to spend more time during the day tutoring individual students. For this reason, you may want to look at providing group tutorials. While you will be charging each student less for group tutorials, in the long run, you will be making more money and saving time.

What is a fair rate for tuition? How much can you make per month if you only focus on tuition?

Tutors across South Africa charge anything from R80- R200 per hour of instruction. You can decide whether you would like to charge more for your tuition classes or make your hourly rate more reasonable.

Tutors across the country have reported earning anything from R7 000 to R10 000 per month if they devote most their time to tuition. Tutors who pursue tutorial jobs in their free time can earn about R3 000 to R5 000 per month.

The figures look pretty attractive, but if you want to have a thriving tutoring business, you should consider how you can plan these group tutorials, so you can ensure successful tuition classes.

Deciding on Group Tutoring Rates

How much should I charge for tutoring groups? You can do some research on the right rate for group tutorials by looking at the prices that other tutors are charging for group tutorials. Make a list of all the different rates charged for group tutoring by various tutors then weigh the pros and cons of charging a higher rate versus charging a lower rate.

When considering the right rate to charge for your group tutorial lessons, there are a few things that you ought to keep in mind:

• Your tutoring experience
• Your qualification/s
• Your living costs
• The subject that you are tutoring
• Whether you are tutoring from your own home, or you have to travel to give your tuition lessons
• The amount of time that goes into preparing for your lessons

One of the key considerations for planning how much you should charge for group tutorials should be based on the subject that you are choosing to tutor. There is a greater demand for tutors for certain subjects. Since so many children struggle with mathematics, you are better off charging a higher rate for your mathematic classes.

There will also be more parents and students interested in your tutorial classes if you are tutoring academic subjects. Not too many primary school children will be keen on taking foreign language lessons if they are not learning that language in school. Therefore, you may look at charging more for Afrikaans and English lessons than for French and Spanish lessons.

You will also need to set your tutorial rates according to whether you are tutoring primary school students, high school students, or university students.

You will more likely charge a much higher rate for university group tutorials than you will for primary school group tutorials.

How much will I be making?

If you charge R90 an hour for English group tutorials and you have 6 children in your group, you will be making R540 per hour. If you see that class for 12 hours in a month, you will be making about R 6 480 per month for that class alone. The more students you take on per group, the more money you will make per hour. You also have the option of taking on smaller groups and charging a higher hourly rate.

If you are a tutor and you are just starting out, you may want to consider different strategies in order to attract more students to join your tutorial classes in the first place.

You can offer a 5- 10% monthly discount to learners who get one or more of their friends to join your tutorial classes. You could offer discounts to students who pay early in the month.

One key thing to remember is that the cheaper your rates are in comparison to other tutors, the more chances you have of attracting parents who are looking for reasonable tuition rates.

What Else Do You Need to Consider When Setting Prices for Tutoring?

You may be asking yourself: "How much should I charge for providing group academic support?"

If you need to travel in order to conduct your group lessons, you need to charge your students a combined tuition rate so that you make up your full transportation cost.

Why do you need to travel to conduct your group tutorial classes?

If you are travelling to an area because the demand for your services is much more in that specific area, be sure to charge for the service that you are providing to the students who really require you to supply this service.

If you are tutoring in Johannesburg, you would be inclined to charge a higher hourly rate for your services than you would if you were living in Cape Town. This is due to the fact that some of the highest priced private schools are located in Johannesburg area.

If you want to know what tutors in Johannesburg charge in comparison to tutors in Cape Town, you can check the different tutor rates on the Superprof platform.

Alternatively, you can even decide to join the group of Superprof tutors and offer your tutoring services via the Superprof platform.

Advertise Private Tutoring Services to Attract Students

You cannot deny that if you conduct group tutorials, you will earn a considerably good amount monthly. However, to be able to make a living from your tutorial classes, you need to have a decent number of students. Having 18 groups of students weekly comprising of about 6 students per group, would bring in a great amount of money to you.

However, if you are just starting out, finding your first five students would be quite the struggle. If you do want students to find you, you need to get word out that you are offering your tutorial services.

While word of mouth advertising is great when you are trying to get parents to enroll their children for your tuition classes, you need to get students recommending you.

You can do this by paying some money to advertise in newspapers, on the radio, and in magazines. The more you advertise, the better your chances are of getting people to know about the services that you are offering. While advertising may cost you a pretty penny at first, you will certainly redeem all the money that you spent if you get more students to join your tutorial classes.

How Much Do Tutors Charge in South Africa?

If you are printing posters advertising your tutorial services, you need to foster in this cost in your tutorial charges as well.

Tutors in South Africa choose to charge fairly reasonable rates, but rates that include all of their tutoring-related expenses as well. If you are still finding your feet, and you are not sure if owning a tutoring business will work out for you or not, you can always start in an entirely different way.

Consider creating your profile on Superprof. On the Superprof website, becoming a tutor is as easy as making your profile and attracting students to book your tuition lessons because of your amazing profile. Since Superprof is already a well-known tutorial platform, you may have better luck attracting students if you choose to create a Superprof profile.

Keep in mind that while tutoring is a lucrative business, you do need to provide the best possible service that you can give. Your students and their parents are after all your customers, and you need to ensure that you provide quality tutorial lessons.

Do read our blogposts that offers advice to tutors starting off their tutorial journey. If you have any suggestions for other inspiring tutors, feel free to drop your comments below. After all it takes one tutor to help another tutor to get started.