Job Discussion Forums

oprah · Joined: 26 Apr 2003 Posts: 382

What to charge for private tutoring?? 100 to 150 rmb is my usual. What if they want a tutoring class for 3 people at the same time? Would that be 50rmb per person per hour? How do you decide , what if they then up it to 4 people? What is your experience? I would appreciate input , thanks.

Roger · Joined: 19 Jan 2003 Posts: 9138

You must be a little realistic - your Chinese students will be your employer, so they decide how many participants they will be.
Of course, you can say I work for this amount if you don't exceed 3 participants; in practice it doesn't work this way. What if one of them cannot come? Will you be prepared to give them a refund, or teach them later without charging them?

Set a maximum number, but be flexible. Charge ahead of class, preferably for a whole month, and remind them they are buying YOUR time as agreed upon, not later nor earlier.
Insist that they must serve notice at a reasonably early time for postponements.

foreignDevil · Joined: 23 Jun 2003 Posts: 580

Charging ahead for a block of lessons is a good idea... and it does not hurt to have things in writing. I had a simple little contract, just a few sentences, stating that I required 24 hours notice for a cancellation, otherwise they would be charged for that lesson. And I charged the same rate per student whether it was one student at the lesson or three. Why would you charge less? Every student in a class at my school pays the same tuition... it is not discounted the more students are enrolled in the class.

And yeah, on the one hand you can say it is a students' market, and if you are desperate for cash maybe you want to be accomodating towards their schedule. But on the other hand, laying down strict rules about cancellations, etc, can demonstrate that you take your job seriously. And consequently, maybe they will take their lessons more seriously.

I had a friend giving private lessons after a long day at his regular job. Many many times, the father of the student would call literally FIVE minutes before the lesson and say his son couldn't make it. So then my friend's evening was wasted. And he lost out on the cash, because the father was paying at each lesson.

kev7161 · Joined: 06 Feb 2004 Posts: 5880 Location: Suzhou, China

If you tutor only one student at a time, then you should just come up with a set fee and there it is. However, to possibly attract more students (say you want to tutor 4 at one time), you can tell the original student that if he/she has friends that want some private lessons, you can give the four a "group rate". So, for example: one student 100rmb; two students 90rmb each; three students 80rmb each; four students 75rmb each. You are doing almost the same amount of work, but possibly tripling your income. And they feel like they are getting a better deal as well. A win-win situation! Smile

laodeng · Joined: 07 Feb 2004 Posts: 481

(1) I simply don't tutor small groups now; one-on-one only. The differences in ability do not make for efficient teaching. (This is one of the things that drove me out of university classrooms in China.) Also, with younger students, trying to teach a group of friends makes for management problems.

(2) Re charging for no-shows, I use the old psychoanalyst's rationale: you've bought the time, and it's up to you how you want to use it.

(3) It is not good business to be [/i]too accommodating in China. Unfortunately, every concession represents the small end of the wedge.

(4) See Roger's helpful remarks of several weeks ago re charging.

(5) Don't steal my students.

robert45 · Joined: 03 Feb 2005 Posts: 8

If you want to check out what other teachers are charging for tutoring in different areas of China, you can look at the teacher profiles on:

There are many teachers listed there who are already living in China and looking for teaching work. Their hourly rates are listed in the profile.

amandabarrick · Joined: 30 Dec 2004 Posts: 391

It depends on the size of the group and the length and frequency of the class. How many days per week, how long is each session, If they want 1 month or 3 months or 6 months etc... I tutored a group of 6, who were close to the same ability level. 5 days a week for 2 hours each day. I tutored them for a one month period and they each paid 1000 yuan at the end of the month. So If my math is correct they each paid 25 yuan per hour. They all paid the same even if they missed a few classes, which wasn't very often. Although this is pretty cheap for English classes from a native speaker in China, I made more 2000 more than if I was tutoring only one student.
Hope this helps,
AB