How much should I charge for a tutoring session?

Fair amount for travel compensation when tutoring?

• I am considering taking on a tutee that lives a bit of a distance away from me. I told her I was ok with having the tutoring either at my place or hers (or some other public place, like a coffee shop or library), but if I had to travel quite a way to get there, we would have to talk about some sort of compensation for my travel. I take public transportation wherever I go, and to get to her, I would have to spend 1.5 hours each way on a bus. So I have two questions 1. Does this even sound worth it? (I am a poor college student with debt, so even $12 is a lot of money for me) 2. What would be a fair amount to ask for travel compensation for an hour and a half of travel each way? I am charging $12 per hour for the tutoring, and thought that perhaps half of that, so $6 per hour, would be an ok amount. But this would mean that a 1 hour session would be $30 per hour, and a 2 hour session would be $21 per hour (after the travel compensation). Is this absurd? I don't tutor professionally, but as something on the side (although I am pursuing a degree/certificate that involves education), which is why I would charge as low as $12 when the average rate in my area is $20 or above. Perhaps a flat rate for travel would be better?

• Answer:

  You didn't say two things that might help readers to arrive at a reasonable judgment and give you fair answer. What subject are you tutoring? What kind of student is your tutee (grade school, high school, college) ? It strikes me that you might save yourself all the trouble of fixing a rate that includes transportation costs, by having the student travel to your place/or a location nearby (as you suggest). let the student bear the direct costs of transporation and save yourelf the bother of bus/train travel back and forth. If you start off proposing to the student (parents) a tutoring rate and an additional charge for transportation, you might very well scare the student/parents away. Unless the parents earn above average incomes, $20-30/hr might seem a bit steep or outside their capacity to pay. My alternatives would be : Either fold your transportation costs into the hourly rate, starting with the maximum and giving the tutee some leeway for negotiation. Or, set a fair hourly rate and let the tutee take care of travelling to meet you at your home or some place close by.