How is $80+/hr a justified rate?!?! Tell me your thoughts + why (1 Viewer)

[hcarlon]

I was just browsing through highschooltutors and looking at the rates people charge, particularly focusing on recent graduates who got similar results to me. I'm shocked.

HOW DO THOSE JR STUDENTS JUSTIFY CHARGING $80+ AN HOUR FOR 1-ON-1 TUTORING? Sure, you may be a 99.5+ atar med student but you're still fresh out of high school. I doubt they have the experience (and time to help you out of hours) they claim. Many people start off at a low rate and increase it year by year as they gain experience and collect more resources. So unless you've done further tertiary study in a particular subject and/or have taught for many years, I don't think this exorbitant fee is acceptable. Remember that even state ranks were taught by someone, whether it be their school teacher or a tutor.

My rant: do these tutors actually get many (if any) students? Or is this some form of self-preservation where they try to 'earn back' the money they spent on their own education? Literal cash .There are more qualified people out there that charge more affordable prices.

I charge almost half that price for year 12 students. Am I undervaluing my work or are they the ones being unreasonable?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

 

[jimmysmith560]

The thing is that great marks do not necessarily guarantee a great tutor. There might be tutors with significantly inferior marks who might be able to teach and allow a student to understand a particular concept in a much more efficient and effective way than a student who scores a perfect ATAR for example. In my personal opinion, $80 per hour is too high, but I assume this price is mainly associated with the fact that they graduated from a top selective school and achieved a great ATAR (i.e. seemingly amazing reputation), which should, on paper, reflect great tutoring capabilities, but may not necessarily be the case.

In terms of whether those tutors get students, with highschooltutors, you can determine if a tutor gets students (or has at least been contacted by one) if they have the "Very responsive" sign on their profile. This indicates that they have at some point, at least been contacted by one student, and possibly organised lessons for students. Keep in mind that there are parents/students who might be attracted by the student's HSC background (i.e. school and ATAR), which may be sufficient for them to contact the tutor and possibly organise lessons.

I definitely agree that a tutor should increase their hourly rate according to a positive change to their credentials where applicable, and I don't think you're undervaluing your own work - $40 per hour is, in my opinion, a much more reasonable rate for a tutor than $80 per hour.

Conclusion: while $80 per hour can be considered an unreasonably high rate to charge (even if the tutor graduated from a top selective school and received a great ATAR), if there is an agreement on the advertised rate between the tutor and their student(s), there's not much one can do about it, as it is their choice to charge whichever rate they feel they deserve. However, one thing is certain, they are likely to face competition, particularly from people with similar achievements who charge considerably lower rates.

Thank you for your Ted Talk!

 

[totally_screwed]

I guess when you go to JR or a top selective school and you come out with 99+ atar it's "naturally" justified to get paid rates like that. personally I think it's ridiculous and yes I doubt tutors like this get many students but honestly even if they had just one student it would be like having 3. I got 99.6 and went to shit school (relative to JR) and my rate is 30/hr lol, even 30 is apparently too much according to my mum she calls me greedy, but then I think about the JR students charging double if not triple what I charge and I think no I'm not settling for any less tyvm : )))))

 

[totally_screwed]

Exactly my genius biology skills come at a high price

fr fr

 

[kkk579]

I was just browsing through highschooltutors and looking at the rates people charge, particularly focusing on recent graduates who got similar results to me. I'm shocked.

HOW DO THOSE JR STUDENTS JUSTIFY CHARGING $80+ AN HOUR FOR 1-ON-1 TUTORING? Sure, you may be a 99.5+ atar med student but you're still fresh out of high school. I doubt they have the experience (and time to help you out of hours) they claim. Many people start off at a low rate and increase it year by year as they gain experience and collect more resources. So unless you've done further tertiary study in a particular subject and/or have taught for many years, I don't think this exorbitant fee is acceptable. Remember that even state ranks were taught by someone, whether it be their school teacher or a tutor.

My rant: do these tutors actually get many (if any) students? Or is this some form of self-preservation where they try to 'earn back' the money they spent on their own education? Literal cash .There are more qualified people out there that charge more affordable prices.

I charge almost half that price for year 12 students. Am I undervaluing my work or are they the ones being unreasonable?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

$80 an hour= not worth it
There’s so many better tutors out there WITH EXPERIENCE who cost less than half of that.

 

[Drongoski]

Even I, with a postgraduate degree and over 20 years of tutoring experience, find it hard to charge $80/hr.

I feel some of the people who achieved an ATAR of 99.95 think they are perfect. I think they are rather swell-headed and arrogant. But I'm sure an exceptional few do make very good tutors.

 

[kkk579]

Even I, with a postgraduate degree and over 20 years of tutoring experience, find it hard to charge $80/hr.

I feel some of the people who achieved an ATAR of 99.95 think they are perfect. I think they are rather swell-headed. But I'm sure an exceptional few do make very good tutors.

yeah because a lot of tutors in uni who i have gotten taught by although they get really good atars (95+) they just aren’t fit for teaching lol.

 

[jazz519]

I was just browsing through highschooltutors and looking at the rates people charge, particularly focusing on recent graduates who got similar results to me. I'm shocked.

HOW DO THOSE JR STUDENTS JUSTIFY CHARGING $80+ AN HOUR FOR 1-ON-1 TUTORING? Sure, you may be a 99.5+ atar med student but you're still fresh out of high school. I doubt they have the experience (and time to help you out of hours) they claim. Many people start off at a low rate and increase it year by year as they gain experience and collect more resources. So unless you've done further tertiary study in a particular subject and/or have taught for many years, I don't think this exorbitant fee is acceptable. Remember that even state ranks were taught by someone, whether it be their school teacher or a tutor.

My rant: do these tutors actually get many (if any) students? Or is this some form of self-preservation where they try to 'earn back' the money they spent on their own education? Literal cash .There are more qualified people out there that charge more affordable prices.

I charge almost half that price for year 12 students. Am I undervaluing my work or are they the ones being unreasonable?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

$80 per hour in my opinion is too high if the tutor has just graduated, as even if they say something like 'I freshly just completed the syllabus and I am up to date', isn't more beneficial than a tutor who has taught the content multiple times and has experience in how to teach. As tutoring isn't just about how much marks you got but a combination of that and do you know how to explain concepts in a way that students of all range of abilities can understand.

However, need to kind of take this by a case by case process as you can't really just lump everyone into charging high fees for the sake of it. Just because they recently graduated doesn't mean they haven't spent the time before starting tutoring to develop some type of resources. If the tutor was offering 1:1 tutoring and providing things like theory booklets and homework booklets, then the price may be high but can be justified as they won't be getting paid for the time required in developing those resources. Maybe not justified to charge 80 but probably in 60 range is okay I would say. If they are just doing stuff like on the spot tutoring without supplying notes or actual collated questions then yeah that is fair enough to say it's too much money. I never charged as high as that (did around 40-50) but straight out of high school I made theory booklets and homework booklets similar to what you get at a tutoring centre. So if someone else did this I wouldn't really say they were overcharging as the time it takes to make that is ages.

Aside from that though if the person is very qualified like for instance they are doing a uni degree in that subject and demonstrated high proficiency at uni for it as well. Then I guess charging a bit more like 60 is fair enough as very few tutors will have those qualifications and understanding of the content at a fundamental level.

To be honest if I was doing 1:1 tutoring now would have to charge in that 70 range based on what I offer (theory, homework booklets, marking, uni accomplishments in that degree etc.) as it wouldn't be worth the time spent on those resources and qualifications. But I don't feel that's right as it's too high for a person to pay if the lesson is 2 hours, so in that case what I did and what I think is more fair is doing some form of group tutoring, where you charge less like 30 per hour. The students still get all the benefits of the detailed resources but at a more affordable price and the small groups are usually their own school friends. So in the case the tutor has more experience, relevant uni degree and other things are offered, then it's fair enough to charge higher but for the lower qualifications it's way too much.

But yeah it's a bit sad in terms of the over-charging people do without having any actual extra benefits. I think these people probably get students as they are still advertising that price. This probably occurs not so much cause a student found them and wanted to go but due to parents who many cases haven't done the HSC themselves and studied in a different country, reading all their high marks, med student (which seems like a weird flex ngl hahahaah when it doesn't actually give them any extra advantage over a tutor who got a 99 ATAR and doing a non-med degree) and some other smart marketing that paints the picture they offer way more than other tutors. The problem with that is the parent probably thinks those things are important for a tutor and that their son/daughter will end up getting those marks, instead of more looking into a combination of teaching experience, marks and what else they offer. I guess what the lesson to be learnt from this is when your parents are looking for a tutor for you, you should be actively engaged in the process as a student, so your parents end up getting value for money.

 

[hcarlon]

In terms of whether those tutors get students, with highschooltutors, you can determine if a tutor gets students (or has at least been contacted by one) if they have the "Very responsive" sign on their profile. This indicates that they have at some point, at least been contacted by one student, and possibly organised lessons for students.

One thing I've noticed is that the website requires a membership fee to contact the tutor. You actually aren't allowed to post your phone number or email in your ad, but the loophole is that you can get away with spelling it out e.g. zero-four-... or spacing the characters apart. My point is, the responsiveness shown on the website may not be accurate.

 

[hcarlon]

Even I, with a postgraduate degree and over 20 years of tutoring experience, find it hard to charge $80/hr.

I feel some of the people who achieved an ATAR of 99.95 think they are perfect. I think they are rather swell-headed and arrogant. But I'm sure an exceptional few do make very good tutors.

Haha maybe med school will beat some sense into their 'god complex'

 

[hcarlon]

However, need to kind of take this by a case by case process as you can't really just lump everyone into charging high fees for the sake of it. Just because they recently graduated doesn't mean they haven't spent the time before starting tutoring to develop some type of resources.

Yes! This is definitely an important consideration and I admire all the effort people like you put into creating resources. One thing that irked me was a group of people I saw on FB blatantly advertising that they will tutor using Dr Du booklets - so not their own resource. Though I must argue this situation is morally grey because its known that the maths at Dr Du is copied off a variety of textbooks

I guess what the lesson to be learnt from this is when your parents are looking for a tutor for you, you should be actively engaged in the process as a student, so your parents end up getting value for money.

Sometimes I wish parents weren't so involved in their children's lives. Of course they'll be the ones paying but if the child doesn't think they need tutoring, it better not to force them to go. Same goes for choosing uni courses... I'm getting off topic now though

 

[pikachu975]

I was just browsing through highschooltutors and looking at the rates people charge, particularly focusing on recent graduates who got similar results to me. I'm shocked.

HOW DO THOSE JR STUDENTS JUSTIFY CHARGING $80+ AN HOUR FOR 1-ON-1 TUTORING? Sure, you may be a 99.5+ atar med student but you're still fresh out of high school. I doubt they have the experience (and time to help you out of hours) they claim. Many people start off at a low rate and increase it year by year as they gain experience and collect more resources. So unless you've done further tertiary study in a particular subject and/or have taught for many years, I don't think this exorbitant fee is acceptable. Remember that even state ranks were taught by someone, whether it be their school teacher or a tutor.

My rant: do these tutors actually get many (if any) students? Or is this some form of self-preservation where they try to 'earn back' the money they spent on their own education? Literal cash .There are more qualified people out there that charge more affordable prices.

I charge almost half that price for year 12 students. Am I undervaluing my work or are they the ones being unreasonable?

Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

Yeah it's unreasonable but people probably pay for it so they keep doing so it works sadly.

I hold the same opinion about general practitioners earning 200k when the ones I've been to have been useless, they just prescribe panadol or tell you to rest and rake in 200k per year. I once asked if my wrist pain was a problem and that it started from year 11 or 12, and that I started rock climbing in uni. And he decided to tell me it's probably due to rock climbing and I should keep going to strengthen my wrists LMAO. Then a better doctor (1+ hour wait even with booking) told me it's RSI which made more sense. So many of them are emotionless and just want you to get out of their office ASAP so they can farm more patients and get more money which is ironic since they needed to pass an EmoTiOn sEctiOn of UMAT

 

[kkk579]

I’m so poor I can’t even afford $30/hr LMAO

oof

 

[quickoats]

Yeah it's unreasonable but people probably pay for it so they keep doing so it works sadly.

I hold the same opinion about general practitioners earning 200k when the ones I've been to have been useless, they just prescribe panadol or tell you to rest and rake in 200k per year. I once asked if my wrist pain was a problem and that it started from year 11 or 12, and that I started rock climbing in uni. And he decided to tell me it's probably due to rock climbing and I should keep going to strengthen my wrists LMAO. Then a better doctor (1+ hour wait even with booking) told me it's RSI which made more sense. So many of them are emotionless and just want you to get out of their office ASAP so they can farm more patients and get more money which is ironic since they needed to pass an EmoTiOn sEctiOn of UMAT

Pay doctors like teachers then see how many 99ers have a sudden passion to "help people"

 

[kkk579]

Yes! This is definitely an important consideration and I admire all the effort people like you put into creating resources. One thing that irked me was a group of people I saw on FB blatantly advertising that they will tutor using Dr Du booklets - so not their own resource. Though I must argue this situation is morally grey because its known that the maths at Dr Du is copied off a variety of textbooks


Sometimes I wish parents weren't so involved in their children's lives. Of course they'll be the ones paying but if the child doesn't think they need tutoring, it better not to force them to go. Same goes for choosing uni courses... I'm getting off topic now though

definitely agree with the uni courses part. or just anything in general. especially ASIAN PARENTS, like if ur kid doesn’t wanna do medicine then don’t force them to do medicine bruh… it’s likely that they’ll give up before they even finish their degree/or whatever it’s called im still in yr 8 lol.

 

[pikachu975]

But don’t they still earn 200k regardless of amount of patients. What’s the point in farming

Oh true I think they're just sick of their job and want u to get out tbh

 

[quickoats]

But don’t they still earn 200k regardless of amount of patients. What’s the point in farming

They get paid per patient - no patients no pay (of course). Medicare pays about $37 per patient just for a consult. If they do extra things like draw blood or write a referral, Medicare pays a bit extra. So they do have an incentive to churn and earn.

 

[Eagle Mum]

My daughter went to a school that at the time wasn’t in the top 400. She doesn’t use any resources - she just helps students with whatever they need help with. She was happy to tutor in any of the subjects that she took at HSC level (maths all levels, English, physics, chemistry, biology & economics - some students would ask for help in 3 or 4 subjects in the hour session, so they considered her sessions really great value). During her first couple of years, she charged $30/hr, but her med classmates charged $70/hr and kept nagging her to increase her rates. She eventually increased them to $40/hr for new students, but still charged $30/hr for kids that started with her in junior high. Many of her students improved dramatically and started topping subjects in the schools around our area, so she received many new requests & had to turn a lot away. Several parents offered to pay her much more but she only took in students when she had a space and it was on a first in/first serve basis and she didn’t accept more than $40/hr.

 

[Eagle Mum]

We’ve never used tutoring or coaching for our kids because there hasn’t been a need, but our son had outgrown high school maths by the end of last year, but still had two more years of school to go, so we found an overseas postgrad maths student who is the perfect mentor for him... who charges *cough* $AU350 for each weekly 90 minute zoom session (~$235/hr), but it’s really worthwhile, especially since we only pay double digit annual school fees. It’s really not about the content, but keeping the interest & passion to explore maths going.

 

[SylviaB]

My student @SylviaB can confirm my high quality teaching ability

personal hygiene was a bit of an issue but as far as actual teaching quality goes, nothing but positive things to say about that