I look at what other tutors are charging and it's not even worth it to charge any money then with how much the program and paypal take out.
I know that for many it's just community tutoring and very relaxed but I've worked for other online companies and they charge the student hundreds of dollars and the student is probably getting the same level of education as they are here.
This company seems to take out the middle man which is great but then teachers/tutors need to charge a reasonable rate.
I looked it up just now and this is what one website said about tutors: "A typical tutor will charge between $17 and $45 per hour and some charge up to $76 depending on experience, education and certificates." Most tutors here are only charging $5-10/hour. Why?
You're teaching one on one and that's something completely unheard of in a classroom and even tutoring companies have 3 students to 1 teacher (many of whom aren't teachers) many times. Just because you don't have a teaching license in your state/country doesn't mean that you can't teach as well or better than many teachers with licenses.
Hi Rachel,
This is just my personal opinion. I have absolutely no evidence to back it up, and I certainly cannot speak for anyone, so please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I think there are three major reasons Italki.com tutors charge less for their services:
1) Competition. When we set our prices, we want to price ourselves fairly so as to gain a pricing advantage over others. While we don't want to undercut anyone too much (that would upset others who might feel like they're getting their students taken away by cheaper prices), in time, this pricing advantage does result in lower prices overall.
2) Confidence. It's one thing to speak a language, but another completely to have to tutor someone in it. I know I was certainly nervous for my first lesson (hopefully, it didn't show with the student) because I was thinking "this person is depending on me to not make mistakes; otherwise, he might develop a habit of saying something incorrectly." If we price ourselves too high, we might feel as though we ripped someone off for sub-par instruction.
3) Area of residence. Depending on where someone lives, he/she might see $10 USD differently than others. For some of us, $10 USD is lunch money, but for others, it could be far more than they need to get by for the rest of the day, so charging more would make them feel greedy.
Again, I'm merely speculating and cannot verify if any of this is true. I'd love to hear what others have to say.
Hello there,
I think it's necessary to think carefully and thoughtfully about this website purpose and what expertise each teacher/tutor has to offer a student. This platform is of course a business and a way to experience different culture through learning and teaching.
Besides what the guy above me said, I would like to elaborate on why tutors are 'undervaluing' themselves:
A tutor who only speaks one language and lives in a developed country must and should always consider potential students residence, time zone and economy. A student (Anthropology considered also) from Cambodia (40,150,000 KHR=$10), Chile or Senegal who wants to learn English or French would definitely find it difficult to pay $10 when that equates to roughly "$300" worth of money in their currency.
The simple and obvious fact that this is a business where people want to attract as much students as possible makes it difficult to only look at one's teaching ability and standards when setting a price.
