My friend made $2,100 from tutoring on his college campus in one semester. This was extra money that helped him pay down his debt and it allowed him to have some fun.
I know that you can make money tutoring next semester if you apply the advice offered in here. There’s money to be made on your college campus or online from tutoring other students.
This article is going to show you how to make money on your college campus by creating your own online tutoring jobs in different fields.
Are you a college student looking to make some money around campus? I want to show exactly how a buddy was able to make money from tutoring as a student.
Personal finance blogs often advise college students that they can make money through sites like quickrewards and tutoring sites. It’s a great idea and all, but how exactly do you do it?
How can a student make money on campus while testing out their entrepreneurship skills?
Tutoring.
This is the perfect side hustle and opportunity for students to make money. You have to work on your marketing, presentation, and delivery. This could be your first taste of entrepreneurship.
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How do you exactly make money from tutoring as a college student?
How can a student make money tutoring?
If you’re anything like me, then you like having things explained to you. You have many questions running through your mind:
- How do you make money from tutoring?
- How do you set your prices?
- What do you tutor?
- Where do you find clients?
I can’t personally answer these questions for you guys because I never tutored but I really wanted to help out with making more money. This is why I reached out to a good friend of mine, that I know who makes money from tutoring. On a ride home after a mini road trip he was kind enough to let me pick his brain. The result is my first of many case studies on ways to make money and entrepreneurship.
I’ll show you guys exactly how my friend Bohdan made $2,100 from tutoring over the last semester with an advertising budget of zero dollars.
Where do you find clients for your tutoring business?
Online.
Going online is the easiest way to land tutoring clients. Now I know that this sounds vague so let’s narrow it down.
How do you find tutoring jobs online?
- Facebook groups. Every college has Facebook groups. These groups are narrowed down by the program and the levels.
- Posting ads on Kijiji. You never know where you’ll land a client.
- Student forums. Are you in any forums?
- Tutoring databases. Have you checked out tutoring websites and databases? You can become a tutor to students around the world.
Word of mouth.
My friend hasn’t spent a single penny on advertising. He hasn’t put up any flyers. He also hasn’t created any fancy business cards nor has he created a website to promote his services (not that there’s anything from with any of these things). Word gets around fast when half the class appears to be failing the course at the mid term point and help is needed.
Word of mouth means that you simply find one client and then you encourage them to bring their friends for a discounted rate. The goal is to spread the word until you have a decent stream of tutoring clients.
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Being visible around campus.
My friend has held many jobs within the Accounting Department. From Teaching Assistant to Exam Invigilator. Students within the department know who he is and most important of all they know they can trust him.
As a matter of fact, before he even thought of tutoring, students came up to him to ask if he could tutor them. After a few free sessions it became evident that there’s a demand for this service. The demand for tutoring also comes with a willingness to pay for the service. Potential clients clearly know that they have have a problem and they’re willing to pay to have it resolved.
Offer group sessions/rates.
You want students that appreciate the value of your services. However, you also need to understand that some students are on a tight budget. This is why you should offer group rates. If a student wants to get a lower rate then simply suggest that they bring together a group of their peers and offer them a decent (lowered overall per person) price.
(Note: This is a little trick because every new student that is brought to a group session becomes another potential long-term client.)
What subject do you tutor for money as a student?
My buddy tutors three different accounting classes: Intro, intermediate, and advanced accounting.
Accounting isn’t exactly the most exciting topic to tutor or learn. But if you master your challenging accounting course (or whatever the difficult courses are in your program) then your new found knowledge can make you some solid income from freelance tutoring.
Why?
Because odds are in your favor that other students will be challenged by the same courses. Every program has extremely challenging courses. If you excel in them, you may have a gold mine under your belt.
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How do you set your prices for your tutoring services on campus?
He checked out what other tutors were charging for accounting courses in his school and other schools in the area. You naturally don’t want to charge more than the very experienced tutors. On the other hand you don’t want to de-value your own skills and services. You’re worth more than you think.
Therefore, you should charge less than the most experienced tutors around campus because you need to build up your clientele. But you shouldn’t offer too much of a price difference because you’ll only de-value yourself.
For example: In this scenario, one of the older tutors that’s been around for a long time charges $40/hr. My friend set his price at $30/hr.
If you’re the only person tutoring a particular subject then you’re in a unique situation. You should aim to set your price at what clients are willing to pay. If you find only a few people complain about your price, then it’s all good. If you find that you’re turning away more clients than you’re accepting, maybe you should revise your costs.
Any other tips for readers looking to make money through tutoring?
1. Don’t call it tutoring. Use terms like mentor, coach, help or assist. College students don’t like the word, “tutor” for some reason. It makes students feel more comfortable when they’re not being “tutored.”
2. You don’t have to be the best at what you coach but you need to know your stuff. Clients won’t necessarily care what your credentials are. As long as you’re able to help them learn the information in a straight-forward manner, they will return.
3. Always have your students come and leave with something. Tell your students to bring challenging questions ahead of time. This shows that you value their time and that you’re not trying to rip them off. As the students leave the session, make sure they leave with something. Whether you give them a handout, summary of the day, or a few more questions to solve, they need to leave with something.
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4. You better be patient. You don’t have to be the worlds greatest people person (I’m far from it) but you need to be patient. Not being able to solve a problem can be embarrassing and frustrating. If you snap/lose your patience easily then maybe you should become an MMA fighter or something else.
5. Try tutoring online. The good news is that with technology you can now teach online and earn money. You don’t even have to physically be at the campus. I have a friend who does tutoring over Skype.
You can graduate from college debt-free if you put the work in. There’s no reason as to why you can’t share your knowledge.
Do you see yourself making money from tutoring after reading this?
Give tutoring a shot. You might just be able to turn this into a real business like Theo did. If you know your stuff and can explain it well, tutoring can bring you in some real money.
I did this in college. There’s lots of cash to be made if you can find a tough subject where tutors are scarce.
I found most of my clients after working for the university tutoring center for 2 years, then I branched off setting my own hours once I had a solid number of repeat customers.
I used tutoring right after I graduated college for some money on the side to help me start the first of my 4 companies. I actually enjoyed it quite a bit as I got to help tutor people for the SAT and some of them showed some really impressive results. It was decent money at that time at $25/hr and very rewarding. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who is considering giving it a try.
I would have to say that mathematics is the best subject to be a tutor for. Given that most, if not all, colleges/universities require a math class and that many people are that great at math, this leaves a HUGE need for math tutors.
When I tutored in college, I charged $20/hr for private sessions. I remember doing a group session one time, I ended up getting $60 for the hour, but each student only paid $10 or so. Win-win for the tutor and students.
I have actually graduated now and have a full-time job. However, I also have a part-time job at the local technical college, getting paid by the school through grants at $25/hr. Not a bad jig. I grossed $5k last year from my second job.
Some colleges employ tutors. I used to tutor at a college that provided walk-in tutoring for students at no charge. I made a lower hourly rate than what I would have gotten for private tutoring, but I had a steady number of hours every week and got paid whether or not students showed up.
When I took organic chemistry in college, there was a guy who held group study sessions before each test. He regularly drew 30-50 students who paid $20 each for a 3-hour session!
Great post! It made me laugh when you said you need to know your shit, but it’s definitely important. I wouldn’t want to get tutored from someone who has a 2.0 GPA…
I actually know a lot of people that have graduated and–surprise!–can’t find jobs. They do tutoring in whatever they graduated with in order to earn some money. Though it’s not enough to afford a lavish lifestyle, it’s enough to pay the rent and buy food and the occasional new gadget or so. It’s great work experience too, so once there are job openings in their field, they have more experience than most people.
I personally tutor English as a foreign language, though I could definitely tutor French (I also speak German, but as I live in Germany there are better tutors for that here!). I think as MD says is to know your stuff. My college offered me a chance to get a qualification in teaching English and I took it – now I can charge (and am paid) twice as much as other tutors because I know what I’m doing. Plus the students know they’re being taught the right things.
For those of you who are considering taking on tutoring try to get students who are at the same/similar level and have similar problems. That way you can make worksheets for one and use it with someone else. Also keep an extra copy of any materials you make/use and you can reference back to it/re-use it in the future.
I am sure you could almost make a living income on this. Tutor Grade School kids (their parents pay you to do that) and make a paycheck (paycheck for every two weeks) of near $800 per. Am I right?
I have just started freelance tutoring this summer. I came into accidentally but have come to love it. Not a lot of money made yet but since I live in a college town and math is not something people seem to want to tutor as much as there is a demand for the service I feel confident I’ll pick up other students especially since I’ve already gotten permission to advertise at my apartment complex. I’m excited to see how my little venture turns out (and hoping to at least pay the rest of my way through school…the part that scholarships and grants doesn’t cover.
I happened to visit this site and found it encouraging to know there is a demand for tutors.
I plan on staring a tutor business with (math and bio) being taught to 6-9 grades. I will have one tutor and see how it goes and then expand. I will charge $ 60 and then $30 to tutor and the balance is mine.
How does this sound?
My advice is simple Randi: post an ad, find a paying client, deliver the service, and see how it goes.
I am supporting a family of three ( including myself ) in Orange county, CA just by tutoring at several tutoring centers and by myself.
I get more than $2000 per month just by tutoring less than 15 hours per week.
I am an experienced tutor. I do both online and in person. On weekends, I make as much as 600 to 1000 per day as I helped students with advanced courses such as Decision Modeling, Advanced Excel, and SAT or ACT.
That’s some really good money Yancy. Where were you when I was struggling with high school math?
I also study statistics ( I assume from decision modeling and excel) and do SAT / ACT tutoring how did you build your clientele to hit 600-1000 a day ??? What do you charge how long do you work I would definitely love to know.
Hello,
Can any one suggests good tutoring sites that can provide with online tutoring opportunities and can pay decent rates of around $20/hour? It would be grateful if anyone here can guide me. Thank you
I already called mine tutors and I’m at the preliminary stage of trying to get clients. Is there a problem with that?
There’s no problem with that. Any luck with finding clients?
My name is Zeyad, and I recently moved back to Iraq (Because of family reasons) and I was looking for ways to make some cash, until I stumbled across a idea of teaching english to students here in Iraq. I started around 3 weeks ago and made about 48$ so far. I have four clients currently and charge around 4.27$ for a hour and thirty minutes(which is VERY cheep here in Iraq). Currently I am 14 years of age! and on my way to becoming a young business man! But when I started teaching students I thought that the most difficult part of being a “couch” would be not knowing how to teach my students, but after I did my first lesson I started getting more confident in my self and wanted to GROW my “company” faster but that is what I am having trouble with, which is how?, how am I going to get people talking about me? and coming to me? this is what I truly need help with.
When I started reading your artical I was astonished on how much you are going to help me build up my company!
Things I need help with:
1) How would I advertise my “company” if I did have a bit of extra cash? What would you recommend I spend my money on to help advertise my “company”?
2) Should I change my prices a bit?
3) Do you have any ideas on any activities that I can do with my students?
4) And finally do you have any other advise for me?
Thanks so much for your time,
Zeyad
The problem is I doubt if the majority of our youths out there are willing to work hard as to doing any of the listed options…
They always look for small work big pay jobs and thereby falling into the hands of scammers or eventually turning into scams.
Do these tutors have websites? Can some of them share the link to their websites?
I began tutoring math in college because my dad simply wouldn’t stop bothering me about it. When I added a math major to my physics major, the math department asked me if I wanted to be on a tutor right after a phone call where I blew up at my father about pestering me to use my talents. I took it as a sign that I was being a dumb kid and gave them my info haha
From there I tutored so frequently that the school actually recommended me when the local Sylvan Learning Center called the university asking for potential candidates to replace their math coach. Though I had been tutoring high school kids and fellow college students for almost two years, it wasn’t until my year at Sylvan that I realized how much I enjoyed teaching math across all levels and decided to become a teacher.
I continued to hone my skills by moving to a much larger city and working as the Director of Training of three Mathnasiums where I truly gained my instructional personality as well as picking up innumerable teaching strategies. After returning to my home town and being in charge of my own Mathnasium location as a Center Director, I decided that I wanted to branch out on my own.
I began my own private tutoring business and utilized contacts I had made along the way. So many strategies that the author mentioned from his friend propelled me through college and still work quite well to this day some 8 years later. I picked up enough students that I average around $1700-1800 every month and even was asked to apply to a local private school.
I will say that while students do not like the word “tutor” (it’s true, they don’t which is why I call my business a supplemental education service), it is the most searched term by parents or grandparents online, so keeping it as a keyword can be important.
For those asking for prices, it largely depends on your location and qualifications. Where I am in a smaller city with a population just under 100,000 I charge $20-30/hr with only a bachelor’s degree. High school graduates or students typically charge $10-15 less and some teachers with higher degrees or more years of experience charge as much as $50/hr. The affluence of your city’s clientele largely dictate your prices. Don’t undervalue yourself, but don’t try to start out charging more than everyone certainly.
Advertising is typically best done free, believe it or not. In my experience posting around the university has worked wonders initially, so well in fact I had to stop because I didn’t have any more room in my schedule for new students. I did have experience with some of the departments already, though, but I have no doubt that most educational institutions would be happy to list you as a resource.
A website is nice, and I do have one that I will list at the bottom since someone asked, but I primarily use mine as a place to blog and gain a following for my fiction series that I am writing. Facebook has been much more effective for me, especially now that I work at a private school where I meet parents who are happy to share my posts to their friends in need of a tutor. Different people will debate the effectiveness of ads on Facebook, but I personally saw no return even from the fairly decent following I already had.
The key to attracting new students is humor, in my opinion. Anyone studying math has at one point or another has felt the pangs of fear at a new formula or method. Alleviating that and building confidence is most of the battle in meeting new kids for me. I guarantee that if you can get a student to laugh and have even a bit of enjoyment to ease their stress, they will notice and so will their parents which will lead to recommendations.
Sorry for the wall of text. I just thought I would add my own experiences to help others see the path I had and the outcome to help them in determining if they would like to follow suit or pave their own way. I actually read this waaaay back when I was debating taking the plunge to start my own tutoring business and would say it has turned out fairly well. As I said before I will put a link to my website below, though the math portion is certainly a work in progress as it is primarily dedicated to my attempts at becoming an author.
Good luck everyone!
kaganlove.com
So I’m 16 years old and I’m going to be a Junior this year in highschool and also a freshmen in college. I’ve helped friends around school pass their classes by helping them understand the new concepts and create different studying techniques to use. I just moved schools though, very far away and now I can’t tutor those people who I’ve helped out in the pass for free. Any ideas about how to get my name out here in my new city? Anything helps thanks.
Hey Jeff! What course is it? I would love to help you. The first step is to decide which course you can help tutor in. Then decide on your hourly rate. Then put up ads around campus! You have to spread the word about your service. Go where the students are. Make some simple flyers. Email me if you have any questions [email protected]
You can start to be a tutor on Justlearn.com 🙂
Iam man who love a life with learn somthing new. Last year and because stay at home and you know if your mind is not working by any job even in home you will lose it . First thing you think what can I do . I’m for example teacher how I can do with tools cleaner . Yes there are alot dirty this is first time I see my home like this! all times before I say ohhh beautiful every walls , carpet , lamps …. But when you are not go outside never and ever you will see your home need you .So I work cleaner , man how fix old laptop , paint walls , even elctric. Today I need money for my family every things are expensive and the money I take it from my work is not get every somethig you want it. Finally help me and try me.