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Primary Education

The Cost of Online Tutors

Tutoring costs can be expensive, there’s no doubt about that. Being tutored privately traditionally carries the stigma of something that’s exclusively reserved for the rich families of this world. Things have changed, however, and it’s now far more affordable to get some help on the web than it ever was before. When hiring a private tutor, many factors come into play. Parents should look at a tutor’s credentials, their availability, their references, etc. Online tutoring takes care of most of these complications for you. Getting your child the help they need has suddenly become much cheaper and easier.
Since tutoring online is based on the principles of one-to-one tutoring, it is just as effective. Some parents may be shy of trusting their child’s education to a computer screen but, in some cases, online tutoring may even be better than tutoring in person.
The computer creates a classroom like environment where the tutor and student can interact and communicate as if they were in the same room.
Because of the easiness and low cost of online tutoring, it is becoming very popular very fast. Many people are starting to choose online tutoring over other more conventional methods of academic assistance.
Scheduling an online tutoring session is much easier than scheduling one in person. Transportation needs and costs no longer come in to play; working from your computer is much easier than traveling any number of miles to another location.
Some students are embarrassed about having to be tutored. They dislike having to go to learning centers; this could potentially affect their performance. The embarrassment aspect of tutoring is removed when doing it online. This makes for a happier students and a student that is more willing and open to being tutored.
Parents tend to like online tutoring because it’s cheaper. Having a private tutor come to your house can be extremely expensive, and some people just don’t have that kind of money.
Online tutors receive training in their fields and usually possess certifications that guarantee them qualified to tutor your student. This is a much more reliable system then hiring your neighborhood high school students to help your kid with their math homework.
Online tutoring companies subjected to this to intensive background checks to ensure that they are a good match for their clients. So you can be sure that your child is being helped by a person who is able to handle any situation that could arise. All things considered, online tutoring seems to be the best option.…

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Education Current Events

Pricing Strategies for Private Tutors

Pricing plays an important role in the success of any tutoring business. However, there is a lot of confusion about the best way to price your tutoring services and how to go about finding the right price. This article looks at pricing strategies for independent tutors and tutoring companies and how to research prices in your market.
Setting your Pricing Level
The first step in determining how much you should charge for your tutoring services is to determine what other tutoring services in your area are charging. You’ll want to focus on tutoring companies that offer similar services to your own tutoring business since there can be a large variation in tutoring prices for different types of tutoring.
The next step is to do some research just like someone searching for tutoring would. Search for tutoring services in your area online, check the phone book, ask guidance counselors about other tutoring companies. When you have a list of similar tutoring companies in your area you can find out about prices by calling them up and asking or checking their website for prices. You can also check online tutoring directories to find out what independent tutors are charging for the subjects your company offers.
If your company is new and you or your tutors have average experience and credentials then you should try to price your services a bit above the average price.
If your company has been operating for a while, you have satisfied customers, and you or your tutors have teaching experience and credentials then you should price closer to the upper range of comparable tutoring services.
Many new tutoring companies think they need to start with low prices in order to attract clients, but this is a risky strategy and can actually hurt your business more than help it. The reason for this is that if your prices are very low, you will be generating very little profit to reinvest into promoting your business. If you are paying tutors to work for you, you will also have a difficult time attracting and keeping high quality tutors which are extremely important for building your reputation and creating satisfied customers who will refer you to other clients.
Early on it might make sense to focus on an under-served segment of the tutoring market in your area. This will allow you to charge higher rates, and generate higher profits which will help you afford more marketing and better tutors. These in turn will help you establish a base from which to expand into more competitive segments of the tutoring market.
Tutoring Price List
Providing different pricing options can also help your business meet the needs of more clients. There are several pricing or billing methods you can use.
Pay per Session
This pricing option has clients pay before or after each tutoring session. This is a good method if your business does not have much of an operating history. It also puts new clients at ease if they are new to your business and are wary of paying for a longer period of time in advance.
Pay per period
Paying per period may have clients pay for a week or month in advance based on the number of sessions they will have during that period. This method is good for tutoring businesses because you receive the money up front and don’t have to worry about students forgetting to pay for each session. It’s more convenient for clients because they can pay for a week or month and don’t have to worry about writing a check for every single session. Some tutoring companies may bill at the end of each week or month, but for new companies it’s best to require payment in advance since this will allow you to receive payment for tutoring sessions before you need to pay your tutors.
Prepaid Packages
Some tutoring companies sell prepaid bundles of tutoring services. Such as 10 hours of math tutoring or 12 hours of English tutoring. These hours can then be scheduled over the following months as the student schedules them. This method allows you to offer volume pricing which can encourage potential clients to commit to more tutoring sessions.
Adapting your Prices
The tutoring market is constantly changing so it’s important that you’re flexible with your tutoring company’s pricing. If your pricing structure is not helping you meet your business goals you simply need to try tweaking your prices or possibly your services. People are concerned with value so if you offer more value in your tutoring services you may not need to lower your prices or if you offer more value than you did a year ago then it might be a good idea to raise your prices.…

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Quality Education

10 Reasons Tutors Can Improve Your Kids Grades

Hiring a private tutor for your child is actually one of the most effective ways to increase their performance in school. Here are the top ten reasons how tutors can help improve your kid’s grades:
1. Private tutors can help improve your child’s performance by making them more focus on their lessons. This is probably because of the one-on-one learning environment that your child could enjoy with their private tutor.
2. Tutors can also be your kid’s best friend. Another benefit of hiring a private tutor for your child is that, you always have the power to pick the one that will work with your child’s attitude.
3. Having a private tutor doesn’t necessarily mean that your child is totally slow in understanding. For most of the time, children are doing great with their classes except for those subjects that might be a little complicated for your kid like science and math. A tutor with specific subject specialty can effectively stimulate the interest of your child to learn these subjects and enhance their performance.
4. Tutors can contribute a different point of view or introduce fresh approach of learning to you child about their covered subject. In this way, your kids can acquire extended knowledge that they can use during their actual classes.
5. It is proven for numbers of times that a person’s attitude is always contentious. Well, specialized tutors are highly passionate about the subject that they are teaching. This could also affect the interest of your kid toward such subject. Through their passion, tutors may share their fascinations with your child and make them embrace the subject they used to hate.
6. Due to many distractions, often time your child misses a lot of points of their lessons during their actual classes. The problem about this is that a classroom-based teacher may not have enough time or ability to attend to your child’s concern. Hiring private tutors gives your child a chance to catch-up. In this way, you can ensure that your child is always on the right track.
7. Your child will surely appreciate the personal learning approach that their private tutor can provide to them. Unlike studying in a crowded classroom environment, your child will not feel any hesitation to ask any question with their tutor. Again, this will help them capture all the key points of their lesson and effectively improve their grades.
8. Experienced tutors are trained to evaluate the learning capacity of a child. They can easily design a lesson plan that will work specifically for your kid in a way that your child can clearly understand and absorb.
9. Let’s face it… Due to the rapid development in most of the school’s curriculum, changes in some subject’s principles or simply because of our weak memory, we cannot provide answers to our kids whenever they ask us something about their homework. This will not happen if you get your child their own private tutor. Professional tutors always keep themselves updated with their area of expertise. They can guide your child throughout their assignments and make them prepared for classes the following day.
10. Aside from providing systematical method of learning, tutors can also point out the student’s mistakes during the process of study without making them loss their self-esteem.…

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Education News

Advantages of Tutoring Companies Over Independent Tutors

Tutoring companies face strong competition from other companies and independent tutors. Independent tutors can often afford to charge much lower rates, which makes them more attractive to many potential customers – so how can companies position themselves to attract clients despite their higher rates? There are several benefits companies offer potential clients that independents don’t – and by emphasizing these benefits, tutoring companies can attract more clients.
The following five characteristics can set tutoring companies apart from independent tutors. The extra value clients receive from these characteristics justify the higher rates that companies charge – companies just need to make clients aware of these benefits in order to attract more clients.
1. Time Savings
It’s quite easy to become an independent tutor, so there are lots of people with a wide range of education, experience and skills in this field. People looking for tutoring services typically look for a balance between the quality of the teaching they will receive and the price they will pay. However, evaluating independent tutors to determine the quality of their teaching can be a difficult and time-consuming process. Companies can help by completing this process for people.
Most tutoring companies have hiring processes in place for screening resumes, conducting interviews, evaluating experience and skills, completing background checks and more. They spend time finding high quality tutors, which saves parents and students from this process. Parents and students can simply ask a company how they screen their teachers and based on the response they will quickly be able to determine if the company will have high-quality teachers.
2. Quality
Not only do thorough screening processes save parents and students time when searching for tutors, they also help tutoring companies find top-quality tutors. As companies gain more experience they will be able to refine their hiring processes to find better teachers – this will lead to a better reputation and the ability to command higher rates.
In addition to finding high quality teachers, tutoring companies also usually have more established systems for handling scheduling, billing, communication and performance tracking than independents. Established systems that have been honed over the years make the entire tutoring process go smoother for clients which is valuable to many clients. Some independent tutors may be organized but the probability of finding one with well-established processes that ensure a smooth teaching process is lower than with companies.
3. Accountability
Another advantage tutoring companies have over independent tutors is that they have more invested in their reputations. Whereas independent tutors might have a couple students and rely on free advertising, companies have tens or dozens of students and invest considerable money in marketing and building their brands. In order to build and protect their brands, tutoring companies have more motivation than independent tutors to ensure their students receive top-quality teaching. Mention your business’s reputation in your marketing materials and when meeting with potential clients, talk about the number of years you have been in business, the number of students you have tutored, the size of your company and more. All of these things demonstrate that you are an established company that is obviously doing something right and that has a reputation to uphold.
4. The Right Fit
The x-factor in the tutor-student relationship is how well a student and tutor get along. A lot of this has to do with the personality of the two individuals. This relationship has a large impact on the effectiveness of a tutor and often can’t be evaluated until the tutor and student have been working together for a while. The problem with independent tutors is that the parent has likely invested significant time into finding the ideal tutor – one with the right education, experience and skills. But if the tutor and student’s personalities conflict the parent will have to settle for poor results or will have to begin the tutor search all over again.
Tutoring companies make it easier to match the right teacher to the right student. Companies have already screened their teachers so most should be high-quality. If a tutor and student don’t get along well, the company can assign a new one to the student with little disruption.
5. Focused on Teaching
Independent tutors often face the challenge of managing both the administrative and the teaching side of their business. This can be a distraction since the independent tutor is not focused solely on teaching his or her students, but rather also needs to focus on finding new students, billing, collecting payments, etc.
Tutor’s in working for a company or agency are able to focus solely on teaching their students while the company’s admins handle the administrative work. This results in more focused and productive tutors that can teach better.
6. Reliability
Tutoring companies can usually offer more reliable service than independent tutors. When …