Tutors can provide excellent support when you need help becoming an expert in a specific field. Even if you are trying to learn basic subjects, having a tutor is usually a big help, though they are an added cost. Understanding the rates these professionals charge is essential if you need to hire a tutor to support your learning.
You will be ready to hire a suitable person—and stay within your budget—by checking out the below tips! We dive into the subject of tutor costs, tutor varieties, and consider some questions you may want to ask when interviewing a prospective tutor.
Average Costs for a Tutor
Costs for tutors vary according to their expertise. If you are looking to hire a teaching assistant or a trainee teacher, you can expect to pay an average of twenty-five dollars an hour.
A fully-trained, experienced teacher can charge up to forty-five dollars an hour, a significant price increase. But, you may find that they have far more teaching tools and skills to make your learning more effective and efficient.
Finally, if you want a professor or experienced academic to be your tutor, you can expect to pay around eighty to one hundred dollars an hour on average.
You may be able to ask for a discount if you plan to use a tutor frequently over time. Tutors will often want to have repeat business instead of an ad-hoc or one-off arrangement.
Using the same tutor regularly can also be an advantageous arrangement, as they can tailor their teaching style to your specific needs. Plus, many tutors will often test your skills more efficiently by understanding your knowledge base.
Questions to Ask a Prospective Tutor
Considering the considerable divergence in price, you should know what questions to ask a tutor before hiring them. Getting answers to these questions will confirm you have the right person for your needs, giving you bang for your buck and a valuable educational support system.
For instance, if you are looking to hire a professor to help you better understand a highly complex subject, you need to make sure their teaching methods will work for you. Otherwise, you are at risk of quickly losing a lot of money to a service you don’t find beneficial, given a professor’s higher than average tutor prices.
Consider asking the following questions to your possible hire:
- What qualifications do you hold?
- How do you know a pupil is learning optimally?
- What do you do if a pupil finds a particular concept hard?
- What subjects are your weakest topics? How do you make sure that does not affect your teaching?
- What is your availability?
- What challenges have you faced in tutoring, and how have you overcome them?
Characteristics of a Good Tutor
Even when tutors have similar qualifications, one will always be better (or at least more suitable) than the other due to personality.
Some tutors will have characteristics that you find easier to work with, enhancing your learning ability. If a tutor’s methodology aligns with your learning habits, it can materially improve their ability to teach effectively.
While interviewing tutors, be on the lookout for the following qualities:
Patience
Patience is a virtue—and a characteristic that can turn a good tutor into a great one! Patience means a tutor will dedicate the appropriate time to check that you have thoroughly learned a topic or subject. It also means they can work through any confusion you may have with a calm, supportive demeanor.
Innovation
Teaching is more than just regurgitating what is in a book. To help relay ideas and theories to a pupil, tutors need to find an effective means of translating key topics. They must develop innovative ways to transfer their knowledge, often customized to how a pupil will learn best.
Enthusiasm
One way tutors can help pupils is to be enthusiastic about their subject. That positivity will often be infectious, and, as a result, it can materially improve a pupil’s desire to learn. Put simply, enthusiasm is fun to be around and can save a dry subject from becoming too dull. Students remain motivated, which naturally increases their subject knowledge.
Approachability
Finally, it is essential that a tutor is approachable and has a demeanor that welcomes questions from a student. If a tutor is approachable, a pupil is far more likely to keep asking questions, gradually becoming more comfortable with a topic they may find challenging. If a tutor is not open and available, pupils may not ask the questions they need to grasp a concept fully.
Hiring a Tutor
Hiring a tutor can make all the difference to a person finding difficulty in one (or more) subjects. Tutors can help break down problems, explain crucial ideas more clearly than a book, and make learning fun and interactive.
Given the benefits they can provide a student, it’s vital to find the right tutor for the situation. Play your cards right, and you will have a successful, engaged student—and money left over for pizza night!
