Teaching · For Tutors · Pricing

Raise the rate
knowing what
it can absorb.

Type your rate now, the new one and your week. The planner shows how many sessions you could lose and still come out even, what your year looks like at the loss you expect, and when to tell families.

Plan my raiseWhat you get
$12one-time · every device you sign in on
Buy · $12

Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Or get it in the Tutoring business kit, $69 for 64 items.

The rate increase planner

The worked example is made up: a tutor at $60 a session, 22 sessions a week, raising to $68 in January and expecting to lose about 5% of sessions. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

Loading the calculator. If nothing appears, turn on JavaScript.

What you get

Teaching · For Tutors$12 · included with Classroom and Whole-school licenses

What you finish with
The share of sessions you could lose before a raise stops paying, your profit a year now and after, a table of outcomes for 0% to 30% lost, the date to send notice and a notice note to families you can edit and copy. It prints as a one-page plan and downloads as a spreadsheet.
Who it is for
Independent tutors and small tutoring businesses planning a rate change, and teachers who tutor on the side.
Format
Browser planner for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a plan; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file; copies a notice note.
Access
$12 one-time, yours on every device you sign in on; the tool opens once you are signed in with it. Included with Caveat Classroom and Whole-school licenses. Also in the Tutoring business kit ($69) and the Teaching Suite pass ($199), and 1 more bundle. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The For Tutors space in Caveat Teaching.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type your rate now and the new rate, your sessions a week and weeks a year.
  2. Add your cost per session and a guess at the share of sessions you might lose.
  3. Pick the start date and the weeks of notice you will give.
  4. Read how many sessions the raise can absorb, then copy and edit the notice note.
  5. Print the plan or download the spreadsheet.

Plan my raise

How the break-even is worked out

Fewer sessions at a higher margin.

Change in a year’s profit by share of sessions lost, $60 to $680%5%10%15%20%25%30%$0+$7.7k−$10.8keven at 12.5%Profit change by sessions lost0%5%10%15%20%25%30%$0+$7.7k−$10.8keven at 12.5%
In the example the raise pays as long as fewer than 12.5% of sessions are lost; at 5% it adds $4,646 a year.

The arithmetic

Profit a year is the rate minus your cost per session, times sessions a week, times weeks. After the raise, the sessions shrink by the share you expect to lose. Coming out even means the two profits match, which happens when the share lost equals 1 − (rate now − cost) ÷ (new rate − cost): for $60 to $68 with a $4 cost, 1 − 56 ÷ 64, or 12.5%.

Making it land

Give families notice in writing, several weeks ahead, with the old rate, the new rate and the start date; honor sessions already paid for at the old rate. Raises tied to a new school year or calendar year are easier to accept, and a raise that also opens time you can fill at the new rate pays twice. If a family asks to cut back, offering every other week can keep the relationship.

Sources

  1. Farris, P. W., Bendle, N. T., Pfeifer, P. E., and Reibstein, D. J. (2010). Marketing Metrics, 2nd ed. Pearson: contribution margin and the volume change that offsets a price change.
  2. U.S. Small Business Administration small business guides (sba.gov): pricing and knowing your cost per unit of service.
  3. Federal Trade Commission, consumer guidance on refunds and cancellations (consumer.ftc.gov): state terms clearly before a purchase, including price changes for prepaid services.
  4. Internal Revenue Service, Publication 334, Tax Guide for Small Business: tutoring income and expenses on Schedule C.

The worked example is made up. The share of sessions lost is your estimate; this page does arithmetic on it. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.