Pricing
Charging more for in-person sessions can feel awkward. Not because it’s unreasonable, but because you don’t want to look like you’re itemising everything.
The reality is simple: in-person sessions cost more time than the hour on the clock. This page gives you clean pricing options tutors actually use, and wording you can copy for parents.
Keep online at your standard rate. Raise in-person to reflect travel and lost scheduling density. Don’t over-explain it.
If you want one rule
Charge more for in-person, or set a clear travel boundary. Pick one, write it down, stick to it.
Keep sessions and locations clear, without chasing threads.
Most tutors aren’t worried about whether charging more is “fair”. They’re worried about how it comes across.
The problem is that in-person sessions quietly include extra time: travel either side, setting up, packing down, and the fact you often can’t stack sessions back-to-back.
You’re not charging more because you’re doing “more teaching”. You’re charging more because the session takes up more of your day.
This is the simplest. You set online as your base rate, and in-person as base + a bit more. No mileage maths. No line items. No awkward admin.
This works well if you want one clean policy that’s easy to communicate.
This works when you travel occasionally. You keep a consistent base rate, and only add a travel fee when a session crosses a distance threshold.
It’s transparent, but slightly more complex. If you hate admin, Option 1 is usually better.
Some tutors keep pricing the same and simply refuse anything beyond a travel time or radius.
This protects your timetable without having to charge a surcharge, and it’s surprisingly effective once you say it plainly.
Parents care about outcomes, but they also care about reliability. A pricing policy that protects your week often protects your students too.
You don’t need to justify yourself for five paragraphs. One calm sentence is usually enough.
“Online sessions are at my standard rate. In-person sessions are slightly higher because travel time either side reduces how many sessions I can fit into a day.”
“I keep my in-person rate a little higher so I can include proper buffers and stay reliable for everyone.”
“I’m happy to do in-person sessions locally, but I keep travel to under 15 minutes so I can stay consistent and on time.”
Once you do a mix of online, in-person, and library sessions, the real admin load becomes tracking where each session happens. If you store it across calendar titles, messages, and memory, it drifts.
Satori keeps session location attached to the booking, so you can stop double-checking and stop chasing threads.
Keep your week coherent and your session details obvious.
Is it normal to charge more for in-person tutoring?
Yes. Many tutors charge more because in-person sessions include travel time and reduce how many sessions can be stacked in a day.
Should I add mileage as a line item?
You can, but many tutors prefer a slightly higher in-person rate because it’s simpler and avoids feeling like nickel-and-diming.
What if parents push back?
Most pushback comes from surprise. Explain it calmly in terms of travel time and reliability. Keep the policy consistent.
What’s the simplest policy?
Online is your base rate. In-person is higher. Or set a clear travel boundary. Pick one approach and stick to it.
Built slowly, carefully, and with respect for your time and your data.
