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Hiring a private math tutor is already an extremely difficult thing to do. Finding the right person for the job is very critical and not an easy task at the same time. On the other hand, the number of students who are in need of help for their studies is increasing significantly. 

This could in turn mean that the supply and demand ratio in the private math tutoring sector is being altered. Many parents have become more and more desperate as they witness their children are not performing as well as they used to in the previous years. 

While the outbreak of the coronavirus has played a key role in turning the tables, it is not the only factor to blame. According to The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), the general mathematics performance of most students in Canada has been dropping over the past decade or so. 

For instance in the state of Ontario, only 49% of grade 6 students managed to perform just enough above the average and pass the exams. This is just one of the signs indicating the desperate need of your child for a private math tutor more than ever. 

If the problem is not addressed quickly and efficiently your children may suffer from long-term consequences such as a massive drop in their self-esteem and moving to the next academy year with shaky foundations. 

In our article “Steps In Choosing The Right Math Tutor For Your Child” we have dived into what you should be looking for in order to hire the most suitable private math tutor for your child. 

But one major question still remains and that is how much a private math tutor is actually going to cost? The answer to this question is not an easy one but in this article we are going to point out several factors which determine the cost of the private math tutor you are hiring in order to make sure you will not be charged more than what you should be. Let’s get started now.

The Period 

Toronto is a large and diverse city with a large number of students studying across all grades and academy levels. What this essentially means is that the number of teachers in all subjects must be of a certain amount in order to balance out the demand and supply that is naturally created in such a market. 

Having said that, there are times when this balance is not on equilibrium and so pushes the price to move higher or lower. For example, as during the exams, or even just a few weeks prior to the exams, the demand for private math tutors increases significantly so much so that sometimes finding a suitable private math tutor can become extremely problematic and even impossible. 

This is also true when looking at the same concept from the other end of the spectrum; for example a few weeks after the schools have started the demand for private math tutors may drop and so lead to a plummet in the prices as well. 

In order to get the best possible price and actually prevent falling into the trap of such heavy price fluctuations there are a few actions parents can take. 

Number one is to correctly identify whether their child will be needing a private math tutor in the course of their new academy year. There are countless ways for figuring this out; for example parents should take a good unbiased look at the situation of their child and consider their past performances to determine whether they have performed over the average, just above the average, on the average or poorly in the previous year. 

In cases of not satisfactory performances parents should immediately make the decision and pack for the quest of finding and hiring a private math tutor that is suitable for their child before it is too late for them and the prices head through the roof. In our article “Signs Your Child Needs A Private Math Tutor”, we have deeply discussed the signs which are the main signals alerting the parents that “hey, your child is in grave need of a private math tutor.”

The Academic Background of Your Tutor Matters

Another key factor that heavily affects the cost per hour is the academic background of the tutor. There are a variety of people who are working as freelance private math tutors and they come from a large variety of academic  backgrounds and fields of study. 

For example a math tutor who is also a mathematics professor in a major university in Toronto will be charging a much higher price than let’s say a college student. However, these are the two ends of the spectrum of private math tutors in Toronto or anywhere in Canada for that matter. 

First and second year students of engineering and mathematics are also good options if your child has only minor problems and you are looking for a way to cut the cost. They are also such excellent alternatives if your child is in a lower grade. This is because your child will create a deeper and simpler connection with people who are closer to their age in comparison to those who are much older than them. 

Another good choice which you may want to opt for is school teachers who do not work in the same school as your child. We have gotten in depth on why you should not be hiring the same teacher that teaches your child in school as their private tutor in another article “Steps In Choosing The Right Math Tutor For Your Child.” Head out to that page to learn more about the matter.

Years of experience

This one is a very obvious one. It is apparent that the more experience a tutor has the more expensive their charges are going to be. This is often due to the fact that they have developed their own style of teaching and have crafted customized approaches which they have managed to make work for the majority of the students.

For example a tutor who has been teaching year 7 for 20 years may be charging so much more than  a newly employed college lecturer. Such tutors also have a much better understanding of how they should be connecting with different individuals who have different behavioral characteristics.

The Grade You Are Hiring For

Let’s be reasonable here! The lessons and topics of grade 1 are far much simpler than those of Grade 7 which are also obviously easier than those of Grade 8 and so on. So it’s only common sense for the cost of a private math tutor for let’s say Grade 2 to be much less than that of a Grade 5 or Grade 7. 

There are however a few other reasons that fall in this category. As a student climbs the ladder of the school grading system and goes from Grade 6 to Grade 7, similar to having more math hours in the school, they will also be requiring more hours of private math tuition.

We have fully discussed the major reasons why your child may be needing a private math tutor in our article “7 Reasons Why You Need to Hire A Private Math Tutor For Your Child”, but whatever the reason may be, it is likely that it will take your child more time and effort to achieve the goal. 

Let’s say your child only needs assistance for doing their math homework and you’ve decided to hire a private math tutor to address this matter. It is apparent that the amount of homework given to students in higher grades is much more in terms of quantity. This obviously means they will have to put in more time with their tutor to fully complete the task.

Another example is when you have decided to up the game of your child and turn their A to +A! Again, in the higher grades, the subjects become excessively harder and so does improving. The student must be battling at three fronts. They must be working hard to keep their foundation firm, fully grasp the newly introduced topics and try to step up in the previous areas for that major boost in their performance.

The Results of The Tutor

This one may also sound quite obvious but I’m going to include it in this article anyways and I have good reasons for this. Basically the more high achieving students a tutor has, the more they will be charging you. This is generally because of the brand that has been developed under their name. A reputation of some sort in their field of work.

It is similar to buying Apple products in a sense that while there is no doubt in the quality you are going to receive, but at the same time you are paying a huge amount of money for the brand and the reputation.

There is no difference whether you are hiring them to take that extra mile to +A or to save your child from underperformance. For either reason, there are tutors out there who have a higher number of superior results than others.

Hiring a private math tutor with such a resume is often going to cost more (DUH!) but it is not a waste of money and let me tell you why that is. The first thing is that such a tutor provides a peace of mind to the parents and their children by kind of guaranteeing ideal results. It is also very likely that this person has a lot of experience with the type of questions that are more likely to appear in the exams.

Another reason for this is that their schedules are normally much tighter than the rest of the private tutors as a higher number of families wish to hire them for their children. Following up on the supply and demand concept of markets, which we discussed at the beginning of this article, this puts the supply of that individual at scarcity and hence raises their price per hour significantly.

The Goals of The Child

Another area of importance that can alter the cost of your tutor is the purpose of which you are hiring them for. This is often a surprising thing for many of the families as they do not comprehend the process, the energy and effort different areas of teaching requires. For example, working with a student who only needs help with their homework is going to be much easier than one who has a weak foundation in the basics.

Let’s dive deeper! The truth is that if you are hiring a private math tutor for a specific entrance exam in a famous school, college or university, you are going to have to pay so much more than if your child needed help with their homework. There are several reasons for this.

First of all, since you are in a desperate situation for getting your child into that one college you’ve always wanted, mentally you will be ready to pay more and so you shall be charged! The truth is that if you come across a tutor who is not as noble as they should be, they will be charging far more than what they should. 

Now let’s assume you are hiring a private math tutor to help your child with their homework. What they will essentially be doing is helping their student with any questions they may have and guide them in following the correct approach they already know. Their other tasks include making sure the child finishes all their homework and that there are no mistakes in them. These are not things that would shoot the price through the roof!

Certain Tutors From Your Destination Center

Schools and Colleges are literally run by their teachers and lecturers. It is often a very good idea to ask a couple of them to help your child with their lessons in a few private sessions. This can be quite fruitful as they are often aware of how the entrance questions will look and can direct your child more accurately. Also, if accepted in that certain school or college, they are likely to have classes with them and your child could use some extra support in that case.

All the above advantages make such tutors even more expensive, especially when they realize how much of a help they can be in the future.

Now What?

Well the spectrum of the prices for private math tutors varies from like $11 to over $80 an hour. There is no real mathematical formula that you can simply substitute the variables into and get the right accurate pricing from.

What you could do is to leave the entire process to us. In Geniusmath we assure your child receives the best private math tutor that is not only suitable for their goals and grade, but also for their personality without breaking the bank! 

We do this through our extremely accurate and versatile assessment system which helps us get a good overview of the students’ overall situation. We then use this data to recommend the most suitable tutors in our free consultation session. What’s more is that your child can also have a session with their chosen tutor to see how well they can connect with them and assess their abilities as well. And all that is on us too!

Click on the “Consultation” button here or on top of the page now to learn more!