How to price tutoring lessons in Australia

6 min read · Updated 2026-10-18

General information, not legal advice. Laws and the regulators' rules change: check the sources below, and talk to your own adviser about your centre.

Ask most centre owners how they set their prices and the honest answer is: we looked at the centre down the road and came in a little under. Then the rent goes up, a tutor passes three months and moves up a level, and the owner realises the Thursday group has been losing money all year. A competitor's price list tells you what families will tolerate. It cannot tell you whether you make money. Start instead from what one lesson costs you to deliver, add the margin you need, and only then check the result against your local market.

Step 1: the tutor's real cost per hour

The tutor's hourly rate is the start, not the total. Fair Work says employees who tutor primary or high school students are covered by the Miscellaneous Award, and under that award a casual is paid a loading of 25 per cent of the minimum hourly rate and must be engaged for at least two consecutive hours each time they attend. Check your own coverage with Fair Work before relying on this, and see our articles on paying casual tutors and paying contractor tutors.

On top of pay sits super. The ATO puts the employer super rate at 12 per cent, and it applies to casuals too (for staff under 18, only in a week they work more than 30 hours). Add workers compensation insurance and the paid time around a lesson: preparation, marking and the five minutes talking to a parent at pick-up. If a tutor is paid for two hours to teach ninety minutes, your cost per taught hour is higher than the rate suggests.

Step 2: rent per room-hour

Divide your weekly rent and outgoings by the room-hours you can actually sell, not the hours the doors are open. A centre open 30 hours a week with four rooms has 120 room-hours, but if families only want after-school and Saturday slots, the sellable figure may be closer to half that. Pricing on the smaller number is honest; pricing on the larger one hides a loss. XTutio's room occupancy view shows booked time against each campus's own opening hours, room by room, so you can see which hours you are really selling before you divide.

Step 3: software, admin and everything else

Add a per-lesson share of software, payment fees, marketing, reception and your own time running the place. These are easy to forget because no single one feels large. Spread the yearly total across the lessons you expect to sell in a year.

A worked example (invented figures)

The figures below are made up to show the method. They are not market rates, award rates or a recommendation.

1. Tutor cost, including loading, super, insurance and paid prep, comes to $48 for a one-hour lesson.
2. Rent and outgoings of $1,200 a week over 60 sellable room-hours is $20 per room-hour.
3. Software, fees, marketing and admin spread across the year come to $12 a lesson.
4. Cost of a one-to-one hour: $48 + $20 + $12 = $80.
5. A 25 per cent margin on cost brings the price to $100 before GST.
6. The same hour as a group of three costs the same $80 to run, so $40 a student covers it with a $40 margin.

Group or one-to-one

Groups lower the price per student and raise the margin per hour, but only when the group is full. Price a group so it still covers its costs with one student short, set a minimum size, and decide in advance what happens when a group falls below it. One-to-one lessons carry a premium because a single family pays the whole cost of the hour.

Term pricing and discounts

Charging by the term gives you cash before the costs arrive and lowers casual dropouts, which is why many centres offer a small saving for it. Keep discounts deliberate:

• A sibling discount rewards families who bring more children, and costs you less than finding a new family.
• A term or pack saving should be smaller than the cash flow and retention it buys.
• Avoid stacking every discount on one family until the lesson runs at a loss.
• Write each discount into the price list, so reception does not invent new ones at the desk.

The front desk is where pricing usually goes wrong: a new staff member types a figure from memory, or a lesson is booked with no service at all. In XTutio every lesson is priced from your own price list, a booking can only name one of your own services, and a lesson with no price is never charged at a made-up figure. A group lesson is charged to each family for its own children, and a sibling discount is a single percentage you set on the billing screen, taken off before GST. The services, prices and billing guide walks through setting it up.

Raising prices without losing families

Costs rise every year, so plan a regular review rather than a sudden jump. The ACCC gives an example: a term letting a business change the price during a contract is likely unfair if the customer cannot leave, and likely not unfair if the customer can end the contract without penalty. So give written notice before a new price applies, start it at a natural break such as a new term, and let a family who does not accept it leave without a fee.

• ✓Tutor cost per taught hour includes loading, super, insurance and paid preparation.
• ✓Rent is divided by sellable room-hours, not opening hours.
• ✓Software, fees, marketing and admin are spread across the lessons you expect to sell.
• ✓Group prices still cover costs with one student absent.
• ✓Discounts are written down and do not stack below cost.
• ✓Price rises come with written notice and a way to leave without penalty.
• ✓Your accountant has checked the GST treatment of your prices.

Questions centres ask

How do I work out what to charge for a tutoring lesson?

Add up the tutor's full cost per taught hour, a share of rent per sellable room-hour and your overheads per lesson, then add the margin you need. Compare the result with your local market only after you know your costs.

Should group lessons cost less per student?

Usually yes, because the hour's cost is shared. Price the group so it still covers its costs if one student is absent, and set a minimum size.

How much notice should I give before raising prices?

No single period suits everyone, but give it in writing and start the new price at a natural break such as a new term. Letting families who do not accept it leave without penalty also keeps the change on the fair side of the unfair contract terms law.

Sources

• Work out if you have to pay super, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• Miscellaneous Award 2020 [MA000104], Fair Work Ombudsman. Read 2026-10-17.
• Award coverage for tutors [K600560], Fair Work Ombudsman. Read 2026-10-17.
• How GST works, Australian Taxation Office. Read 2026-10-17.
• Contracts, Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Read 2026-10-18.