Thread: what to charge to teach a class when being paid a flat fee regardless of # of students

Does anyone have any advice on how much an instructor should be paid if they are being paid a flat fee to teach a class, regardless of # of students, and the space is provided to them free of charge? I am being hired by a rec center to teach a one-hour weekly class for 10 weeks. They have asked me what my fee is. My instructor advised me that 75$ per hour was fair, but I am curious what the market typically pays. I don't want to undercut and I don't want to price myself out of my first teaching job.

Unfortunately this was a hard question to search on as I didn't know what keywords to use.

How big is the space? How many students does this facility expect to show up on an average night? $75 would be equivalent to $12.50 for six students. Does that sound about right?

I'd have to say listening to your instructor (and other local dancers) is the best way to answer this question. Per hour teaching rates can vary widely from place to place, and you want to be on par.

good luck!

Originally Posted by Tourbeau

How big is the space? How many students does this facility expect to show up on an average night? $75 would be equivalent to $12.50 for six students. Does that sound about right?

I wish I knew - first time doing this. I guess I would expect them to charge somewhere between 15-25$ per class, but keep a reasonable amount to cover advertising, space rental, and whatever other business costs they incrue. Considering how much work will go into producing the class (since it's my first time, I'll need to come up with a syllabus and do a lot of upfront planning), it doesn't really seem like great pay to me compared to say a restaurant gig or a bellygram which pays more per hour. BUT, the upfront planning should be a one-time effort as the next time I teach, I will have the material to work with and only need to tailor or modify.

rec centers unually do not pay that much. i would say 20- 35 an hour . becuase the recenter is going to take some of the profit.

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I wish I knew - first time doing this. I guess I would expect them to charge somewhere between 15-25$ per class, but keep a reasonable amount to cover advertising, space rental, and whatever other business costs they incrue. Considering how much work will go into producing the class (since it's my first time, I'll need to come up with a syllabus and do a lot of upfront planning), it doesn't really seem like great pay to me compared to say a restaurant gig or a bellygram which pays more per hour. BUT, the upfront planning should be a one-time effort as the next time I teach, I will have the material to work with and only need to tailor or modify.

If the person who advised is already teaching there, I think you should take their advice.

When planning how much to charge when *you* are the one who is doing the renting, I've used the following:

1. How much are other beginner classes going for in the community I want to teach in?

2. How much is rental?

3. How much is my transportation?

4. What's a fair amount for my time, per hour (actual teaching, I don't count the prep)?

5. What do I have to pay for marketing? Paper? Ink? website design and hosting? my time spreading it around? what if any part of this can I barter out?


Considering all of the above, I add all the expenses + what I want to be paid * 12 / 52 (for the weekly charge) / by the regional rate = the # of students I need to cover that.

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

I wish I knew - first time doing this. I guess I would expect them to charge somewhere between 15-25$ per class, but keep a reasonable amount to cover advertising, space rental, and whatever other business costs they incrue.

This sounds pricey for a 10-class session at a rec center. Around here a regular class averages $15, so the rec center has to make it appealing ($8-12 per class for the session). Can you check the local rates to make sure?

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

Considering how much work will go into producing the class (since it's my first time, I'll need to come up with a syllabus and do a lot of upfront planning), it doesn't really seem like great pay to me compared to say a restaurant gig or a bellygram which pays more per hour. BUT, the upfront planning should be a one-time effort as the next time I teach, I will have the material to work with and only need to tailor or modify.

There will be some work up front, but you can't charge them for this time all at once. It's part of the job training & preparation. :) You only charge them a decent rate for being a qualified professional instructor.

I would think $30-50/hr is more reasonable than $75 for this type of gig (remember you are doing nothing but showing up to teach once your syllabus is created -- they do marketing, registration, room/studio rental, audio set-up, cleaning, etc) but you should heed the advice of your teacher (unless there's a chance she's trying to price you out of the job).

ETA I've subbed my the local rec center, $75 for 2 1/4 hours of instruction (2 classes the same night) paid by the regular teacher.

$20-$35 an hour *does not make sense* if you are teaching an hour at a time. That sounds like a lot if you are working a job which has you there for 8 hours a day and you do your prep work there, but it doesn't even cover costs for running into town for just an hour.

Listen to your teacher, she knows the area. I thought $75 sounded very reasonable. If I teach a class, I need to clear about $60 after expenses (rent, advertising, etc) to make it worth it to me. I admit that based on that, I've been working at a deficit for the last couple years, but there are other issues involved there! When I give quotes to places like Curves (who usually want just a one off rather than regular classes) I quote them $75, $60 if they book (& prepay) 4 sessions. That's already a discount on what I charge for a dance party format which includes a quick lesson, because I know the business does need to make money off of this. However, if they want to make money off my teaching, they need to put in the work to fill the class too.

Maybe another thing to consider is asking for a rate based on the total number of people who register? I used to get a flat rate that was pretty good at a local YMCA, but then I asked them if they would consider paying me at a higher rate if I had more than 12 people register. They agreed, and it works well on both ends now. I do quite a bit more promotion for them, now that I have incentive to do so, and I make more money because of it. And they have consistently had more people who register.

Not to make your decision more difficult, just food for thought :)

And of course, everyone's advice on going with what your teacher recommends is spot on, if she knows the area well.

Originally Posted by nasila

I would think $30-50/hr is more reasonable than $75 for this type of gig (remember you are doing nothing but showing up to teach once your syllabus is created -- they do marketing, registration, room/studio rental, audio set-up, cleaning, etc) but you should heed the advice of your teacher (unless there's a chance she's trying to price you out of the job).

ETA I've subbed my the local rec center, $75 for 2 1/4 hours of instruction (2 classes the same night) paid by the regular teacher.

It's puzzling. My teacher told me to charge that amount and she specifically contacted me to ask me to take over this job, so I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be trying to sabotage me. I wouldn't even be considering teaching if she hadn't contacted me. [Reason being, I am quite busy as it is and didn't feel I had any _more_ to offer than existing teachers - but in this case I am taking over an existing class that would otherwise be under-served].

The guy running the rec center easily agreed to $75, but only wants to charge participants $65 for the 8-9 class session. It seems very low to me but I have always taken bellydance from established instructors who have to pay for their own studio space. I'm not even sure how this will work out - he's going to pay me $600 and he's hoping for a minimum of 10 students at $65 - that would only give him a $50 profit. Is he missing something or am I?

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

It's puzzling. My teacher told me to charge that amount and she specifically contacted me to ask me to take over this job, so I'm pretty sure she wouldn't be trying to sabotage me. I wouldn't even be considering teaching if she hadn't contacted me. [Reason being, I am quite busy as it is and didn't feel I had any _more_ to offer than existing teachers - but in this case I am taking over an existing class that would otherwise be under-served].

The guy running the rec center easily agreed to $75, but only wants to charge participants $65 for the 8-9 class session. It seems very low to me but I have always taken bellydance from established instructors who have to pay for their own studio space. I'm not even sure how this will work out - he's going to pay me $600 and he's hoping for a minimum of 10 students at $65 - that would only give him a $50 profit. Is he missing something or am I?

if it's being run as a non profit, then he's doing fine.

I hope he's not thinking of paying you $75 for the SESSION!!! (but I'm afraid that may be where the miscommunication lies).

I once taught for a city rec center that got all its revenue from tax dollars and only needed to prove they were serving a certain number of citizens to be funded. In that case, they kept only 20% of the profit.

Pay rates vary a lot regionally. In my area, it can be as low as $20/hour or as high as $60. The lower rate is for a teacher who's being paid as an EMPLOYEE (Social Security, workmen's comp, etc are being paid in for her AND she's covered under the facility's liability insurance).

(I've been offered as little as $10/hour, I *hope* no one ever accepted that!)

I personally always held out for $50/hour or more when being paid a flat rate, BUT I also heavily advertised my own classes; most of the students coming in the door were from my efforts, and advertising is expensive! I also provided all the students' props, etc.

I think if you're just showing up to teach, as an independent contractor, you should insist on $40 or more, depending on cost of living in your area.

I stopped teaching a couple of years ago to focus on my performances.

I had earned $50/hour teaching at the local Rec Centre for the previous 3 years (since I started there). I got to set the number of students and I picked 20 knowing that a third wouldn't make it past the 4th of 8 weeks. I had 2 classes back to back. $100 a night for 2.5 hours of teaching (that includes travel) "felt" right.

If I were to start teaching again at the same or similar venue, I would insist on $60-75/hour. The cost of living only ever increases AND my classes cost the facility absolutely nothing. Once they pay my fee, they are making a healthy profit to support administration, utilities, etc. Do not let the years of focused dance training it cost you to be able to teach today be undervalued. Demand what you are worth.