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Same 20 sessions: platform pays $960/wk, independent pays $1,104 — and a 4-student group pays $140/hr.
Tutoring platforms solve the empty-calendar problem and charge 15–25% for it — on 20 sessions at $60/hr, that is $240 a week, every week. Independent tutors with a cancellation policy keep $1,104 of the same $1,200 gross, and a single 4-student group at $35 each pays $140/hr — students save 42%, you earn 133% more. This calculator runs the full comparison: platform vs independent take-home, group-session leverage, and the test-prep premium, so your rate card is math, not guessing.
Tutors use it before setting rates: 20 sessions at $60 pays $960/wk on a platform but $1,104 independent — and one 4-student group out-earns two solo hours.
Platform first, independent for keeps. Platforms (Wyzant, Preply, Superprof) take 15–25% but solve the cold-start problem — reviews, search placement, and a steady lead flow when your calendar is empty. The standard arc: build 10–20 reviews on the platform, then move renewals and referrals independent, where the same hours pay 15–25% more — the example week shows $144/wk, roughly $7,000/yr on an identical calendar. Note the platform terms: most prohibit moving active platform students off-platform, so the transition runs through NEW students from referrals, school lists, and local groups, not poaching. Independence costs something too — you become the scheduler, the payment collector, and the marketer — which is what the cancellation policy and prepaid packages are for.
With a written policy and prepaid packages — the two together cut no-shows roughly in half. The standard: 24-hour notice required, sessions cancelled inside it charged in full, packages of 10 sessions prepaid with a 3–4 month expiry. The math justifies the firmness: an 8% no-show rate on a $60/hr, 20-session calendar is $4,600 a year of empty hours you held for someone. Prepaid packages also fix cash flow (paid this month for sessions spread over six weeks) and increase completion — families who prepaid finish the package. Makeups: offer one reschedule slot per package as the humane valve, and waive the fee for genuine emergencies once — the policy's job is to make cancelling a decision, not to punish illness.
The rate ladder follows demonstrated outcomes: general homework help $40–60/hr, subject expertise (calculus, chemistry, physics, statistics) $60–85/hr, and test prep with documented score gains $90–150/hr — parents pay the premium for the result, so track score lifts and grade improvements as your rate justification. Group formats change the math entirely: 4 students at $35/hr each is $140/hr — SAT cohorts, algebra bootcamps, and AP review groups sell because parents compare the per-student price while you earn the group total. The calendar realities: 20 sessions/wk is a full independent practice once prep and parent communication are counted; demand runs September–May with finals-week spikes and a summer trough that bridge programs and test-prep intensives fill; and online delivery removes the drive-time tax that caps in-person tutors at 4–5 sessions a day. Structural demand lives in math at every level, reading intervention, SAT/ACT, and AP sciences.