First Tutors New Data Reveals the National Average Cost for Private Tuition

LONDON, ENGLAND, March 29, 2013 (Press-News.org) Families across the nation paid an average of GBP22.31 per hour for private tuition in the last year. Taken from price data provided by over 15,000 tutors, FirstTutors.com found that families in rural areas are paying on average slightly more than those in major cities (the city average stands at GBP21.55 while the rural average is GBP23.07). This can be largely attributed to both higher travel costs and lower competition in rural areas.

Equally, tuition costs reflect educational complexity, with the national average ranging from GBP20.10 for primary and secondary school tuition, to GBP26.56 for university level tuition. With the UK still in the grip of an economic slump, yet decent university degrees increasingly necessary for anyone wishing to enter the country's fiercely competitive job market, private tuition is a rapidly growing sector with as much as a quarter of 11-16 year olds benefiting from it some form, as families do all they can to better their children's prospects.

Anita Lee, Managing Director, observed, "There is a prevailing myth that private tutors all charge around GBP30-40 per hour, yet our data consistently shows that when tutors set their own rates, as is the case with FirstTutors.com, they actually charge far less than this, on average".

The aforementioned figure is more reflective of the hourly fees charged by a minority of London private tutors, rather than the reality of how much private tuition costs across most of the country. First Tutors, a web-based private tuition agency established in 2005, differs in that it lets the tutors set their own rates and instead charges a small, one-off introductory fee.

To illustrate this data FirstTutors.com has created two infographics: the first indicates the average price (per hour) of tuition by learning level, from primary school to university. The second is a map of the UK indicating the average price per hour by town/city. These can be found via the First Tutors Blog

Notes to editors:

First Tutors is a online find-your-own-tutor service that helps families find tutors in a wide variety of subjects: from academic, music and languages, to dance, business, IT and beyond; it works by ranking suitable tutors by user feedback and specialist requirements. Founded in 2005, the company is dedicated to making the tuition sector more merit-based and giving tutees the widest range of choice possible.