You Need A Tutoring Policy: Here’s How To Make One in 3 Simple Steps

I’ve had a request for some advice about policies, so here it is! First, if you don’t have a policy in place, you need to implement one. It lets your families know your expectations, protects your time and money, and helps you set boundaries. What do you put in your policy? That’s a tricky question, especially when you are just starting out. I’m going to share my top three policy ideas here. Your policy will be unique to you and your relationship with your students and families. This is just a place to start.

1. No-Shows and Late Cancellations

I made the mistake of starting without a policy in place and I didn’t bother to make one until I had a family no-show on me THREE times! Ooops! They forgot! “Oh, sorry, we headed up to the cottage for a few days.” Or my favourite, “You know what? Our child just wasn’t in the mood for tutoring tonight.” They had no intention of paying for these missed lessons and they expected me to make up the class! That’s when I got fed up and wrote my first policy. I didn’t know exactly what to include, but I knew no-shows had to be addressed. Since then, I’ve learned that there needs to be a clear cancellation window. It could be 12 hours before the lesson, 24 hours, 72 hours… it’s entirely up to you. Here’s a pro tip: If you are using Tutorbird, you can schedule an automatic reminder to go out so parents don’t forget about lessons. This reduces the number of no-shows because if you send a reminder, how can they forget? If you don’t use Tutorbird, click here to try it out because it’s AWESOME! Tell your families what the plan is for cancellations made with appropriate advanced notice. Will you give them credit? A refund? A makeup class? Tell them in the policy what the plan is so they know what to expect. Likewise, tell them what will happen if they cancel late (with less than 12 hours’ notice, for example) or no-show (ahhhhhhh!!!). If you won’t be offering any compensation for late cancellations, tell them. Let them know that there will be no credit, refund, or makeup class. If the student repeatedly cancels late or no-shows, will you continue to work with them? Will you help them manage their time with reminders, rescheduling to a more convenient time for them, etc? Let them know in the policy how you will manage repeated no-shows and late cancellations.

2. Late Payments

I am guilty of being overly trusting with my families and not implementing any policy or method to make them pay on time. This is because I work with my dream students and families, not just whoever comes my way, so I should be able to trust them to pay, right? In the beginning, I could trust them and I never had an issue with payments but as my business grew and the number of students I serve grew, issues began to pop up. Some parents forgot to pay on time. They needed multiple reminders. It was stressful to act as a collections agent and it was also time-consuming. The good news is that I have a policy and I could use my policy to solve this problem. Here’s how: Start by explaining clearly how to pay. Don’t assume that your families know because if you don’t tell them, they won’t know. Also, tell them when the payment is expected. If you are using an invoicing system, put the due date on the invoice. Consider your time and energy chasing down late payments. You may want to implement a late payment fee to compensate you for this time and energy. The late payment fee can be a percentage of the invoice, a flat fee, or whatever you feel comfortable with. The late payment fee will act as a deterrent to clients paying late, and it will provide you with much-deserved compensation for dealing with late payments. If you want to save yourself the hassle of late payments altogether, use Tutorbird and have families sign up for autopay. Yes, you’ll have to pay a fee for credit card payments. However, you won’t have to chase down any payments. You have to decide which is more valuable to you: a) the time and energy you save collecting late payments, or b) the small percentage you will pay in credit card fees. It’s entirely up to you.

3. Behaviour Expectations

Just as you would in the classroom, you need a behaviour plan that you can share with your students and families so that they are aware of the expectations and consequences if those expectations are not met. You can and should include this in your policy. List all of your behaviour expectations and frame them as positive. Why? I really do believe you catch more flies with honey so I like to keep things positive. Here’s an example of a few expectations and how to state them, and how NOT to state them:

Yes 😀

-Students will stay in the room at all times. Students will ask the tutor’s permission to leave the room to use the washroom.

-Students will listen when others are speaking.

-Students will mute when asked to by the tutor.

No 😕

-Do not leave the room.

-Do not interrupt the tutor or other students.

-Do not unmute without permission.

Always consider safety in the behaviour expectations you include in your policy. If you are tutoring in person, make sure the student can be safe in your care. For example, I will not accept any students who are runners (my students are very young) because I do not want to be responsible for students running out on the busy street. If you are tutoring online, make sure parents will be on the premises to supervise their children. Make sure they are aware that you can not adequately supervise and keep children safe via video conferencing. If you are tutoring in person, you may want parents to stay on the premises or at least close by. Check your insurance and your comfort level. Share parental supervision expectations in your policy.

Final Thoughts

Share your policies with new families in your welcome package. Share your policies each time you update them so that families are aware of changes. Each time you come across a new “situation” (and you will) add it to your policy. Negative situations and experiences with students and families don’t have to leave you powerless. Learn from each situation and add it to your policy so you can prevent it from happening again.