Estimate tutoring session cost by subject and frequency.
Tutoring is quoted hourly but consumed in sessions, so the useful unit is cost per session: the hourly rate times session length, divided by however many students share it. Small-group tuition is the strongest lever here — two students halve the per-family cost while retaining most of the benefit for consolidation work, though not for the diagnostic teaching that one-to-one does best. The total hours figure is worth watching alongside the money, since research on tutoring effect sizes is expressed per hour of instruction.
Total tutoring cost
Cost per session = hourly rate x session hours / students sharing; total = cost per session x sessions per week x weeks
Evidence on small-group and one-to-one tuition generally shows meaningful gains from around 20 to 30 hours delivered over a term or two. Very short interventions rarely move outcomes measurably.
For diagnosing and correcting specific misconceptions, yes. For practice, revision and exam technique, a pair or trio delivers most of the benefit at a fraction of the cost — which is why many families mix the two.
Not usually beyond about 90 minutes for school-age students, after which attention drops sharply. Two shorter sessions a week generally outperform one long one at the same total cost.