Free Calculator · Updated 18 May 2026
Tutor Term Fee Calculator, Australia
Price your tutoring or music-lesson packages with confidence, from primary literacy to HSC, VCE, QCE and AMEB exam prep. Adjust hourly rate, lesson length, group size and sibling discounts to see per-lesson, per-term and annual fees instantly.
Typical AU hourly range: $50 to $80 · Default lesson: 60 min
AU public-school terms typically run 9 to 11 weeks.
1-on-1, full rate.
Happy with the term fee? The next question is what it costs to invoice it. Compare the AUD plans on the pricing page.
How to Use
From hourly rate to term invoice, in 4 steps
- 1
Pick your subject tier
Choose Primary, Lower Secondary, HSC/VCE/QCE, Tertiary, Music, AMEB or ESL. The tier sets a sensible hourly-rate band and lesson length you can fine-tune from there.
- 2
Set lessons per week and weeks per term
Default is 1 lesson × 10 weeks. Bump to 2 lessons/week for exam-prep intensives, or shorten to 8 weeks for short-term catch-up packages around school holidays.
- 3
Adjust group size and discounts
Group lessons reduce the per-student rate but boost hourly revenue. Sibling discount (10% per extra child by default) and prepay savings (5% for full-year upfront) help close sales.
- 4
Toggle GST and read the term/annual fee
Most tutors stay under the $75k threshold and leave GST off. If you're registered, the breakdown shows the GST line separately so you can put it straight on your invoice.
Practical Tips
What experienced AU tutors get right
Watch the $75k GST threshold
Track turnover on a rolling 12-month basis, not financial year. As soon as you forecast going over $75,000, register within 21 days, and immediately add 10% GST to every new invoice (you can't retro-charge clients).
Deposit vs. full-term prepay
Full-term prepay is the gold standard, it locks the schedule and removes weekly invoicing admin. For new families, a 25 to 50% deposit at booking plus the balance in Week 1 lowers the commitment hurdle without giving up income certainty.
Be explicit about holiday weeks
Term packages skip public holidays and school holiday weeks by default. Spell out in your T&Cs which weeks are billed, whether you offer make-up lessons for student absences, and how rollovers work, most parent disputes start here.
Group economics: do the maths
A 4-student HSC group at $45/head earns $180/hr vs. $80/hr solo, but only if the room and prep time are already paid for. Run groups for high-demand subjects (Maths Ext, English Adv, Chemistry) where you can fill 4+ slots reliably.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I charge per lesson or per term?
Per-term (or per-package) pricing is the AU industry norm for tutors and music teachers because it stabilises income, reduces no-show losses, and signals commitment. Per-lesson is fine for ad-hoc HSC exam crammers, but for ongoing students bill the full term upfront with a make-up policy for legitimate cancellations.
When do I have to register for GST?
When your tutoring turnover hits $75,000 over any rolling 12-month period (not financial year), you must register within 21 days and add 10% GST to every invoice. Most sole-trader tutors sit below this threshold and don't charge GST, but track turnover monthly so you don't get caught out mid-year.
What refund policy should I use for term packages?
Common AU tutor policy: prepaid terms are non-refundable, but unused lessons can be credited to the next term if cancellation is given 7+ days before the term end. For genuine medical reasons or family emergencies, offer a pro-rata refund or rollover. Publish the policy in your terms and have parents sign before the first paid term.
How much should the sibling discount be?
10% off the second child and 15 to 20% off the third is typical. It rewards multi-child families while protecting your hourly margin, they're still adding teaching time, just slightly discounted per head. Some tutors do 'flat $X per family per hour' for back-to-back sibling lessons since the travel and admin overhead is fixed.
How does group tutoring change the rate?
Per-student rate drops but total revenue per hour rises. A solo $80/hr tutor running a 4-student group at ~$45 per student per hour earns $180/hr, more than double, while each family pays less than 1-on-1. Group works best for HSC subjects, exam prep, and ensemble music. Cap at 4 to 6 students to keep individual attention meaningful.
How and when should I raise prices?
Once a year, ideally at the start of Term 1 with 6 to 8 weeks notice. Raise by 5 to 10% to cover wage inflation and your growing expertise. Existing families are far more price-tolerant than you expect provided you give notice, most attrition comes from poor communication, not the increase itself. Always grandfather mid-package rates.
Running a tutoring or music studio?
OneBookPlus is the all-in-one platform for AU tutors and music teachers, term invoicing, recurring schedules, sibling discounts, parent portals and GST-ready receipts. Free to start.
Rather look before you sign up? Open a live demo account with real data in it.
Reviewed by Bishal Shrestha
About the author
Bishal Shrestha
Founder & CEO, OneBookPlus
Bishal spent a decade running digital projects for Australian small businesses before founding OneBookPlus. He writes and maintains these pages, and publishes what OneBookPlus does not do alongside what it does.
Read the founder bioHow this page was researched
Every figure above is either linked to the body that published it or recomputable from the numbers shown on the page. Plan prices come from the OneBookPlus price registry, so the page and the checkout cannot disagree. Everything said about OneBookPlus describes what the product does today, and the page says so where it does not do something.
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