Independent tutors manage enrollment with a short written agreement that the paying parent signs, a payment structure that matches how sessions are sold (a prepaid package or a fixed monthly term), and collection that runs without reminders from the tutor. The agreement should name who pays, the schedule, the missed session rule, and when the arrangement ends.
Who signs the enrollment agreement?
The parent or guardian signs when the student is a minor, because the parent is the one paying and agreeing to the terms. Name that person as the client, list the student separately, and make clear the student is not the one taking on the payment obligations. An adult student signs for themselves.
BookNox's tutoring contract is built this way: where the student is under 18, the parent or legal guardian named as the client is the contracting party and is responsible for payment, and the student is not a party to the agreement.
Signing does not need to happen in person. The federal ESIGN Act at 15 U.S.C. 7001 says a signature or contract may not be denied legal effect solely because it is in electronic form, so a parent can sign from a phone between work meetings. Send them a copy afterward and keep the dated version they signed.
What the agreement should cover
A tutoring agreement does not need to be long, but it does need to answer every question a family will eventually ask. Eight items cover nearly all of them:
- Subject and goal. Algebra 1, SAT reading, third grade phonics. A goal ("raise the unit test average", "finish the course with a B") gives everyone a way to judge progress.
- Session length and frequency. For example, 60 minutes once a week at an agreed time.
- Missed sessions. The notice the family must give to reschedule, what happens to a session cancelled late, and what happens when you cancel. One workable rule is 24 hours' notice to reschedule within the same month, with late cancellations and no shows counted as delivered.
- Location and safeguarding. Where in person sessions take place (an observable setting such as a library or the family's home with a parent present), that you do not transport students, and how online sessions are run.
- Communication. Who receives progress updates when the student is a minor, and how often.
- Materials. Whether workbooks, test prep books or subscriptions are included or billed at cost with approval first.
- Payment. The amount, when each payment is due, and how families pay.
- Ending. When the term ends, how either side can end it early, and what happens to sessions already paid for.
Whether a private tutor is a required reporter of suspected abuse or neglect depends on state law. Ask your state's child welfare agency before your first enrollment, and if the duty applies to you, say so in the agreement so parents know in advance.
The tutoring contract guide goes through each clause, and the contract templates page has structures to adapt.
Packages or a monthly term?
Sell packages when families come for a burst of help, and a monthly term when they come for steady support.
Packages suit test prep, a final exam push, or a summer catch up: a family buys a block, say 10 sessions, and uses them over a few weeks. Price the block slightly below ten single sessions so the commitment feels worth it. A tutor charging $80 for a single session might sell 10 for $750, a $50 saving for the family and ten scheduled hours for the tutor.
A monthly term suits weekly support through a semester. The family pays the same amount every month for a fixed number of months, and the agreement ends on a known date. Nobody has to remember to buy the next pack, and the tutor can plan the calendar months ahead.
Both beat paying per session. Per session billing means a payment request every week, and every one is a chance for the payment to slip.
Collecting payment without chasing families
Card payments are the easiest for families, and the fee is predictable. Stripe's published standard rate is 2.9% plus 30 cents per successful transaction for domestic cards (accurate as of October 22, 2026). On a $750 package, that is $22.05; on a $320 monthly payment, $9.58. The Stripe fee calculator runs the math for other amounts.
Collection works best when the family never has to start it. On BookNox, a tutor can send a proposal billed monthly for a fixed term of 2 to 12 months: the first month is paid when the parent signs, each later month collects every 30 days by payment link or by card if the parent opted in to autopay, and nothing renews after the final month. Those payments are direct charges on the tutor's own Stripe account, which Stripe's direct charges documentation describes as a charge that appears on the connected account rather than the platform's.
Families who prefer to pay by invoice can still do so; the free invoice generator produces one with the session dates and amounts on it.
Tax on tutoring income
Tutoring income from your own clients is self employment income. The IRS says on its self employment tax page that you must pay self employment tax and file Schedule SE if your net earnings from self employment were $400 or more, and that the self employment tax rate is 15.3%. Set money aside from every monthly payment rather than at the end of the year. The self employment tax calculator estimates the amount, and tax deductions for tutors lists common costs that reduce it.
Worked example: a four month algebra term
A parent enrolls a ninth grader for weekly Algebra 1 help from September through December: 60 minute sessions, once a week, at $80 a session.
The agreement. The parent signs as the client and the student is named separately. The terms set one 60 minute session a week, 24 hours' notice to reschedule within the same month, late cancellations counted as delivered, sessions at the public library, and a short written progress summary every four weeks.
The price. Four sessions a month at $80 makes $320 a month, and four months makes a $1,280 term.
The payments. The parent pays $320 at signing. Each later $320 comes due every 30 days, for four payments in total. At Stripe's standard card rate, each payment costs $9.58 in fees, so $310.42 reaches the tutor each month, and the term's fees come to $38.32 out of $1,280.
A missed week. In October the student has a school event and the parent cancels two days ahead. Under the agreement that session is rescheduled to a Thursday later that month at no charge. In November the student simply does not show up; that session counts as delivered and nothing is refunded.
An early end. If the family stops after the second month, the agreement's ending clause decides what happens to the remaining payments, which is why that clause has to be written before the first session rather than negotiated in month three.
The year end. All $1,280 arrives within the calendar year, so it all belongs on this year's return, and the tutor sets aside part of each $310.42 as it lands.