How to Become a Tutor in the US: The Legal Requirements

In the US, the demand for tutors is increasing, and many are choosing to start tutoring in person, online, or even set up their own tutoring businesses.

No matter what kind of tutor you'd like to become, you must know your legal obligations before starting.

The Key Steps to Legally Becoming a Tutor in the US

Fortunately, there are almost no legal requirements, per se. However, there are a few unwritten rules when it comes to tutoring that you should also be aware of to ensure that your tutoring business is successful.

Here, we'll take you through every step of the process and focusing specifically on academic private tutors, not sports coaches or certain health and medical practices, which have clearly established licensing pathways.

1. Educational Background and Experience

Before you can even consider becoming a tutor, you'll need to be educated in the subject that you'll teach. This doesn't specifically mean that every tutor needs to have a college degree, but for most academic subjects and skills, you'll be expected to be at least one educational level ahead of your students.

For the Superprof website, we generally recommend that tutors have one or several of the following:

• High School Diploma: We recommend that every tutor complete this level of education to work with students in high school, middle school, or elementary school.
• College Degree: A bachelor's degree is recommended for specialized tutoring in subject areas like math, science, SAT prep, etc. Around 67% of tutors hold at least a bachelor's degree.
• Relevant Experience: For academic subjects, your high school diploma or college degree will indicate that you know what you're teaching. Your experience will show potential students that you know how to teach. All relevant teaching or tutoring experience is helpful as it shows potential students you know what you're doing.

2. Do You Need a License to Start a Tutoring Business?

While there are tutoring licenses, you don't need a teaching degree or tutoring license. However, this is for general tutoring, and specific types of tutoring, such as speech pathology, require specific qualifications and licenses.

You'll also need to check with local governments. Though you mightn't need a license for tutoring, you may be required to obtain a business license, which is more about legally earning money as a tutor, whether freelance or acting as your own business.

Many states across the US require business licenses, even for tutoring. Business licenses are typically for operating a tutoring business rather than one-on-one private tutoring, but there may be some overlap, so check with your local authorities as to whether or not you'll need a business license for the type of tutoring you'd like to offer.

If you have doubts about the legality of your tutoring and the licenses you may need in your local jurisdiction, we recommend speaking to a legal professional before starting. Just remember that in either case, you still need to declare your earnings as a private tutor and pay your taxes.

3. Online Tutoring Certification: How to Become a Certified Tutor

Like tutoring and business licenses, college degrees, or high school diplomas, tutoring certifications aren't required, either. That said, some may be worthwhile, as any credential can legitimize your tutoring and make your services more appealing to potential students.

Credibility is an integral part of tutoring, and your rating and reviews on tutoring websites like Superprof can help, just like any other kind of credential, license, or certification.

If you'd like to boost your standing as a tutor, a qualification in your taught subject will help. Still, there are also general certifications available, such as:

• National Tutoring Association (NTA): The NTA has operated in the US since the early 1990s and offers membership and certification as a tutor, mentor, or academic coach. Popular certifications include Basic Level Tutor Certification, Intermediate Level Tutor Certification, and Advanced Level Tutor Certification, as well as certifications for reading tutors, math tutors, and critical thinkers.
• CERI Certification: The Center for Effective Reading Instruction (CERI) offers qualifications to educators looking to teach or tutor reading or work with students with dyslexia.

• Online Tutoring Companies: Many online tutoring companies and associations offer accreditation and certification. The validity of these credentials depends on how much they're valued in the areas and locales in which you wish to tutor. If none of your customers know about the credentials you have or understand their worth, then it mightn't be worth doing them.

4. Background Checks: Legal Requirements for Tutoring Businesses

Whether you're tutoring in-person or online, background checks could be one of your best credentials, especially when you first start tutoring.

Potential customers and students will want to know that you are who you say you are, mainly tutors working with minors or vulnerable individuals. We highly recommend background checks for anyone planning to work with children, especially face-to-face. This is reassuring for parents and makes them much more likely to hire you than somebody without a background check.

Even if you don't work with children, we recommend getting a background check anyway so that you can reassure potential customers, especially those who may be welcoming you into their homes.

5. Finding the Best Tutoring Jobs

Before you start looking for online tutoring jobs, here's a quick checklist of what you should have considered so far, remembering that all of them may be optional according to your situation:

• Academic qualifications
• Business License
• Tutoring certification
• Background checks

Now, you're at the stage where you can start offering and advertising your tutoring services to potential students, and you can do this in many different ways.

The Main Ways to Find Students as a Tutor

• In-person/word of mouth: You can find tutoring opportunities in the old-fashioned way, such as by putting up posters or ads, using bulletin boards, or telling friends and family that you're a tutor. This can still be a very effective way to find customers and students in some places.
• Online: Using platforms like Superprof, you can create a tutoring profile that students worldwide can find. Naturally, the better your profile, reviews, credentials, rates, etc., the better your chance of finding work as a tutor.
• Tutoring companies or agencies: You can also work directly with tutoring companies. Sometimes, these will offer more regular work, especially for newer tutors. Still, you will likely have your rates set by the company or pay a percentage of what you earn through them.

Using online profiles offers the best flexibility for tutors in terms of the services they can offer and how they set their rates. Still, it can also be challenging to find your first students.

Word-of-mouth provides students with recommendations from friends or family, making getting into the tutoring world easier. Still, it will limit your reach and can take some time to get started.

Tutoring companies offer a simple and easy way to start but limit your earning potential.

Here's an example of how much tutors in the US can earn.

Different Types of Online Tutoring Jobs

There are almost as many different kinds of tutoring jobs as there are tutors. There are plenty of different ways to tutor for every distinct subject or skill.

You can offer tutoring in person or online, and every tutor for every subject will likely offer one or both of these kinds of tutoring.

Beyond academic subjects, there's also academic tutoring, which is more about helping people to become better students, focusing on things like study skills or even test prep.

Tutors can also specialize as reading tutors, helping students with dyslexia, or as special needs tutors, working with students with disabilities or further special educational needs.

Superprof: How to Become a Tutor and Find the Best Online Tutoring Jobs

With the proper credentials and an idea of the kind of tutor you want to be, you can start finding work as a tutor by using the Superprof website. Here's how you can get started:

Legally, the tutoring market in the US is unregulated. However, you are subject to the same laws as everybody else with a job so as long as you pay your taxes and are correctly registered for the type of tutoring you're doing (where necessary), you can offer tutoring however you like.

Of course, location-specific laws may apply, so if you have any doubts, speak to a local tutoring association or a legal professional.