Sell blocks, invoice up front
A block of sessions invoiced in advance removes the weekly transaction entirely, and removes the awkwardness of asking a parent for money at the door. Show the number of sessions, the length of each, the rate and the expiry date of the block.
Show the sessions the block covers
- The dates and times booked, where they are fixed
- Sessions carried over from a previous block, and how many
- Sessions forfeited under the cancellation policy
- The balance of unused sessions after this invoice
Name the student, invoice the payer
The bill-to is the parent, school or agency responsible for payment; the student is named as a reference line. A family with two children being tutored should get either one invoice with a section per child or two invoices — decided once and kept consistent, because a mixed approach is unreconcilable at year end.
Institutions have a process; ask for it first
Schools, districts and agencies typically require a purchase order number, a specific bill-to entity, and a period rather than a date. An invoice without their reference is not rejected, it is simply never entered.
Group sessions and travel
Where two students share a session, state the per-student rate and who is being billed for what. Where you travel to the student, agree the travel charge in advance and show it as its own line — travel folded into an hourly rate is invisible until a parent compares your rate to an online tutor's.
Common questions
- Should I charge per session or per block?
- Blocks paid in advance, wherever the family will accept it: they end the weekly transaction, reduce cancellations, and mean the money is already collected when a term goes quiet.
- How much notice should the cancellation policy require?
- Enough to have any chance of refilling the slot — twenty-four hours is common. What matters more than the number is that it is stated before the first session and applied consistently.
- What if a school pays late?
- Institutional payment runs are slow by design, so ask for the terms and the PO number before the first session and invoice against them. Chasing a school on a Net 30 assumption when their terms are Net 45 is chasing nothing.