How Much Should I Charge for my Online Classes?

Pricing Your Classes

Your business is not a volunteer position.  It’s not a charity. It’s your livelihood.  

When it comes to what to charge for your courses, this is where having a mindset shift is so important.  

Are you viewing what you do as your business?  

How many products have you purchased in the last year that lowered their prices?  Have they raised their prices?

If you fear raising your prices will hurt your enrollments, then you need to think about the quality of classes you’re offering.

Why isn’t your class worth more?

Why don’t you think your time isn’t worth more?

I’ll never tell anyone how much they should charge. I will tell them if their prices are too high or low in comparison to their demographic, but even then, none of that matters.  Your experience, your expertise, the time you commit to developing the course should all factor in to what you charge.  

Charging more does not equate to losing clients. It could actually bring in more clients. People pay for quality.

Microgrants

When I left the classroom, I got a lot of guilt tripping comments about leaving families that really needed me because I looked like the families I served, but it wasn’t a healthy work environment.  It wasn’t serving my desires.  I didn’t want to work forty hours, I didn’t want to be underpaid and overworked.  So, I left, and I left long before I started on my entrepreneurial journey.

One of the reasons my journey started is because I didn’t want to live a life of struggle. I didn’t want just enough.  But, the comments did make me feel some guilt.  I didn’t know where the feelings were coming from until I spent time exploring other people’s expectations versus my own.  I didn’t want to feel like I was leaving people behind, but I also knew working in public schools was limiting and there was really only so much difference I could make when it came to the actual institution of education.

Moving into the virtual world of teaching opened a world of possibilities.  It allowed me more autonomy in my teaching and has helped me fulfill my desire to educate in a non-conforming way.  Teaching online has opened my eyes to even more inequities in accessing quality education.  I’m very aware of the haves and have nots. I’m very familiar with the digital divide.  I’m still concerned about families and youth being “left behind” when it comes to educational opportunities.

To combat that feeling and to help families, I started a scholarship program. It’s not a needs based scholarship. Anyone that has ever had to apply for anything where they have to prove they live in poverty knows how intrusive it feels.  Currently, the scholarship serves twelve families per year and covers $1200 worth of Academy classes.

This year, I want to do more. I want to give more, so I’m starting a microgrant program.  This program will be needs based. It took a while for me to determine how I would screen applicants because I want it to be in the most non-intrusive manner as possible.  Now that I’ve figured out the process, I’m ready to get the program started.

The microgrants are going to assist families with technology.  The scholarship money helps pay for classes, but there are families that can’t even access the classes because they can’t afford the internet bill or they have an outdated device.

The microgrants can be used in two manners:

Option 1: To pay a past due internet or electric bill

Option 2: To purchase a device that has the needed applications to take online courses

To get this off the ground, I am requesting donations. Every donor will be announced unless they ask for anonymity.  The families of the grant will be asked to sign media waivers; however images and full names will be redacted if requested. This will help ensure full transparency in how donated funds are being utilized.  My goal for the first round of microgrants is to assist two families per calendar year.

If you’d like to help, donations can be made via PayPal to weat0029@umn.edu or sent through CashApp to $jaialiana.