Iowa test administrators

[SewLittleTime]

I had a person contact me about administering the Iowa to her child.  I've always just given it to my kids, but my account with BJULP shows me as a recommended administrator.  In 5 years I have never been contacted until now.  I'd love to do it, as I need a little extra money to pay off my son's braces.  

 

So, my question is:  How much is reasonable to charge this family to test their child?

[clementine]

Would you stretch it out over a few days?  The ITBS test is too long to complete in one sitting.  Would there be mileage involved or would they come to you?  How old is the child?

[SewLittleTime]

I agree that giving it all one day is too much.  I really think 2 days is too much.  I give it to my own kids in three with plenty of breaks in between sub-tests.

 

Yes, this parent would have mileage involved on her part. She lives about 45 minutes away. If I'm giving it, then she needs to come to me.  The child is a 3rd grader.

[73349]

Are you going to be testing your own kids at the same time? If not, is testing going to keep you from doing what you would otherwise be doing?

 

If no to the first question and yes to the second, I would charge more for administering than if yours are taking it and she is just adding another child.

 

We spent four (partial) days on ITBS testing last month. I could've comfortably added a second child for a small amount, maybe $25 to $50 plus the cost of the test ($40?), but if I weren't testing DS at the same time, it's time-consuming enough (requires the rest of the household quiet, etc.) that more like $100 to $150 would be needed to make it worthwhile to me.

[cbollin]

I haven't done Iowa yet.  But have done Sat-10 several years now with bju.  here are some things I had to figure out over the past couple of years when the phone rang the first time...... in no particular order.....

 

1.

I decided to set a per student per day charge. I settled on a rather cheap price of $25 a day. usually 2 days for this test.   I wasn't in it for making lots of money obviously.  I wanted it to feel right without breaking the parent's bank. I'm considering going to $30 a day so that it is roughly equivalent to ten an hour.   I did give a tiny discount if it was a sibling who was second child and especially if they could be tested together for the vast majority of stuff.

 

1.5

one time I received $50 a day but that was the price an outside firm paid me. the client used an educational consulting firm and the firm was paying the fee. That was what they valued it at and I said "sure"

 

2. would return shipping be part of that fee, or extra?  The first few times I returned the stuff, I didn't know how much to charge on shipping/handling.    Sure, BJU gave a return envelope but it wasn't prepaid.

 

3. I didn't want to conduct it in my house b/c my children weren't being tested.   So it was at their place, or third party location.  One time it was at a church. One time at offices of dad's work. 

 

4. Travel fee - I was fine with about 30 minutes with no charge.  The one client from 1 hour's drive away decided to meet in location near me where someone was related to her or something.  She drove in both days.  Those children were exhausted.  for next year  I helped her find someone in her area with a bachelor's degree and get them set up to do it locally.

 

5. I found it better if the client made a bju account and ordered the tests.   They were shipped to me.  But this way I didn't have access to the scores but the parent did.  otherwise, with the pdf online view of scores, I had to take an extra step to get the parent access to them.     AND it meant they paid up front for tests instead of me paying and then getting payment.

 

6. Ask the parent where the child is going to school this coming term. a recent potential client got to save some money as his child was headed to one of the city schools in fall and they do testing.   Then again, there was the time BJU allowed an exception for a non homeschooler for me going from private to private setting. 

 

7.  make sure the parent stays on test site.   so many reasons for that...   including the young child who burst into tears, or won't come out of the bathroom. or just in general that's how life is, right?

 

8. I'm not familiar with set up of iowa, but on sat-10, there were parts where grade levels could be mixed and others were they couldn't.  I had to adjust little things like that. I figured if they weren't in the same room but both visible to me, it was good???  blush.   

 

hope some of that helps a bit.  I feel like I am still figuring it out.

 

(ps. in light of discussion below....  yes, I did report the amounts as "other" income. but none of it qualified as self employment or schedule C..... but I know originally I asked people to give me whatever they wanted and I'd call it a thank you gift.  but people preferred a rate)

[SewLittleTime]

Thanks for the input.  I am testing mine this week.  It takes 6 weeks for the test come to me, so I figure at this point, it will be almost July before we could test her child.  I'm fine with that since we will be on summer break.  But then again, my kids will be home and need to be quiet. 

 

I appreciate your input on the the fee for me to charge.  It is my time. I need to value it and figure out what price tag to put on it.  From what I can see from your comments, I didn't think high enough in terms of what my time is worth.

[cbollin]

I used to charge less since I wasn't doing it as a "job" or "business". Just a service to babysit while kids fill in bubbles right? (my high schooler could watch the other children. so I really had almost no expenses)   But when I charged less than 25  a day, people in my area told me it was too low and they gave me more.      It was confusing at first to find a rate that was appropriate since some of the group co-ops didn't have an admin fee. so confusing to figure out for one on one.

I do tell people if my rate is cost prohibitive, we can make other arrangements.

and yes,  I really had a child burst into tears on a subtest.  I really had one whose tummy hurt and wouldn't leave the bathroom (person wasn't ill, it was stress and didn't want to take the test).    hey, at least they bought me lunch for that.

[rjand6more]

We paid someone to administer the test(Iowa)  It was 1 day at the library.  Maybe 15 kids were there and she charged $20 per kid to administer the test and it also covered shipping.  Maybe you could advertise and do something like that?

[SparklyUnicorn]

I don't think I'd charge anything unless it was some sort of business I wanted to start.  You'd be required to report it on your tax forms.  For this occasional thing I'd probably just do it to help someone out.

 

 

[cbollin]

I don't think I'd charge anything unless it was some sort of business I wanted to start.  You'd be required to report it on your tax forms.  For this occasional thing I'd probably just do it to help someone out.

 

ah yes...  tax rules.   this is not advice on that, but my personal reading of the SE and sch C. . 

that was one other reason my rates were consistent with sporadic and  "hobby level" .. didn't make the threshold of self employment.  and I don't remember which line of sch C I realized that this income wasn't a business... but was a sporadic activity. so I did list it list it at least on "other income"  like the place people put jury duty payments.  Given I do so few of these each year, it's not a business.

 

but yeah, that was another thing I learned over the years.. I should add that to my list above. tax implications.