Hello, ladies. I know I've been gone from the forum for a bit. As of now; my development is a standstill. I've been spending all of my time trying to find a full-time job, and it took me 4 months to realize that it's probably not such a good idea to put a master's degree on your resume/job application if it's not required. However, I rectified the situation and I've applied for my first job without placing my advanced level degree on my resume/job application.

Anyways, besides me signing up for non-administrative volunteer assignments and doing job searches, nothing else has been going on. But, an exciting time is about to come up: school time at the local, 20,000+ student RESEARCH university. I'm thinking of providing term-paper tying services (no I'm NOT going to research; just type). I've been doing this since I was 18 years old and I made a nice little amount of change back in my younger college years (bought me many a ramen noodles for those hungry days!).

Here's the problem: I have NO idea what rate to charge. Should I charge per word? Per hour it takes for me to type the paper? For example, if a student has a 500-word paper, and if I charge 10 cents a word, then that's $50.00 (I type around 75-80 WPM). However, this is a research institution, which means that there's going to be a LOT of papers having to be typed; long papers. And I don't want to charge .10 a word and a student is having me to type a 30 page/7500 word essay; that'll equal up to $750 bucks!! No way!! I can easily type a 26-page paper in a matter of a couple of hours, providing that I don't take bathroom breaks and sit and chat. I'd also like to provide other typing services that include manuscripts, notes etc. (I have 10+ years of experience in this area).

I plan on posting a flyer soon before the rush comes in. Just need help figuring out the prices. I tried to do a general price search in regards to my area (Oxford, Mississippi), but searches turned up bleh.

Well you can figure out how many pages you can type in one hour and come up with an hourly rate. For papers I charge a page rate. I've never charged by the word. A page rate can be equal to your hourly rate. I would charge different page rates for single vs double spaced, of course. I really think the easiest is a page rate.

__________________
Stephanie Cogeos
Wordprocessing & Design

I really like the page rate idea.

I'm wondering though, are you basing this on the student providing you a hand written draft?

__________________
Sharon

Originally Posted by msva2011

I really like the page rate idea. I'm wondering though, are you basing this on the student providing you a hand written draft?

I didn't think of THAT one....page rate does sound like a good idea though. I'm going to have to do some research on that one, as far as page rates is concerned when they're handing me a draft. I don't want to type their paper and they don't provide me with a percentage of my payment up front.

Yes, the student would provide a hand written draft and I would make sure I can read it before accepting the assignment. The final amount is how many pages you have typed.

__________________
Stephanie Cogeos
Wordprocessing & Design

@ Stephanie, that was exactly what I was thinking as typing papers is a service that I'll be offering as well.

@ Nadia, I also took a peak around the web and Googled typing services and secretarial services to see what type of rates they were charging to get a general idea of how to set my rates.

__________________
Sharon

Thanks for the help you guys! I appreciate it. I have my flyer done with the tear-outs. I can't afford color paper (or color ink), so I have colored highlighters to highlight the main points on my flyer (brightly colored pinks, blues, yellow, etc) to make sure that I stand out. I also put a no-plagarism policy on my flyer as well. Some students may get the idea that when someone types something out for them, that they have to conduct the research for them and then do their entire term paper for them. Nope..not this one.