Okay, I could use some input, y'all. To supplement my income from the lab, I do a little bit of microbiology tutoring during the fall & spring semesters, since I have a B.S. degree (heh) in microbiology and I'm several pages of a thesis away from a M.S. Anyway, the first exam in the undergraduate micro class is looming on the horizon, and I'm starting to get a little flurry of calls regarding tutoring. I always have trouble making up my mind about what I should ask for my vast wealth of knowledge (heh). I don't want to make people eat ramen noodles or a lint sandwich or something in order to get my help, but I can't decide how much that help is worth. And I don't want to ask people for a copy of last year's tax return and charge based on income, either. :-)

So if you're here from BE or BC, you've got 30 seconds to kill anyway - what do you think? I have 40+ hours of microbiology/immunology classes, and over 100 total science hours (chemistry, math, physics, biology.) I want to help people understand the material in the class (I love to see a lightbulb go on, accompanied by an "Ohhhhhhh!") but I also want to make a little extra money that I can put toward my medical school tuition or books or something later. What's an hourly rate that's fair for both me and for them? Thanks in advance for the input. :-)