Cost for an instructor to certify someone

[Brandon Pollack]

Many dive shops charge around the same, but I'm curious how much various agencies charge the instructor to register a certification.

If an instructor certified a friend, how much would they charge them to break even (considering their time a donation)?

 

[oly5050user]

Many dive shops charge around the same, but I'm curious how much various agencies charge the instructor to register a certification.

If an instructor certified a friend, how much would they charge them to break even (considering their time a donation)?

If PADI student pays for eLearning and cost to instructor is zero, if you do not count member fee and insurance and cost of pool or gear rental. Just showing you there is always a cost of some kind and some one is paying it. Nothing in this world is free. Instructor should charge something and not do this for free.

 

[OceanEyes]

I have no problem at all collecting fair fees from my friends. My enemies don't give me their business.

 

[RainPilot]

Many dive shops charge around the same, but I'm curious how much various agencies charge the instructor to register a certification.

If an instructor certified a friend, how much would they charge them to break even (considering their time a donation)?

With most, if not all, of the agencies, the certification cost is built into the cost of the study materials. PADI has a "PIC" which is the certification cost, that is (usually) included with the eLearning or physical manual. RAID charges 65 USD for most recreational courses, that is the only fee that goes to the agency (around 120-140 for PADI as far as I remember).

General cost breakdown of a course and who gets the money:

Theory learning and cert costs (agency)
Equipment rental/depreciation (equipment owner)
Pool costs (pool owner)
Gas fills (compressor owner)
Boat costs (boat operator)
Instructor fees (instructor)

The variation in costs you see between dive shops is, mostly, a factor of how many of those entities they are (do they have their own compressor, boat, gear, pool etc) which affects how many people are adding profit to the costs.

 

[mmerriman]

Many dive shops charge around the same, but I'm curious how much various agencies charge the instructor to register a certification.

If an instructor certified a friend, how much would they charge them to break even (considering their time a donation)?

You instructor friend put a lot of time, sweat and money into becoming an instructor. You should respect that and not try to stiff him for his time.

 

[Brandon Pollack]

You instructor friend put a lot of time, sweat and money into becoming an instructor. You should respect that and now try to stiff him for time.

I completely agree. I’m mainly curious if I ever go that route. If I ever become a certified instructor it would only be on The side and mainly to be able to be able to train friends and coworkers.

if that’s the case I’d do it at cost because I’mjust trying to have a good time with friends and spread scuba love.

that said it’s looking prohibitively expensive because of liability insurance etc

 

[Barnaby'sDad]

I completely agree. I’m mainly curious if I ever go that route. If I ever become a certified instructor it would only be on The side and mainly to be able to be able to train friends and coworkers.

if that’s the case I’d do it at cost because I’mjust trying to have a good time with friends and spread scuba love.

that said it’s looking prohibitively expensive because of liability insurance etc

You’d be essentially paying your friends to teach them. What do I mean by that? As an instructor, you’re going to have to spend a LOT of money to get student dive gear together. BC’s, regulators, etc. I imagine that you’ll have to teach several students before you even break-even on the gear that you’ve bought.

I don’t think this is something that you get into for the money, but you do need to make sure that you don’t end up in the hole just because you’re trying to do your buddies a solid.

I get providing a “good guy”/buddy discount on occasion, but once the word gets out in your social circle...everyone is going to expect a certification “for the price of...on the house.”

 

[Brandon Pollack]

You’d be essentially paying your friends to teach them. What do I mean by that? As an instructor, you’re going to have to spend a LOT of money to get student dive gear together. BC’s, regulators, etc. I imagine that you’ll have to teach several students before you even break-even on the gear that you’ve bought.

I don’t think this is something that you get into for the money, but you do need to make sure that you don’t end up in the hole just because you’re trying to do your buddies a solid.

I get providing a “good guy”/buddy discount on occasion, but once the word gets out in your social circle...everyone is going to expect a certification “for the price of...on the house.”

You're right. I would only do this on the side but the more I hear from folks, the more it seems tough enough for existing instructors. Better that I just get DM if I want to be professional as a side job and help out where I can (since it's only for me). That way I can make friends with instructors and recommend good folks to my friends and be available to them as a resource until they're certified.

 

[boulderjohn]

The overhead of teaching a course can be prohibitive, but the cost does not go to PADI. If I teach a specialty course that does not require PADI generated instructional materials, including distinctive specialties, the only money PADI gets is a small fee for the certification card. If the student decides that he or she wants the instruction and does not need a card, then PADI won't even know I taught it.

 

[wheeledgoat]

FWIW, even if I was an instructor (which may very well be on my path, if years down the road) I don't anticipate doing what you're talking about. I personally think that the material is too important to be conveyed in a "friend" atmosphere. I think having a formal structure to the class and well-defined roles of instructor and student is integral to conveying the seriousness and potential consequences of the sport.

Maybe it's just my own personality, but an informal "hey, if you wanna meet me at the quarry saturday night I'll do your night diving cert!" is an unwise approach when there's life-saving concepts that need to be taught. I'm sure there's others out there that can do it, not me.

Also consider a concept that I've learned as a pharmacist: the customer needs to be involved and engaged to appreciate the product/service. Patients that pick up their prescription for $0 copay typically, unconsciously, place less of a value on it than when they even had a token copay of $1. It's human nature. It's a good thing for the student to have skin in the game (i.e. money on the line).