How to price a course

Most new instructors price by looking at the shop down the road. Price by adding up what a student actually costs you to certify, then decide what your time is worth on top.

Add up the hard costs per student

• Agency eLearning or materials, and the certification processing fee.
• Pool time. Take your per-session pool fee and divide by the students you realistically fill a session with.
• Open-water site entry and any boat or park fees, per dive day.
• Gear you provide: rental wear on BCs, regs, computers and wetsuits. A simple rule is the replacement cost divided by the number of courses a unit survives.
• Tank fills and weights.
• Card fees. Roughly 3% plus your plan’s platform fee on card sales.

Then your time

Count the hours: classroom or eLearning follow-up, pool sessions, lake days including travel, paperwork. Multiply by the hourly rate you want, and divide by the students you expect per class. A four-student open-water class that takes twenty hours of your time at $60 an hour adds $300 a student. Add a margin for the class that runs with two people.

Put it in DiveDesk

1. Open the course under Training → Courses (or add it from Course Templates).
2. Set Price. This is what the storefront charges at Enroll and what the POS rings.
3. Under What’s Included, list what the price covers — gear, materials, certification — so the page answers the question before they ask.
4. If you take a deposit for a course, sell the deposit as its own course product, or use a quote with a pay-by-link invoice for the balance.
5. Tick Active. Copy the Course link and go sell it.