Make-up lessons: a fair method for the tutor and the student

The short answer: a fair make-up method rests on three rules: a make-up lesson is owed only for a cancellation in time, it has an expiry (for example 30 days), and each student has a maximum of open make-ups (for example 2). Make-ups are set at times you defined in advance, not at any hour the student asks for. That way the student does not lose a lesson, and you do not lose your week.

Why without rules make-ups eat the week

The promise "we'll make it up" is the easiest thing to give and the hardest to keep. It starts from a good place: the student got sick, it feels wrong to charge, so you offer a make-up. Two months later it looks like this (an example):

• Three students with two open make-ups each.
• Each make-up is set "whenever convenient", meaning at hours when you were supposed to rest or teach someone new.
• Some of the make-ups are no longer clear: for which lesson? When was it cancelled? Was it already made up?
• Before June everyone remembers at once.

The problem is not the make-up itself. The problem is a make-up with no expiry date, no limit and no fixed place in the calendar.

The rules that make it fair

When a make-up is owed

A make-up is owed for a cancellation in time, according to the cancellation window in your policy, for example 24 hours before the lesson. A late cancellation is charged and does not earn a make-up. That gives the student a good reason to give notice early. How to set the window and word the rule is in a private lesson cancellation policy.

A cancellation by the tutor is a different story: there the student is not at fault, and a make-up (or a credit) is owed in any case.

Expiry

Every make-up has an expiry date. 30 days is a reasonable number: enough to find a time, and short enough that they do not pile up. An expired make-up does not "disappear by surprise" if the student knows in advance until when it is valid.

A maximum of open make-ups

If a student cancels in time every week and does not make up, they collect more and more make-ups. A limit of two open at once keeps order: until they make one up, another cancellation does not create another make-up. It is important to tell them this in advance.

Fixed times for make-ups

Instead of searching for a gap in the calendar each time, set aside one or two hours a week for make-ups in advance. For example: Wednesday 14:00 to 16:00. Everyone who needs to make up chooses there. If the hours are not used, they are yours.

An example: one month with the rules

(Names and dates are for illustration only.) Jonathan studies with you every Monday at 17:00.

• Sunday noon he says he will not come tomorrow. That is more than 24 hours before the lesson, so a make-up is owed, valid for 30 days.
• Wednesday of the same week he sets the make-up at your free hour, 14:00. The make-up is used.
• Two weeks later he cancels two hours before the lesson. That is a late cancellation: the lesson is charged, and there is no make-up.
• At the end of the month Jonathan has no open make-up, and there is no argument about any of the lessons, because each case was closed by a rule he knew in advance.

What not to do

• Do not promise a make-up verbally without writing it down. After a month nobody will remember.
• Do not give a make-up at any hour the student asks for. It turns your free times into somebody else's times.
• Do not make exceptions quietly. If you waived the rule once, say it is an exception, otherwise it becomes the new rule.

How make-up tokens work in Teaching's Studio

In Teaching all these rules sit in the "Studio" module, which is optional and off by default. The make-up is called a token there (in the screens it appears as a make-up credit):

1. The student cancels in time through their personal link, and according to the rule receives a token. If they already have the maximum, no additional token is created, and after the cancellation they see an explanation of that.
2. The student sees their tokens and until when they are valid, in the "Info and rules" section in the personal area.
3. They book by themselves. In the "Book a lesson" section appear the free times you opened in the calendar, in the range of weeks you defined. Next to each start time there is a "Book" button. The booking asks for confirmation and uses one token.
4. The lesson appears in the Studio calendar with the tag "Make-up".

The defaults: a token expiry of 30 days, a maximum of 2 open tokens per student, booking up to 4 weeks ahead, and a make-up lesson length of 45 minutes. You change all of them in the Studio settings.

What happens when a make-up is cancelled? Each token is used in one booking only. If you cancel a make-up lesson that the student booked, the token returns to them. If they cancel it themselves, the token stays used. That way there is no loop of booking and cancelling.

Do not want tokens? You can turn off the rule "A cancellation in time earns a make-up token". Then students book free times without a token, and what limits them is "Maximum future make-up lessons per student" (the default is 2).

A student needs a make-up and has no token? You can always set a lesson for them manually.

How to open free times, and how many students can book in the same hour, is explained in booking online lessons: letting students choose an hour themselves. And if you are still choosing a tool, we gathered everything worth checking in a student management app for a private tutor.

Written by the Teaching team · Updated on 14 October 2026.