How are course fees determined?

Fees appearing on our website are calculated based on one or more of the following determinants:

1. Course duration
2. Course duration unit
3. Lessons per course unit
4. Class duration (minutes)
5. Price
6. Currency

Depending on the course schedule, we also apply the following rules:

Courses with unlimited lessons

If there is no restriction on lessons per course unit and class duration, a course can usually be enjoyed 24/7. In these cases, only a course rate is given, and an hourly rate cannot be calculated. In order to still make these courses comparable for prospective students, the assumption is that a course is used 2 hours per day and 30 days per month which results in 60 lessons per month.

Semester courses

If a course provider specifies a course as semester course, which is usually the case for university courses, and the exact schedule is not specified, the assumption is that courses are offered as follows: 8 hours per weekday, and 13 weeks vacation time per year.

Courses with irregular schedule

If a course has an irregular schedule and no fixed number of lessons, weeks, or months, as is the case with MBA courses, we calculate the actual course time by taking one or more of the following determinants into consideration: Number of hours taught per full-time day, number of full-time days taught, number of hours taught per part-time day, number of part-time days taught.

Hourly fees

The hourly fee of a course is a calculated indication of how much money needs to be paid for a specific course per hour of actual engagement with a teacher. Hourly fees can be used to compare the value for money of different courses. Hourly fees are calculated according to the rules stated above, and are also bound by the following rules:

1. If a learning provider advertises a price per lesson, we use the length of each lesson to calculate the hourly fee.
2. If we are only able to obtain a schedule and course fee from a learning provider, we calculate the hourly fee using the actual number of days intended to be spent in class.

How are different currencies handled?

Exchange rates for calculating course rates in different currencies are retrieved from an external service provider (currently http://www.ecb.europa.eu/stats/eurofxref/eurofxref-daily.xml). The default currency at Totuba is the one specified by the provider. Users can select a currency they are familiar with to be able to understand the real cost attached to enrolling in a particular course. When selecting a currency and submitting a search enquiry, the course's original price is converted into the currency requested.