Posted by Ken Kurtis on September 16, 2003 at 18:09:01:
In Reply to: scuba diving instructors salary posted by Valinda on September 16, 2003 at 14:25:51:
Instructors are generally not salaried but are paid on a per head basis for each student they teach. Fees in the LA-area range from $25/head to $125/head. An instructor may teach as few as 3-4 students in a year or as many as 100. Either way, it's generally not enough to make a living on (at least just with basic classes) so most instructors either have another job, work full-time in a dive shop, or do other dive-related things to augment their income.
While I'm happy to help with information, given that this is a sport where we try to teach self-reliance and taking responsbility for one's own actions, I guess I'm a bit bothered that this is your son's report and it is you, not your son, who is coming here for information. Parental help is fine, but don't you think he'd get more out of this if he was doing the legwork himself, and you were merely supervising? Since I'm an instructor and prefer to see my students do the learning themsevles, this struck me right off the bat. Just a thought.
Ken Kurtis
NAUI Instr. #5936
Co-owner, Reef Seekers Dive Co.
Bevely Hills, CA