Contribution margin case: should we launch group lessons?

Leo

The March pilot was a hit: 48 English group sessions in four weeks, 38,640 UAH in sales. Families pay 280 a lesson instead of 620, and one tutor teaches four kids. I want groups across the school, with a coordinator to run them.

Hanna

Sales show how busy the pilot was, not what it earned. Each session pays the tutor 520 UAH plus 40 for video and AI, and the payment provider keeps 2.5% of what families pay. Before we hire anyone: what does one session leave us?

You

So the unit here is the session, not the learner? The price is per learner, but most costs are per session.

Alex Tutor

Exactly. The payout and the video room cost the same whether one learner comes or four. Only the fee moves with each learner: 2.5% of 280 is 7 UAH. So each learner brings 273, and each session starts 560 in the red.

Alex Tutor

\text{CM}_{\text{session}} = (280 - 7) \cdot n - (520 + 40) = 273n - 560

Contribution margin of one group session with n learners, UAH

A full group: 4 × 273 − 560 = 532 UAH of contribution margin. That's the picture Leo has in mind, every seat taken. Now take a group with one empty seat.

Alex Tutor

Question 1

What contribution margin does one group session with 3 learners leave? In UAH.

Your answer

Units: UAH

You

Three learners leave 259. With two it's 546 − 560 = −14. A session with two learners loses money?

Alex Tutor

It does, and one learner loses 287. Here's the pilot session by session, with how many learners each one had.

Alex Tutor

Dataset · 48 rows

Klasna group pilot: English group sessions, March 2026

48 sessions over four weeks. Price 280 UAH per learner per session; tutor payout 520 UAH and video + AI 40 UAH per session; payment fee 2.5% of what families pay.

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Columns
session_id: Session id
date: Date of the session
subject: Subject (all English in the pilot)
seats: Seats in the group
learners: Learners who took part and paid
switched_from_1to1: Of those learners, how many dropped a 1:1 English lesson to join this session

Data

session_id	date	subject	seats	learners	switched_from_1to1
g01	2026-03-02	english	4	2	0
g02	2026-03-03	english	4	3	0
g03	2026-03-04	english	4	3	2
g04	2026-03-05	english	4	4	1
g05	2026-03-06	english	4	3	3

Show 43 more rows

g06	2026-03-02	english	4	2	0
g07	2026-03-03	english	4	2	2
g08	2026-03-04	english	4	1	0
g09	2026-03-05	english	4	4	0
g10	2026-03-06	english	4	3	0
g11	2026-03-02	english	4	4	0
g12	2026-03-03	english	4	4	1
g13	2026-03-11	english	4	2	0
g14	2026-03-12	english	4	4	1
g15	2026-03-13	english	4	3	0
g16	2026-03-09	english	4	2	1
g17	2026-03-10	english	4	3	1
g18	2026-03-11	english	4	3	0
g19	2026-03-12	english	4	1	0
g20	2026-03-13	english	4	3	0
g21	2026-03-09	english	4	3	1
g22	2026-03-10	english	4	4	3
g23	2026-03-11	english	4	2	0
g24	2026-03-12	english	4	3	1
g25	2026-03-20	english	4	4	1
g26	2026-03-16	english	4	4	1
g27	2026-03-17	english	4	2	0
g28	2026-03-18	english	4	3	0
g29	2026-03-19	english	4	4	0
g30	2026-03-20	english	4	2	0
g31	2026-03-16	english	4	1	0
g32	2026-03-17	english	4	3	0
g33	2026-03-18	english	4	4	2
g34	2026-03-19	english	4	3	1
g35	2026-03-20	english	4	4	3
g36	2026-03-16	english	4	2	0
g37	2026-03-24	english	4	2	1
g38	2026-03-25	english	4	4	1
g39	2026-03-26	english	4	4	2
g40	2026-03-27	english	4	4	0
g41	2026-03-23	english	4	3	0
g42	2026-03-24	english	4	2	0
g43	2026-03-25	english	4	3	0
g44	2026-03-26	english	4	3	0
g45	2026-03-27	english	4	3	1
g46	2026-03-23	english	4	1	0
g47	2026-03-24	english	4	2	0
g48	2026-03-25	english	4	3	0

14 sessions were full, 18 had three learners, 12 had two and 4 had one: 138 learners in 48 sessions, 2.875 of 4 seats on average. The average looks fine. The spread doesn't.

Alex Tutor

Contribution margin per session by number of learnersSessions in the pilot: 4 with one learner, 12 with two, 18 with three, 14 with four.

Chart data

Learners in the session	Contribution margin
1	-287
2	-14
3	259
4	532

Hanna

So 16 of 48 sessions ran at a loss. We booked a tutor for every slot before we knew who'd show up.

Alex Tutor

That's the fill problem: each learner covers 273 of the session's 560. A minimum group size, or merging two thin groups into one, fixes most of it.

Alex Tutor

Question 2

Which rule would have made every session in the pilot leave a positive contribution margin?

Choose one answerRun a session only if at least 2 learners are bookedRaise the price to 300 UAH per learner and keep running every sessionRun a session only if at least 3 learners are booked; merge or move the restCut the group size from 4 seats to 3

You

Then what did the whole pilot leave us, all 48 sessions together?

Alex Tutor

Work in totals. Sales: 138 × 280 = 38,640 UAH. Fees: 2.5% of that, 966. Tutor payouts: 48 × 520 = 24,960. Video and AI: 48 × 40 = 1,920.

Leo

Still, 38,640 in a month from a product we didn't have in February. That's the number I showed the board.

Hanna

And nearly two-thirds of it went straight to the tutors. Sales say how busy we were. Contribution says what's left for everything else.

Alex Tutor

Question 3

What contribution margin did the whole pilot (48 sessions) leave, before thinking about the 1:1 lessons it replaced? In UAH.

Your answer

Units: UAH

Hanna

One more column. At sign-up we asked whether a learner had dropped a 1:1 English lesson for the group. switched_from_1to1 has the answer: 30 learner-lessons came from exactly that.

You

But those families still pay Klasna, just less. Isn't that still a gain?

Alex Tutor

Only if we forget what they paid before. A 1:1 lesson from the English 16-pack leaves 184.50 UAH. Each switch removes that: 30 × 184.50 = 5,535 UAH we no longer earn.

So the new money is 10,794 − 5,535 = 5,259 UAH, about 109.56 per session. Almost half of the pilot's contribution was lessons moving from one shelf to another.

Leo

So a new product counts for what it adds, not what it takes from the old one. What else is my slide missing?

Alex Tutor

Question 4

Leo's slide shows 38,640 UAH of group sales. Which of these does that number leave out, though they matter for the rollout decision? Select all that apply.

Choose all that applyTutor payouts of 520 UAH per sessionThe in-house team's salaries, which stay the same whether groups run or notThe contribution lost on 1:1 lessons that learners dropped for groupsPayment fees and video + AI costsThe coordinator's 38,000 UAH a monthThe discount families get compared with a 1:1 lesson

Leo

The coordinator: 38,000 UAH a month to fill groups and run the schedule. With that person the numbers only get better, right?

Alex Tutor

Maybe. First treat the salary as a new fixed cost with its own break-even point: 38,000 ÷ 109.56 ≈ 346.8. At the pilot's rate, groups need 347 sessions a month just to pay for the coordinator.

You

The pilot ran 48 in four weeks. That's more than seven times the volume.

Hanna

Or each session has to leave more. Merge the thin groups: the 28 learners from the 16 loss-making sessions would fill 7 full groups.

Alex Tutor

Then the pilot is 39 sessions leaving 10,299 UAH after the lost 1:1 lessons, about 264 each. The break-even drops to 144 sessions a month. Better, still far above the pilot.

Alex Tutor

Question 5Short answer · AI-checked task

Klasna's schedulers need a rule they can apply the day before each group session. Write it in 2–4 sentences: when a session runs as planned, what happens to thinner groups, and why, using the contribution margin per session at different fills.

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Leo

I have a board call on Friday and need one answer: do we roll group lessons out to the whole school, with a coordinator?

Hanna

Answer from the data, not the slide: contribution, the lost 1:1 lessons, how full the groups are and what the coordinator needs.

Alex Tutor

And end with a verdict Leo can act on: yes, no, or yes if. For "yes if", name the conditions.

You

A short memo, then. Numbers first, verdict at the end.

Alex Tutor

Question 6Case · AI-checked task

Write the memo for Leo: roll group lessons out to the whole school with a coordinator?

Leo asks: "Do we roll group lessons out to the whole school, with a group coordinator at 38,000 UAH a month?" He will take your answer to a board call.

Use the pilot dataset above (48 English group sessions, March 2026) and these numbers: 280 UAH per learner per session; tutor payout 520 UAH and video + AI 40 UAH per session; payment fee 2.5% of what families pay; 4 seats per group. A 1:1 lesson from the English 16-lesson package leaves 184.50 UAH of contribution margin.

Write 150–250 words:

What the pilot really earned: contribution margin, not sales.
What the switched 1:1 lessons cost and the net result.
What fill did to the numbers and the group-size rule you'd set.
What the coordinator needs to pay for itself.
Your recommendation, with conditions.

Dataset for this task: Klasna group pilot: English group sessions, March 2026

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Alex Tutor

That's the whole module in one case: price minus the costs each unit brings, fixed costs over contribution, and an honest look at where the customers came from.

Alex Tutor

That’s the lesson. You answered every task — nicely done.

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