diff --git a/src/shogun/machine/gp/LaplacianInferenceMethod.h b/src/shogun/machine/gp/LaplacianInferenceMethod.h
index dea3fcd306e..7212cb28c43 100644
--- a/src/shogun/machine/gp/LaplacianInferenceMethod.h
+++ b/src/shogun/machine/gp/LaplacianInferenceMethod.h
@@ -284,7 +284,7 @@ class CLaplacianInferenceMethod: public CInferenceMethod
 private:
 	void init();
 
-private:
+protected:
 	/** amount of tolerance for Newton's iterations */
 	float64_t m_tolerance;