1. Introduction
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Improving access to in-person and online tutoring, Tutor Matching Service (TMS) provides an
innovative solution that colleges and universities in 30+ states have implemented. New TMS
technology, provided at no cost to the school, replaces paper tutor lists and alleviates administrative
burdens for university staff. TMS provides students with safer, improved access to tutors, and provides
tutors with a free online tutoring platform as well as an award-winning online self-paced tutor training
course.
2. Case Study: Louisiana State University
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A. The Challenge
LSU’s Center for Academic Success (CAS) offers a wide range of resources for LSU students,
including workshops, supplemental instruction, drop-in tutoring and online tutoring. They often received
calls from parents in the community who were interested in hiring LSU students as private tutors. Prior
to partnering with TMS, CAS tried posting a private tutor list on their website and keeping hardcopies of
the list in their tutoring center. However, the list had to be updated each semester, which was
complicated by the fact that it included both CAS tutors and private tutors.
The CAS staff found the ongoing process of managing private tutor lists each semester time-consuming
and inefficient. More importantly, updating the tutor list took valuable staff time away from their primary
service – helping students succeed. The staff was also concerned that both the online and paper tutor
lists could expose student tutor contact information to spammers. Finally, because direct access to the
list was limited to students, it did not provide the Center with a viable means to fulfill the many private
tutor requests made by other departments on campus and by parents in the community.
The Center for Academic Success needed an easy, cost-effective and time-efficient system for offering
up-to-date information about private tutors, both to LSU’s students and academic departments (for
some small courses where no free campus tutoring is available), and to parents in the community who
wanted to hire university students as tutors for their K-12 children.
B. The Solution
Addressing the problems faced by the Center for Academic Success, Tutor Matching Service offered a
free, turnkey solution for satisfying all private tutoring requests that the Center receives. In the spring of
2014, CAS placed a link on their website that CAS staff could use to direct anyone seeking a private
tutor. Ever since, when students seek tutoring for small courses that have no free tutoring available on
campus, or when parents call the CAS office seeking a tutor for their K-12 students, CAS staff
members simply refer them to the LSU CAS website. In fact, now parents no longer call CAS in the first
place, because they see the ‘private tutoring’ link right on the CAS website. With TMS, CAS staff has
been freed from the tasks associated with the former private tutoring lists.
For students or parents seeking a tutor, not only do they receive the most up-to-date list, they also gain
access to tutor bios, a ratings system, scheduling software, the ability to pay by credit card/PayPal/bank
account and a 100% satisfaction guarantee from TMS.
C. The Results
Time spent by LSU’s Center for Academic Success staff on updating private tutor lists has been
virtually eliminated. Also, with online access to tutoring services now readily available, CAS staff is
fielding significantly fewer phone requests for tutor information. According to Melissa Brocato, Director
of Center for Academic Success at LSU, “Tutor Matching Service adds another great supplemental
resource for LSU students. We have lots of free tutoring available on campus, but TMS provides us
with a place to send students looking for private tutors in upper level courses, as well as high school
parents calling for tutors for their students. TMS has been easy to implement quickly and great to work
with.”
Through the partnership with Tutor Matching Service, more than 60 LSU students signed up to be
private tutors in the first year, with an average hourly rate of $23 (and some as low as $5 per hour).
Students have received tutoring in dozens of subjects, including physics, astronomy, calculus,
chemistry, history, English, physiology, finance, philosophy, foreign language and accounting.
3. TMS: How it Works
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Similar to websites like eBay or Amazon, the TMS site is an online tool that helps connect tutors and
those seeking tutoring. Searches can be conducted based on subject matter, hourly rate, location, and
rating. Anyone can access the site and book private tutors with expertise in more than 400 subjects.
The service is free for schools to use. Learning Centers simply put a link to ‘Private Tutoring’ at the
bottom of their websites (usually after all of the free tutoring resources have been listed). Students or
parents click on the link and are brought to the school’s Tutor Matching Service webpage. Here, tutors
sign up at no cost, and set their own hourly rates. Many tutors choose to volunteer their time at $0/hour
(for example, retired professors and college students in need of service hours). Students book tutors
using a credit card, bank account, or PayPal and Tutor Matching Service’s scheduling software. When
a student books a tutor, the payment is made and the funds are held by TMS. 48 hours after the
session, 90% of the funds are dispersed directly into the tutor’s bank account. Tutor Matching Service
withholds a 10% fee from the tutors’ pay in order to provide the software, scheduling system, payment
processing, customer service, and site administration. All sessions are fully guaranteed, so if a student
requests a refund for any reason within 48 hours after the session, 100% of the funds are returned to
the student.
Colleges and Universities may ‘badge’ tutors if they so choose. Badges can be customized, but may
include: University-Certified, CRLA-Certified, and University-Trained.
4. For More Information
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For more information about Tutor Matching Service, please contact EthanF@TutorMatchingService.com
or call 1-877-919-TUTOR.