Have you ever struggled in school? A common solution to that problem is to hire a tutor. However, a problem today is the lack of affordable tutoring for those in need of it.  Providing more academic aid to students can help them get better grades and hopefully get into a better college.

The fee for a tutor can range from $10 for a high school student to $75 for a certified teacher per hour.  This can be extremely expensive, especially if a student receives frequent tutoring. Students and parents in lower income areas may be unwilling to spend that extra money or be unable to afford it, but students who can afford it gain an advantage over others who cannot and have been shown to have significantly higher mean scores in both language arts and math standardized tests when compared to an untutored control group.

In 2012, over 50% of students in U.S. public schools were considered low income for the first time in at least 50 years.  A lack of affordable tutoring is an increasingly large issue that now affects the majority of public high school students and the gap between low-income and wealthier students is only increasing.

Students should be given as equal a chance as possible to do well in school, regardless of their economic situation and should be able to receive extra help if needed. Tutors can focus on a specific student’s needs, which is often hard to accomplish in large groups.

It was due to similar concerns that Congress passed its No Child Left Behind Act in 2001. The goal of the act is to provide federal funds to schools with poor students and “improve educational equity for students from lower income families”.  

Although the act can also cover tutoring costs, less than 15% of eligible students are currently receiving it.  Also, districts are only qualified if they attend Title I schools, which are school districts with at least 35% of students’ families categorized as low income.  Students are qualified if they attend the district and receive a free or reduced-price lunch.

Much more can be done to raise awareness of these programs and further encourage students to seek tutoring, especially if the costs are covered under the act. Since the program already exists, people should be encouraged to us it. However, one issue with the No Child Left Behind Act is that it caused a rise in companies charging the maximum covered by the act of $2,000 per student for 50 hours for unqualified tutors.  This problem can be solved by an increase in oversight and increased monitoring of the tutoring companies, which would save money being spent on overpriced, unqualified tutors.

While the No Child Left Behind Act does help many of those who need it, it only targets those in relatively high-poverty areas. Those attending school districts that don’t meet the criteria or whose families are not considered low-income are not affected, even if they need it.

A solution to this problem is volunteer tutoring. Many high school and some college students are required to provide community service and many are members of community service organizations that are willing to help. Tutoring could also be beneficial to the elderly and retired - a study in 2009 indicates that tutoring can delay or reverse brain aging in the elderly.  Another study found that tutoring led to measurable improvements in physical activity and mental health of the tutors over those who did not.

Organizations such as the Experience Corps, which tutors in 22 cities across the nation, are already working with the interested elderly. Tutors receive no income other than “an annual stipend of about $2,800 that helps cover transportation costs, school lunches and occasional treats for the kids”. 

Programs like the Experience Corps should be more widely implemented and in more flexible groups so that a wider range of people can participate. Funding could come from donations and from states or the federal government. Funds are already being used for the No Child Left Behind Act and some could be used for volunteer programs, which could also reduce existing costs for other tutoring under the act.