Is Online Tutoring Worth the Investment?

Did you know that high-income families spend 7 times more compared to low-income families on learning expenses annually?

According to MIT economics professor Michael Greenstone: "High-income families spend as much as $9,000 annually on private tutoring, SAT prep courses, computers, and other activities, compared with about $1,300 for low-income families."

Research indicates that mothers with college degrees spend 4.5 more hours a week engaging with their children than mothers with a high school diploma or less, Greenstone said. This means that college-educated parents are able to tutor and mentor their children whereas first-generation students do not get additional support beyond the classroom and office hours.

This proves that income inequality leads to inequality in college opportunities. In this scenario, online tutoring apps such as PhotoStudy democratize the learning process for students from low-income families or first-generation students.

Here is a brief comparison of online vs in-person tutoring.

1. Cost-benefit: Private tutoring costs anywhere between $25 to $100 per hour per student whereas the cost for PhotoStudy starts at $4.99 per student per month.
   
2. Convenience and time saving for admins and Parents: There is another non-financial approach for assessing the return on investment on a tutoring app such as PhotoStudy.

The other benefits are conveniences for school admins, parents, and students such as

• Hiring Tutors vs Access to millions of Pre-vetted Expert Tutors
• 24*7 student access to tutors vs limited hours of in-person tutoring.
• On-demand access vs Scheduling

Access from anywhere vs commuting for in-person tutoring.

• Bite-sized sessions suited to the current generation of students versus longer duration of in-person tutoring sessions.
• Text-based tutoring versus Zoom sessions which can lead to fatigue.
• Admin dashboard with student metrics vs limited data points about student engagement and adoption.
• One-one-texting gives equal opportunity to shy students vs Zoom sessions which prohibit shy students from participating.

Online tutoring is supplemental to in-person tutoring. In-person tutoring has its share of advantages and disadvantages. Students need help beyond office hours and this is where online tutoring can help.

Considering the numerous benefits of a text-based online tutoring app such as PhotoStudy, one can see how the app can make education and college preparation more accessible to first-generation students or students or low-income students.

Ultimately, as an admin you want your students to thrive and be ready for college. Living standards are determined by one’s ability to get a higher education which can be influenced by factors such as access to prompt and personalized tutoring.

PhotoStudy has helped millions of students worldwide and thousands of TRIO students in the USA resolve their doubts and feel confident about their subjects which can be seen in the reviews here.

If you want to know more about how the PhotoStudy app can help you improve student engagement in an online setting, then book a free demo here.