Andrew Crighton
Staff Writer
The Student Success Center provides many avenues for students to gain academic help in courses they may be struggling to stay afloat.
The math, writing centers and content area tutoring are three of the major resources available to students.
The math and writing centers assist registered ISU students free of charge, while CAT offers small group tutoring in a wide variety of courses.
These resources depend on tutors employed by the Student Success Center to be fully realized, but currently there are not as many tutors as they would like.
“Absolutely we don’t have enough [Tutors],” said Haydie Le Corbeiller, the Director of University Tutoring.
“There are roughly 15 in the math and writing centers, probably a little more in math, a little less in writing. Roughly 30 to 35 at the moment in content area tutoring, that’s been an increasing struggle.”
Courses like business statistics, organic chemistry and physics are some of the most requested courses.
“You can never have enough, especially in the sciences, and in business,” said Le Corbeiller.
If a student requests a tutor in an academic course for CAT, there is an effort made to source one by contacting instructors who teach that course to ask for recommendations of students they believe would be willing and able to tutor that course.
One of the leading causes for the lack of tutors is there is now a lot of competition for those students who would previously be employed as tutors through the increase of internships provided within the different departments across campus.
“Because so many departments used to recommend students to us are now using [Career Path Internship Program] money to give internships, that cuts into our labor supply,” said Le Corbeiller.
Partly because of a lack of resources and functioning at capacity, scenarios where a tutor cannot be provided have happened.
Tutors often cannot be found for new classes, courses where the curriculum has recently changed or in some upper division courses where those who have passed the class have graduated.
“The benefit of most of these jobs is you can work more or less than or certainly as little as you want. You can work three hours a week or six hours a week and you can be flexible about when those hours are,” said Le Corbeiller.
Being a tutor can increase the comprehension of the course material already taken, and can increase communication skills.
“I was a chemistry tutor, and it helped me retain the information for a whole year’s time as opposed to a semester,” said Darren Strong, a senior majoring in exercise science and tutor for two years.
“One of the best parts of being a tutor is developing a relationship with your students and seeing them absorb the things that you’re teaching them and then have them perform well,” said Strong.
In order to become a tutor, an applicant must have a 3.0 GPA, have a B+ or better in the class they would like to tutor and submit an unofficial copy of their transcript with their application which can be found in the Student Success Center or online at http://www.isu.edu/success/tutoring/beatutor.
Applicants for the Math Center and CAT programs also need an endorsement from a facility member in the course’s department.
Writing Center applicants do not need a facility endorsement, but require a three to five page writing sample.
Working as a tutor pays $9 per hour.
