Home Tuition or Tuition Centre?

Not sure whether to engage a home tuition or go to Tuition Centre for your Child?

Here are the Pro’s and Con’s of both Tuition Centres and Home Tuition for you to consider before making your decision.

You will have to weigh the benefits and the detriments, to ensure you are providing your Child with the most effective academic help for the amount you are paying. (See: 12 Lessons from an A Levels Top Scorer)

Comparison between Home Tuition and Tuition Centre:

(a) 1-to-1 Home Tuition vs Group Tuition

(b) At Home vs Tuition Centre

(d) Multiple Subjects vs Single Subjects

(e) No Extra Fees vs Extra Fees

(a) 1-to-1 Home Tuition vs Group Tuition

Academic help is more personalised in a 1-to-1 tuition setting as the tutor will be focused on only one student. Any questions or struggles the student has they can directly ask the Tutor.

In a group setting, help rendered may be less personalised as the Tutor has to accommodate to all the queries of the students.

So it is either the slowest person gets left out or the faster ones don’t get to move on to the next topic.

(b) Home Tuition vs at Tuition Centre

Depending on the environment the Student prefers, learning at Home may be more conducive for the student.

Home is more quiet, calm, and has lesser distractions than at the Tuition Centre, whereby they have friends that might distract them.

Also, the extra travelling costs incurred from travelling to the tuition centre and back home should be another consideration.

For Home Tuition, the costs are borne by the Tutor instead. (See: Private Tutor salary, 2019)

(c) No Commitment vs 4/8 Lesson Packages

There is no Commitment Period for home tuition. Should you find your tutor unsuitable after the first lesson, you can request for a cancellation.

However for tuition centres, most of them go by 4/8 or 12 lesson (1-3 month) packages.

This means that if you find the Tutor’s teaching style unsuitable, you will be unable to cancel as you are sealed in the contract.

Tuition Agencies on the other hand, allow for a change in Tutor – why continue if the tuition is not effective? (See: market tuition rates, 2019)

(d) Multiple vs Single subjects

Tuition Centres mostly specialise in teaching 1 subject ONLY; such as Chemistry, Economics.

Should your Child require help in multiple subjects, either they will have to engage multiple tuition centres, or get 1 home tutor that is able to teach all subjects.

Tuition centres provide very specialised and focused help (tutors are specialists), but you will rack up a lot of Costs. Getting tuition from tuition centres usually cost a bomb – some up to $120/h for group tuition.

Home Tutors are less specialised, but it is a much cheaper option. (See: How to Save Money on Tutors)

(e) No Extra Fees vs Extra Fees

Tuition centres have additional fees such as deposit and registration fees.

Only when signing the contract then you realise you need to pay extra charges for enrolment (which will be forfeited if you decide to not continue).

Tutors from the Tuition Agency:

– No Hidden/Agent Fees, No Commitment Period, Cancel Anytime, Pay only after Lessons Completed, No Advance Payment

For home tutors, you only need to pay for the hourly rate indicated – no extra fees!

Further Considerations to take into account:

– Choice of Tutor: Students can choose from a List of Tutor Profiles which Tutor they would like to engage – comparing Tutor’s Qualifications & Experience.
Whereas for Tuition Centres, the teachers are fixed.

– Flexibility of Schedule: Should the student suddenly have stomachache, they can request the tutor to push lessons back by 30 minutes. Home Tutors are flexible with the timeslot changes should their schedule permit.
However for tuition centres, timeslots are fixed and since it is group tuition, you would be unable to change the time.

– Pace of lesson: for Tuition Centres since it is group tuition, either the slowest person gets left out or the faster ones don’t get to move on to the next topic.
Time is wasted on both ends unlike Home Tuition, whereby the student can move at his/her own speed.

Ultimately, it is up to each Student’s needs and learning style/environment.

There is no one fixed solution for everyone, so it would be best to try out all the different options and see which one is the most effective. (See: How to find the Perfect Tutor)

Considering getting Home Tuition? Start with Free Tutor Search now!

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Miriam

Miriam is part of the team that operates CocoTutors: #1 Home Tuition Agency in Singapore. We connect Parents and students to Tutors, via our tuition-matching system. You can try out our services at (www.cocotutors.com/) or by calling +65 9177 9055 directly.