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How to Waste $40k on Tutoring
This morning I caught up with a friend I hadn’t seen in months. These days she spends most of her time in Mexico enjoying a partial retirement, though she still does the occasional bookkeeping project for me. Whenever she’s back in the States—or when I’m lucky enough to be near her place on the beaches of Baja—we make a point to reconnect.
As we were trading a mix of personal and professional updates, she reminded me of an academic assessment we performed for her grandson, Tate back in 2020. He was just five years old at the time, already showing signs of struggle with early reading and academic skills. Our evaluation confirmed his parents’ concerns, but the silver lining was clear: we had caught it early, and he was in an excellent position to get ahead before formal schooling kicked in.
Unfortunately, Tate’s parents decided not to enroll him with us. Instead, they chose a tutoring service that seemed more convenient and less expensive—a national franchise you’ve probably seen on countless street corners. Around here, we jokingly refer to these places as “McTutoring” centers.
Naturally, I asked how Tate was doing now, five years later. My experience told me to brace myself.
The news was worse than I expected. Tate is still enrolled at the same McTutoring center. He has been going regularly for five years, and he still cannot read. His parents have been paying $650 per month since 2020—that’s nearly $40,000 invested. Forty thousand dollars, five years of twice-weekly sessions and commutes, five years of frustration and academic struggle, five years of missed opportunities to thrive—all with virtually nothing to show for it.
The good news is that Tate will soon be starting sessions with my team, and I have no doubt he will finally begin building real fluency. Still, it’s hard not to feel sick for what he and his family have endured. Imagine thinking you’d made the right financial and logistical choice, only to discover—years later—that not only did you waste your investment, but the problem you hoped was being solved has only grown worse. Tate is now more than five years behind his peers.
My hope is that Tate’s story serves as a warning to families searching for academic help. Many parents assume tutoring is all the same. The tutoring industry is happy to let that belief stand—most companies rely on it. The truth is, effective services are incredibly rare, and most programs are built to keep students coming back rather than getting them out the door as fast as possible with real skills.
The last five years could have looked very different for Tate. At Fit Learning, our students average a full grade level of academic growth every eight weeks. With us, Tate’s reading goals could have been achieved in a matter of months—at a fraction of what his parents have already spent. More importantly, he could have spent these years playing sports, joining clubs, exploring hobbies, and reading for pleasure instead of dreading it.
Parents deserve to know that effective intervention exists. Don’t settle for “McTutoring.” Your child’s time—and your family’s investment—are far too valuable to waste.
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