Peer tutoring program benefits puzzled students and tutors too

The biggest finance exam of the year was getting closer, but Wharton junior Scott Phillips' knowledge of the material was as shaky as interest rates during a year of high unemployment. He had thought of going to his professor to get advice on solving those pesky interest rate questions, but office hours conflicted with lightweight football practice. So Phillips became one of the 650 students so far this semester to request help from the University's tutoring program, which is run out of the Department of Academic Support Programs in High Rise East. The Office of Tutoring and Learning Resources has provided such academic life preservers to students needing a little extra help for almost 17 years. "It happens to everybody during their time in college," Academic Support Programs for Tutoring Associate Director Bernadine Abad said. "There's that one class that we need someone else to help us in to get by. "We didn't want students to have to stand out there on Locust Walk asking for help from someone who knows the material," she added. Instead, the program pairs students like Phillips with a student tutor who has a least a cumulative 3.2 average and an A in the course he or she needs help in within three days. Financial aid recipients don't have to pay the $9-12 cost, but as Tutoring and Learning Resources administrative assistant Roslyne Carter said, "It still doesn't get much cheaper than that." Students can request a tutor for as many hours and as many weeks as they need. Phillips said having being tutored by fellow students can often be less intimidating than asking repeated questions in the classroom. "There's always that question that you hold back in front of the professor because it seems so simple even though you don't get it," he said. "But with a student, they've been through it before and know what's happening with you." Wharton junior Brian Borradaile had successfully completed Phillips' finance class when he applied to become a tutor during the fall semester last year. But since taking the job as a tutor -- which offers the highest salary of any University-sponsored job -- he has come to know the material differently. "It's like reviewing for graduate exams or the business world," he said. "Teaching the material gives you insights into it that you don't get by just learning it." "I talk all the time about how I feel bad that I'm getting paid for this," he added. And Engineering junior Tomislav Pintauer stressed the feeling of satisfaction which comes with helping another student. "It's like you're sharing the success between the two of you," he said. "It's a great feeling when you're teaching something and that person looks up with that expression that says, 'I understand this'." Borradaile added that after he enters the business world and has to give his first important presentation before the board of his new employer, he hopes to see similar looks of understanding in their faces "You learn to get your point across and make sure someone understands what you're talking about," he said. Abad said she is well aware of the outside benefits of being a tutor. "Companies call all the time," she said. "It's something they look for." Students who don't have the time to arrange for one-on-one tutoring can go to one of the University's on-site tutoring areas, where they can receive immediate help in a variety of classes. Students can get free Biology 101 and 102 help, for example, every Tuesday from 8-11 p.m. in the W.E.B. DuBois College House's seminar room.