Tutor.com offers free sessions to military families

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Peter R.O. Danielson
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  When doing schoolwork, whether it's for elementary school, high school, college or beyond, everyone runs into a problem they can't solve by themselves. Helping hands can be a lifesaver.

Tutor.com recently gave its six-millionth tutoring session, and currently offers unlimited online homework help and test prep to any active-duty servicemembers, including Reservists and National Guardsmen who are on active-duty orders or deployed and Department of Defense civilians who are in a deployed status and thier dependants.

This is particularly useful in a time when Community College of the Air Force degrees are necessary for advancement in rank, said Rebecca Sims, the library director at Offutt Air Force Base, Neb.

"The force is really pushing people to go back to school these days," Mrs. Sims said. "This program is designed so you can go online anywhere and connect with a tutor anytime. There are a ton of teachers and librarians who have all sorts of knowledge, and they're accessible with a click."

The website offers a wide range of available subjects, from English composition to chemistry.

"Tutor.com has changed the way we tutor," said Jennifer Marsh, Tutor.com's client services manager for military programs.

Tutors used to cover skills a student didn't understand during the previous week, said Mrs. Marsh during a visit to Offutt Jan. 25-26. This often left someone a week behind other students, she continued.

Now, a tutor can be found whenever a student gets stuck on a problem. She said this tutor can walk through each step until everything makes sense.

Entering a military one-on-one session is as easy as visiting Tutor.com's military page and entering the name, email and duty station of the active-duty member. Then, find the subject your question falls in, type it out and explain how much help you'll need.

A tutor will use a combination of a chat window and whiteboard to answer your queries.

Tutoring is available to everyone in the servicemember's immediate family, so the whole family can use it with whatever projects they're working on, said Michelle Pridell, military child education liaison at the Airman and Family Readiness Center.

"We've seen a lot of the spouses who are going back to school go into the system looking to refresh themselves before they start class," Mrs. Pridell said.

For people looking to return to the job market, resume help is also offered through the website. The tutor can suggest resume templates or help edit one that has been started. Corrections, comments and suggestions will be offered by the tutor as they read it.

"I wish I had this sort of real-time job assistance when I was trying to find this job," Mrs. Marsh said.

"It's a phenomenal program, and the best part is that it's free," Mrs. Pridell said. "There's no reason not to try it."