Private School Tutors Lower ‘Ridiculous’ $600-Per-Hour Fees

At Riverdale Country School, a private school in New York City, parents are dishing out $40,000 a year in tuition. But that’s not even the crazy part! Many are spending an additional $200 to $600 an hour on private tutoring for an 11th grade class called “Constructing America.” That’s not sitting too well with Riverdale administrators, who insist that most children simply do not require tutoring. And they’re angry with one firm in particular, Brattle Street Coaching, for using a class list to solicit clients and using “scare tactics” to get them on board. (This is all very high school, no?)

Here’s the best part: Brattle Street founder Leelila Strogov, a graduate of M.I.T., has implemented a revised fee structure because of the number of hours students were logging. She tells the New York Times: “This [Constructing America] is the only class that kids needed so many hours of tutoring. The fees were looking ridiculous.”

Apparently parents are convinced that they need to shell out this type of dough just so that their kids will pass. Which, when you think about it, is insane! That’s why the school sent a note to parents that essentially said, Hey, your kids don’t need tutoring, don’t give in to the “seductions.”

Brattle’s Strogov, however, told NYT that Riverdale “should look in the mirror” and that they’re to blame for the crazy workload and the need for tutoring in the first place! (Strogov founded Brattle Street in 2004 with her husband, also an M.I.T. and Harvard Business School grad.)

It’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out but, in the meantime, I’m wondering why I didn’t go into pursue a career in education for a whopping $600/hour! I know, I know, that’s not the norm. Still, I’m fixated on it at the moment…

(Photo: Jetta Productions)