Tutoring for tuition program extended to Level I students

Sandra Kelly, Minister of Youth Services and Post-Secondary Education, today announced a trial extension of the Tutoring for Tuition program to Level I students across the province. 

"This is an important development in youth programming," said Minister Kelly. "This extension will provide Level I students the option to earn tuition vouchers for future post-secondary education endeavors, allow students who require tutoring to maintain their level of support and instruction and alleviate some of the time constraints being experienced by Level II and III students as a result of the support staff strike earlier in the year." 

The Tutoring for Tuition program is a peer tutoring program that allows high school students to tutor other students in need of academic support. Depending upon the success of this trial expansion, the Tutoring for Tuition program could be further extended in the future. 

"The extension of the program will provide significant benefit to the young people of our province and stand as a further example of the commitment of this government to the needs and future of youth in our province," said Minister Kelly. "School boards and Tutoring for Tuition program coordinators have been advocating for this extension for some time and I am happy that we are able to accommodate their request."

Minister Kelly continued on to say that the extension of the program would be monitored and evaluated by officials in the Department of Youth Services and Post-Secondary Education to determine its future feasibility.

"Obviously, the best course of action for students is our chief concern," said Minister Kelly. "If Level I students are successful and can handle the responsibility of tutoring with their regular workload and providing the financial resources are available to maintain the extension, then there is every reason to believe that this could continue to happen in the future. If this does not turn out to be the case, then a re-evaluation of the extension will be necessary"

The Tutoring for Tuition Program has proven to be extremely successful and extremely popular with students, teachers, parents and school board officials since it was first implemented in 1997/98. The program has been thoroughly evaluated on two occasions and when last evaluated, 96 per cent of tutors indicated they would recommend the program to other students, 96 per cent of school program coordinators, 96 per cent of learners, 97 per cent of parents and 99 per cent of classroom teachers would recommend the program to others and recommend its long term continuation.

"I have never seen a more positive response to a program initiative by such a wide range of people," said Minister Kelly. "It is nice to know we are doing something right and I am pleased to be able to now offer this latest improvement to an already successful program."

Media contact: Janice Lockyer, Communications, (709) 729-6573.

2001 12 19                          4:35 p.m.