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Volume 38 Issue 6
November 21, 2000

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Demand for tutors increasing at MCC
LEC looks to shore up staff with increased budget, wages

BY CANDIS CARROLL
FOR THE MESA LEGEND
Submitted November 21, 2000

Some students attend tutoring sessions faithfully every week while others wander around campus searching for one of Mesa Community College’s best kept secrets, the Learning Enhancement Center.

Kim Patterson/MESA LEGEND

Math tutor Situ Chao Hui, left, assists MCC student Wendy Esparaza with home work in the library's Learning Enhancement Center.

This resourceful center is on the first floor of the Paul A. Elsner Library and employees refer to it as the LEC.

"Most students don’t take the initiative to seek help," said MCC math major and LEC tutor Chase Reno, 21.

According to Reno, if students need help in school, it is solely their duty to initiate action.

"I have needed tutoring many times, but I asked friends for help," admitted Josh Petrucci, 19, a fire science major at MCC. "I just moved from California and didn’t know anyone.  I didn’t know where to go even if there was a tutoring facility."

There is, in fact, a center which tutors in 12 subjects including Japanese.  Director of the Learning Enhancement Center, Linda Hopf’s motto is, "There is a sense of pressure-relief knowing you are not alone, you can get help."

"The demand for tutoring has been so high this year, we (staff members) have barely kept up," said Carol Fain, an LEC employee.

Fain has designed two brochures to promote the learning center and she generates demographic reports to show the center’s productivity.  She hopes, in turn, this will influence the budget and result in positive feedback.

"We are hesitant to advertise our facility if we cannot meet student demand for tutoring," she said.

The administration determines the center’s budget, and right now, there is not enough money to hire more student tutors.

Fain says that the LEC has proven to be effective.  According to this year’s demographic report, 75 percent of students who receive tutoring maintain a 3.0 grade point average or higher.  Student tutors are in such demand that sessions must be reserved by appointment and the center is booked weekly.  Students must be enrolled in the course in which tutoring is sought, and have a valid MCC identification card.

Reno said he tutors an average of 35 students per week just in math.  In addition, he said, of those students, 90 percent more show improvement.

In regard to the free service provided to students, Reno said, "It is tax money going to something good."

Fain recalled that in the past the budget was higher and tutoring was more effective.  Right now, students can only receive one hour of tutoring per week due to lack of employees.  Fain hopes that a budget increase will bring more tutors on staff, more advertising for the facility, and eventually higher literacy rates for the school.

MCC Dean of Instruction Gail Mee, however, disagrees with Fain’s assessment of the budget, saying, "According to my calculations, the budget for the LEC has increased by 20 percent (over last year)."

Mee did concede, though, "I’m sure we could do more for the LEC. We are looking for further funding, because we know people like Carol Fain want more for the program."

Mee added that last year’s budget for the LEC was approximately $500,000, and said MCC administration is supportive of the program and considers it "a priority."

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