Free tutoring service, Living Room Tutors, helping students across country

MINNEAPOLIS -- As students head back to school, a free tutoring service continues to help hundreds of students across the country catch up from the struggles of remote learning.

Statewide assessments released last week showed Minnesota students are struggling in reading and math with the pandemic partly to blame. 

The nonprofit Living Room Tutors was born out of the pandemic and continues to thrive.

Jinglin Li who is currently a sophomore at the University of Minnesota came up with the idea nearly three years ago as a high school junior living in Rochester.

Li said while her transition to remote learning wasn't too bad, she noticed her younger siblings struggling and knew they were not alone.

The tutoring service pairs high school and college students willing to volunteer their time to tutor younger students, also known as tutees, who could use the help and it's all free of charge.

The tutoring sessions take place online on a weekly basis through zoom or google meet.

Li said the tutors get just as much out of it as the tutees.

"I've tutored through this organization myself and I've realized that being a tutor has helped me develop my communication skills, my time management skills and also there's no better way to learn something than to teach it to someone else," she said. "That reinforces your own knowledge."

She said making Living Room Tutors a free service was important because she wanted to make sure all students, especially students of color could get the help they need if they wanted.

"The pandemic of course was going to affect historically marginalized communities more than others," she said. "Those communities that might really benefit from a program like this are able to get access to quality educational resources and tutoring isn't just something only the wealthiest families can enroll their children in."

When she started she had 20 volunteer tutors with 20 tutees all from Minnesota.

Now more than two and a half years later, Living Room Tutors has 300 tutors and 300 tutees from across the country and counting.

Living Room Tutors is always accepting applications for tutors and students looking for help.

To learn more and apply, click here.