23rd January 2019 9:00
By Blue Tutors
There is a new tuition scheme in Luxembourg where lessons are offered at a subsidised price dependent on ability to pay. Reported on the Delano website, a recent graduate, Laure Omont, set up the company having felt she benefitted from tutoring when she was at school. Omont studied in Luxembourg, Belgium, France and China, and appreciated the struggles experienced by many students and didn’t want to limit the help on offer to those most able to afford it.
In January last year Omont set up Nyki (Now You Know It). They use a family’s income to assess the level of discount the students receive, which can be from 10% to 100%. Long term, the idea is that the price differences will be afforded because of the families who can pay the full cost of tuition; tutors receiving the average tuition fee paid by students.
The scheme has attracted a number of students so far, ranging from age 4 to 18, but they don’t have enough numbers yet to ensure that the above pricing structure works. Until then, tutors are working for free because they see the eventual value of the system.
Omont thinks that it’s a lot like buying fair trade coffee; paying a little more to ensure that the world is a better place. She hopes that parents will be attached by the idea of paying for a tutor knowing that they are also subsidising another student’s tuition and making the lessons accessible to students who would otherwise not be able to afford it.