Exam Preparation and Tutoring Services
Industry Profile Report
Dive Deep into the industry with a 25+ page industry report (pdf format) including the following chapters
Industry Overview Current Conditions, Industry Structure, How Firms Operate, Industry Trends, Credit Underwriting & Risks, and Industry Forecast.
Call Preparation Call Prep Questions, Industry Terms, and Weblinks.
Financial Insights Working Capital, Capital Financing, Business Valuation, and Financial Benchmarks.
Industry Profile Excerpts
Industry Overview
The 8,900 exam prep and tutoring service providers in the US offer preparation for standardized tests and academic tutoring programs. Some firms provide basic education and personal improvement programs. Firms may also specialize in occupation, technical, and trade professional development. The industry includes non-profit organizations, franchises, chains, and independent operators.
Online Tutoring Disrupts Industry Model
Online tutoring and exam prep programs expand reach, but also create competition for traditional centers and independent tutors.
Slowing Demand, Heavy Competition
Weaker demand and increased competition are expected to limit revenue and profit growth for exam prep and tutoring service providers.
Industry size & Structure
The average exam prep and tutoring service provider operates out of a single location, employs 12 workers, and generates about $663,000 annually.
- The exam prep and tutoring services industry consists of about 8,900 firms that employ about 102,000 workers and generate $5.9 billion annually.
- The industry includes nonprofit organizations, franchises, chains, and independent operators.
- The industry is concentrated at the top and fragmented at the bottom; the top 50 companies account for about 41% of industry revenue, with the top four companies accounting for 14% of industry revenue.
- Large companies include Huntington Learning Centers, Sylvan Learning Centers, and Princeton Review.
Industry Forecast
Exam Preparation and Tutoring Services Industry Growth
Recent Developments
Sep 25, 2024 - Elite Schools Consider Reinstating Standardized Testing
- Selective colleges and universities are seeing compelling data from their recent test-optional classes that they believe reinforces the value of standardized testing, according to Hafeez Lakhani, founder of Lakhani Coaching. The data suggests that standardized testing may have more value than a high school GPA in predicting undergraduate success, according to Lakhani. Stanford University’s website notes, “Performance on standardized tests is an important predictor of academic performance at Stanford, a review by the faculty Committee on Undergraduate Admission and Financial Aid has confirmed.” Some experts believe more highly-ranked universities will go back to requiring standardized tests as an assessment metric, especially as selective schools experience record-high application volume alongside record-low acceptance rates, according to Forbes.
- Federal pandemic funding paid for a major expansion of tutoring across the US but the 2023-24 school year was the last full year in which districts could spend down what remains of the $180 billion in federal Covid-19 aid. Education officials and advocates are asking state legislators and schools to find a way to keep these programs going. Some states have pledged continued funding. Virginia put an extra $418 million in its state budget for academic recovery this past fall and plans to spend 70% of that on high-dosage tutoring for students who failed or received low marks on state tests. Michigan set aside $150 million in state funds last year for intensive tutoring under the state’s MI Kids Back on Track program. Federal officials have indicated that they’d look favorably on state requests for more time to spend pandemic aid if it’s going toward tutoring.
- Americans’ confidence in colleges and universities has hit an all-time low at 28%, according to a 2024 survey conducted by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) and NORC (previously the National Opinion Research Center) at the University of Chicago. Demand for exam preparation and tutoring services may decrease if fewer people apply to colleges and universities. About 57% of Americans had a “great deal” of confidence in US colleges and universities in 2015, according to Gallup. That number decreased to 36% 2023.
- Exam preparation and tutoring industry employment decreased almost to January levels by July after increased moderately during the first four months of 2024, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. Exam preparation and tutoring service industry sales are forecast to increase at a 4.57% compounded annual rate from 2024 to 2028, faster than the growth of the overall economy, according to Inforum and the Interindustry Economic Research Fund, Inc.
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