Sylvan Learning Reviews

I love Sylvan. They were the best. I used a different tutoring service before but it didn't fit my needs. Sylvan was excellent and they worked as a whole team. The tutor focused on my grandson’s reading, vocabulary and phonics. I would definitely recommend them.

A friend referred me to Sylvan Learning and the tutors are focusing on reading and math with my foster child. She previously did not wanna go, but now, she enjoys going. She has a couple of different tutors and things are going well. She likes them, and she likes certain ones better than the others. Also, the staff are very good and they always get back to me right away. There have been a couple of issues here and there where we had some bad homework and homework that wasn’t done. But they called me right away, adjusted it and made up for it. My child has only been in there for two months, but so far, I’m happy and pleased. I have noticed a change in my child's attitude and it is helping her build confidence. I would recommend Sylvan.

Sylvan Learning is the best. They're doing very well for my kids who have improved in English and Math. They're very polite and kind, and they make it easy for my kids in school. Now my kids are understanding most things.

Going with Sylvan was convenient for us and they had the hours that we needed initially. They are helping my child with reading right now and his tutor has been good. We haven't had to retest my son again and his school seems to think he's doing better. And he likes Sylvan. We haven't seen any grades to measure any change brought by the tutoring but it seems to be helping. We've also been really happy with Sylvan's flexibility and scheduling. And the teachers there seem to be nice.

Sylvan was recommended by our friends, and we are on the second year that we are using Sylvan for our son. And he's doing very good at school. He's focusing on Math and English and his tutor has been able to help him very well. Most importantly, he likes to go there and he's happy. The school is not enough by itself, and my son had a lot of improvements since going with Sylvan. He covered the requirements from the school because English is a second language for me and his mom, and at home we speak a different language and he needs more improvement. Everything with Sylvan is perfect.

My son was tested on November 17, 2018 to get help with study skills/ tutoring for Geometry & Chemistry. I was told that he needed to test first... Have yet to hear back from them regarding results. This is not a good sign as far as I'm concerned and now I don't feel confident about their habits and ability to follow through. I have called a couple of times and was told that someone would call me back but to no avail. Unacceptable, how are they going to teach him study skills and they can't even follow through??? - Very Disappointed.

I was looking into Reading classes for my daughter and I went with Sylvan Learning. They keep the same curriculum but it was not always the same tutor. Since using their services, my daughter has improved big time to the point that she is already at her learning level. We just kept going to see them to keep the learning experience. I would highly recommend Sylvan. We got results, and when I had a concern, they helped me go through it. I always consider Sylvan Learning as a possibility in case I need it too.

The reps are friendly and they're a very good fit for my son. I've noticed an improvement in him since he started using Sylvan Learning. It is a very good place. I'd recommend it to others.

I used Sylvan when I was little, and I had success with them. My daughter needed help on English and Math, so I made a phone call to Sylvan and they were great. They came in the same day and they tested her. We’ve been going over the program for a month and a half now, and my daughter is gradually moving up. Sylvan is doing a great job. I can’t be thankful enough for them. They are great and I tell everybody about Sylvan.

I went to Sylvan for SAT preparation. They told us we needed 2 books $25 each. I start my prep course and the location owner was over enthusiastic about what she thinks I can get. She said I can get 200+ easy. There were times where I was sitting there waiting for them to pay attention to me. I asked for help and they didn't give it to me. I asked how to do a certain math problem and it took not 1 but 2 "tutors" to attempt it. They never came to a conclusion. I had to ask for help with strategy and they didn't give me any. I spent one day with 1 one tutor trying to help me, an 8th grader, and a 2nd grader all at once.

We got into Sylvan when we needed homework help for my child. I prefer Sylvan than the other place I looked at because it was more affordable, and it was not intimidating. It was very easy to enroll with Sylvan. They were really responsive and everything was great. My son's main struggle was there was a lot of writing assigned this year. He doesn't like the subject and the assignment. Instead of me having to try to fight with my kid to get the work done, being in Sylvan's program and that environment, he had no choice but to get started.

I heard good things about Sylvan Learning Centers. Plus, a very close friend of ours works there, so I got my son a tutor there. He is in 5th grade and he’s been having problems in science and math. Assessment was done and they focused on strengths and weaknesses. And when he had problems in his homework area, they were able to have him bring his homework in. They looked at what he was having issues with and went over that with him. He likes going there and he finds it to be very helpful. If he’s having issues in a different subject, like if something comes up in another subject, he likes that they will change the focus for whatever he needs.

My daughter's fiance and his brother went to Sylvan for a few years when they were younger and they liked it. So, I decided to try their service for my child. They're helping him with reading and his tutor has been good. He's getting there and I have seen a little bit of improvement so far. His tutor is trying to work with him on remembering as he's having a hard time remembering words. He could tell a word then the next time he'd see that same word, he wouldn't know it. So, that's what we're working on. My son hit it off with his teacher at Sylvan and he really enjoys going there.

My son is in high school now and I wanted to make sure he got the most out of whatever it was he was doing. I took a chance with Sylvan to help him with that and the price of their tutoring service is pricey for someone that's on a fixed income. I'm a single mom, too, but I had to do something and I wanted my children to make better grades. Also, I'm 67 years old and I don't want to leave my son back here without having some background. Right now, they're helping him with English and Math, and his grades have improved so far. Being that he's 15, I've tried to let him deal with them, though I would check with him and we'd have a review before the end of the term. But so far, so good.

My daughter is going to Sylvan for Math. She feels she's doing better. She's getting an A, so she loves it and wants to keep going. The staff at Sylvan is really fantastic and super friendly. They really make it a nice experience for everybody, so they're really good.

My daughter's a little older so, I wasn't even sure that Sylvan would take her. But I made a call and when I spoke to Kathy at a location in Rogers, she was really open to everything I was wanting to share with her about my child's learning experience when she was in high school. My daughter has developmental needs so, she worked with us and she's been terrific. It was because of the interaction that I had with her that I didn't check anywhere else.

Sylvan Learning has helped one of our family members' granddaughter so I also enrolled my son who has dyslexia. He focused on the reading subject. Since then, he has improved a lot and his confidence has gotten better too. The tutors at Sylvan are all good especially both the Educational and Science directors. They're both very friendly. I recommend Sylvan Learning to others.

The teachers at my daughter's school suggested Sylvan Learning. The tutor focused on Math and there has been an increase in her confidence since. Overall, we have been having a good experience with Sylvan and I would recommend them.

We had a couple of different tutors for my son before we went with Sylvan Learning Centers. We had a family member who was the head of the math department at one of the local high schools. She’s retired and she tutors, so she had helped my son a little bit. Then we used Mathnasium and we didn’t like them because they only have one branch here and it’s on the other side of town. So, it was very laborsome for us to try and make that work, especially with my son’s busy schedule. And at that time, he was not driving and he had a lot going on with club soccer. But Sylvan’s the opposite. They have two different locations, one south and one north, so that was a big difference for us.

My older son has been improving a lot since he started with the Sylvan program. Most of the teachers are really young, but very, very responsible. They are showing great knowledge about teaching and the techniques. It’s really great working with them. I get a really good update about the improvement of my son. I’m really happy so far. My son is working on math and reading. They are also working with him on organizational skills. The Sylvan program is an excellent program to avoid learning delay on children and to keep the children up-to-date on knowledge. I like the strategies for organizational skill on children. I wish we started with Sylvan before, but we just knew about them a few months ago. But so far, I’m having a great experience with them.

My son needed help in school with Reading so I called Sylvan. Then, I made an appointment and got him a class. They assessed him in Reading, Math, and stuff like that and they found out he was indeed needing more focus on Reading. Now, he is reading a lot better, able to pronounce the words, and he doesn't get frustrated anymore. Peggy is the one that runs the Sylvan location that we went with and their reps are pretty good. They let me know how he's doing. Sylvan Learning is a great place and they help with whatever needs help on.

I have repeatedly asked for receipts for the monies spent at the Medicine Hat, Alberta learning center. To date, nothing. I have left telephone messages. EMAIL messages. The office in Medicine Hat responded via FACEBOOK Messenger asking me for my address information which I provided. I have snapped copies of our typed messages, and I have not been rude. I would like to have my receipts, and I cannot understand why this request is being ignored. Very unprofessional and I would not recommend Sylvan Learning in Medicine Hat, Alberta, but I would encourage parent(s) to contact the Medicine Hat College for tutoring and support the low income students surviving on Student loans. College students are fantastic with the kids/children and are readily available.

After paying $895 for Sylvan Learning of Fort Myers' SAT Boot Camp over the summer, I expected my daughter's SAT scores to increase substantially, if not somewhat increase. My daughter didn't miss any classes, paid attention, and did all the assigned work, and her results did not reflect her hard work. Her reading score increased by only 30 points, and her Math score DECREASED by 40 points.... thus, a net "increase" of NEGATIVE 10 points from her previous SAT. That's right... Her OVERALL score actually DECREASED. If you are looking for an SAT prep course for your student - I highly recommend that you DO NOT use Sylvan, and look for a program elsewhere. My daughter and I were extremely disappointed. I since paid for a private one-on-one tutor, and she was able to increase her score enough to be accepted to her college of choice.

Because of our friends' recommendation, we went ahead and enrolled our child at Sylvan for spelling and reading. We had to take a month off when we had some family medical stuff come up. But she starts back with them in November and so far, she’s been doing good. In the couple of months she’s been there, she’s shown improvement. By the end of the year, she’ll have probably doubled what she’s already improved on. It’s a good deal and it's worth it. Our daughter's been better with words as well as letter and number recognition. She is also wanting to read more, like wanting to bring books and read. Before, it was like she didn’t care. She’s still not reading herself now but she really wants to be read to.

The Sylvan Learning that I used is not far from one of my homes, and there was a lot of positive feedback on them online. They focused on reading with my child. Her reading improved, and how they grade them on the different areas she needs improvement on had all gone up. We used them in the summertime, and I was so happy with the service, we transferred all her files over to another Sylvan facility located closer to where we live during the school year. She's continuing with the program, and I would highly recommend it. She's definitely feeling more confident about her reading, so that is making me feel very happy. It has been a positive experience. I have referred Sylvan already to a friend.

With the school, you have to work with the teachers and their schedules, which is not real consistent. So Sylvan's been just great. When we make our appointments, we would show up and Hailey, my daughter, has a great experience and enjoys the active learning. My daughter is working on her reading comprehension. The staff there is very sweet. They’re very knowledgeable and I feel like we have a partnership. I provide them with how Hailey's doing and help show them where she’s still struggling inside the classroom, and wait for them to give me some advice because they’re all teachers as well. I would recommend Sylvan. Hailey’s confidence in reading is improving. She’s starting to be a little bit more animated in how she reads a story instead of just reading the words and that's attributed to Sylvan working with us.

My little grandson is 12 years old and he is way behind in his learning because of behavior at school that's why I take him to Sylvan. They have a pretty good price and my grandson goes there two hours a week. The tutor is very thorough and she keeps my grandson's attention. He has really improved a lot just on his reading but they do the math too. He also explained with me that the tutor would watch everything he does, and the tutor would point out the things that he did wrong so he could correct it right then. He is more comfortable in that setting. It's like a one-on-one base thing and he doesn't have that in a regular school. In a full-time school, they would have him in a special ed class, and he gets very frustrated and have a lot of anxiety issues due to his dad passing away.

I used Kumon before and it's a world of difference with Sylvan. My daughter enjoys going there. Last week was our last day and she was asking when she was going again. We just started in the summer and my daughter's having such a positive experience. With Kumon it was more an assembly line type thing that all these kids would go through. It was great when my kid was doing fine with school but when I thought she needed some more help and more attention like with Math, we didn’t have the time to do that. I didn’t have the time to sit down and explain things because it's workbooks at Kumon. But in Sylvan they take the time to explain stuff.

We hired a private tutor who tried to help my child with any course that he had. My child didn't improve with him so I went to Sylvan Learning. They've been helpful. They are over the top. They went back to where my son lost the connection, and they're building on that. Then, in school, when he has a report that he needs to be done, they help him step by step --- it's huge when there's a one-on-one versus a 30-to-1. My son loves going there. He wants to succeed and he can see that they're helping him.

Sylvan Learning made my daughter more confident in school and her grades have gone up. The tutor helped her with her focus and it caught her up 'cause she was a little behind. I would recommend it.

Sylvan's hours were really good after school hours and it had a lot of flexibility. I could reschedule if things come up within 24 hours. My child was having issues with writing and we did a year with Sylvan where the tutor organized and planned their essays. My child didn't want to continue doing it anymore and we felt that he had improved in school, so we took him out. I've recommended Sylvan Learning to friends and several friends are doing it.

Peter, Sylvan Learning's tutor, has been very good, professional, and accommodating when we have to change times. We ask our daughter every week how she was doing and she said he was making her read and answer questions for two hours, four times a week, which is good enough for me. She is able to do her homework on her own without any help from me and my wife. She also has more confidence in reading comprehension. I'd tell other parents to consider Sylvan Learning if their child needs tutoring.

Sylvan Learning got a good reputation and my nephew went to them years and years ago. They were good and if we could afford it, we would keep our child, who has ADDH in it. The tutor focus on Math and our child said he understood and they taught him in a way that he could understand. He seems to be focusing a little bit on it and he can comprehend. If he can just focus his attention, he'd do good. I'd highly recommend them.

I'm much happier with the experience we had at Sylvan than prior tutoring options we had. My daughter needed help in math and reading and now, her confidence went up. She looked forward to her tutoring sessions with her Sylvan teacher each week and is really happy with it overall. It's been an excellent experience. So, I highly recommend Sylvan and I already did.

I’m discontented with the public school. I visited another private school here and I didn’t see a lot of difference. It was very crowded. My next stop was Sylvan. We went to visit the classroom, and I liked what I saw. Also, the director was very knowledgeable, and Sylvan seemed like a good fit for us. My child attends the academy, which is a full-time school, so he gets all his subjects. His learning experience has been wonderful. School is fun there. They are busy all the time, and he looks forward to coming every day. His grades are good, too. It’s well worth the money. Come and have a look at Sylvan. You will be pleased with it.

My daughter has reading and spelling with Sylvan and she's starting to comprehend a little bit better and starting to recognize her phonics. Her experience has also been good 'cause she's excited to go and doesn't want to leave when I pick her up. I would recommend Sylvan and give my friends the card to the one to go to.

Sylvan was the only one that had the robotics course for my son. My son's teacher was fantastic. She and my son were very hands-on. She emailed all the things they accomplished that day. My son needs to read more things about legwork courses for science and engineering for kids. He liked the course. He wants to keep going with it. He wants to take more. Sylvan is definitely worth it. Our experience was amazing.

My daughter has a learning delay and I needed some professional help for her reading and math. At Sylvan, they focused on just reading. She still struggles, just a little, with basic concepts because we have to get her all caught up but she does well with Sylvan and she is reading more fluently now. Sylvan has great service. Their reps are very hands-on and my daughter loves the rewards that she gets from it. So, that’s a great incentive for her in her learning curve.

With Sylvan Learning, the kid has to do the writing and the exercise or go through the instruction. He would not come home with packets or other things he has to complete at home and then fall behind because he would struggle to write or to complete the tasks. The instructors are more prepared or knowledgeable of the different ways of interacting with the kids. My son liked going there to work with most of the teachers. They found a way to motivate him and keep him on task. He already got the most offerings in the center here. In math, he got the fundamentals. In writing, he had to have reading comprehension and organization skills flow into it which took some time. He learned how to structure his ideas and approach the text. With the combination of skills in school, he’d learn to organize his thoughts and approach and break down his projects or other things in parts, instead of being scared of them as one big thing to do.

My children like their experience with Sylvan a lot. One of my children has Reading and Writing and the other one has Math. My daughter who's doing Math seems to understand word problems a lot better and I hope that's from Sylvan 'cause it's expensive. They see their tutor once a week and they like the instructors, using the tablets and the reward system. The kids enjoy Sylvan a lot more and I would recommend them.

We were using the K State reading program where we went to a summer school program and my son read books and then had a one-hour class. Sylvan Learning, on the other hand, is a little more detailed compared to that program. The tutor focused on English and has been helping my son work on his writing, comprehension and reading. My son's learning experience has been positive and his writing has definitely improved. I would recommend Sylvan Learning Centers.

Sylvan Learning Centers has done a fantastic job with my daughter. They are close to our house so it has worked out with them. The tutor focused on the subject areas of reading, math, science, and history with her, and they also did some Spanish. For my daughter to improve in those subject areas, the tutor helped her with reading comprehension and with basic facts and word problems in math. We've been using Sylvan for two years and since we obtained a tutor through them, my daughter has had a better attitude and she has been encouraged. Her self-esteem has been helped as well. I would recommend Sylvan.

We’ve stuck with Sylvan for years because it’s been consistently the best thing in town for us. They’re really reliable. Over the years, we have developed a relationship with them, almost an extended family. The kids can talk about what they feel and how things are going. It is an extension of our regular life, so we never feel the need to go shopping for more here in Honolulu. We were out of town for several years and part of the things of coming back was signing up for weekly courses with them again.

Our daughter was getting extra tutoring from school prior to Sylvan. But she's now undergoing tutorials for reading at Sylvan and it's better because she’s getting more one-on-one instruction whereas at the school it’s a bunch of students. Aside from the improvement that we have noticed in the said area, we’ve also noticed an overall improvement in her confidence within herself and in her ability to try and read. Sylvan Learning seems to have good programs and experienced teachers. Also, we had a really good meeting with them at the center where we go here in Goodyear, Arizona. Sylvan is worth looking into.

I had Sylvan Learning tutor my son and focus on his reading and writing. I liked that they had it set up to where we could come in and make up our own schedule. My son was there for about a month and I was barely starting to notice changes. Then I brought him out because Sylvan was too far for me and a little pricey. On top of that, I found a schoolteacher that was willing to tutor him that was right around the corner from my house. But overall, my experience with Sylvan was good and if I didn’t have a schoolteacher tutoring my son, I would take him back to Sylvan.

Sylvan Learning was recommended by a friend. My son is now using their prep homeschooling program. He is taking tutoring sessions focused on writing because one of his challenges is getting his thoughts out. He would put a lot of pressure on himself to pick the exact right words and then he would get stuck and wouldn’t be able to write anything. Sylvan is working with him to let him know that every idea can be a good idea and that he can always go back and change things. They’re giving him some more confidence. Now, he is not stressing so much about making sure that the words are perfect. He is also grasping Math concepts so much faster.

Sylvan's tutor provides a hands-on learning experience and consistency on the lessons she gives my child. She focuses on reading and my son is improving. I would recommend Sylvan.

Both my daughter and my son took SAT courses at Sylvan and both got the increases that they needed to get into their top choice college. They enjoyed attending their lessons and liked working with their tutors. Thanks Sylvan!

Brooke, my daughter, took the SAT and didn't do so well but we knew she could do better on it. We decided instead that she would take the ACT and it would be good for her to get some classes or some help before taking it. I typed something in Google and found Sylvan. It was on my way home from work and I stopped there and started asking questions. Sylvan is very detail-oriented and focuses on the actual problem itself and not just overall teaching such as the actual issue and how they can correct it.

I tried to find some personal tutors, but they always kept leaving or they go find a different job somewhere that paid a bit more. Sylvan was my last-ditch effort to get something for my poor kid. He was behind developmentally, so he wasn’t even really reading. He needed to focus on that and some math, and he's doing great now. He loves the learning experience with his tutor.

The Sylvan Learning Centers tutors focused on two subject areas with my children. One was writing and test study skills, and the other was reading. They were able to help my children improve. My son, Albert, is halfway through the grade ahead, which is my goal for him, while the writing of my daughter, Jocelyn, has gotten better, but she has a long way to go. I'd recommend Sylvan. They help fill in the gaps that the school seems to go a little quicker than necessary on certain things due to time constraints and doesn’t really delve into for the child to understand which a child also sometimes does not feel comfortable with. Sylvan is very flexible as well. It is not a big deal when we call up and change the appointment, which is good. Plus, we are not getting charged for changing the schedule, so that is always good.

We use Sylvan Learning for my son to supplement his education. We tried a lot of options before with the public schools as well as some tutoring with the neighbors and some things that were more inconsistent. They weren't week-to-week and there were more time needed. Because we needed a comprehensive solution, we ended up with Sylvan Learning.

In my situation in being a single parent, money is limited, and Sylvan Learning was able to work with me. The tutor focused on my son's reading comprehension. Having a dedicated time for my son to practice reading was good. With the constant feedback, I knew the areas where he was the weakest and focused specifically on those. It's been about six months that he's been with Sylvan and he has advanced to two reading levels. Hearing that he's progressing is giving him a little extra confidence with his reading and setting outside of school.

My 17-year old daughter likes Sylvan Learning and didn’t like the other one. Right now, she’s being tutored in Math and Science in preparation for the SAT and the ACT. I talked to my kid and she thinks that she’s improving. I know she’s happier and she feels more confident about taking the test. I liked the woman who was the director of our local Mishawaka office and she catered to our needs. I’m optimistic and my experience has gone as well as I could’ve expected without seeing definitive changes in my daughter's test scores. I would recommend Sylvan Learning.

The top notch teachers at Sylvan have been a life saver! Last year my daughter was having a very hard time with Geometry. To the point that she would break down when her and I would talk about the class. This was because she was convinced that she was not going to be able to pass Geometry no matter what. I’m no different than any other dad. I would take on the world bare hands if would mean that she would be happy again and not cry. So I started doing some research and found an overwhelming amount of positive reviews not just online but also through friends and family who live in this area.

I used Sylvan 18 years ago, and now, I'm using it for my grandson. His tutor focuses mainly on reading and it helped him improve in it. My grandson is doing much better. It helped his confidence too. When I did it 18 years ago for my son, we didn’t go long because I really couldn’t afford it. But the few sessions that he got turned him around. And after that, he stayed an honor roll student. So when I thought his son was having trouble, I told him we needed to get him in Sylvan. Everything has been really good. I would recommend Sylvan.

My son didn’t do well on his STAR test this part year which was the second year that he didn’t do well. So this summer after we got the result, my husband, who's in the education field mentioned Sylvan Learning Centers. We focused on reading and had our son do an assessment. Then, the first time that we met with someone from Sylvan, she said our son gravitates towards some of the males who have been involved in sports because that’s an interest of my son. This tells me that he's there communicating and developing a relationship and the tutors at Sylvan are getting to know the kid and what he likes.

My son liked working with Sylvan more than with his other teachers. His tutor focused mostly on Math with him. How they interacted together and created a relationship on a personal level just inside the time frame that they had helped my son. He had definitely improved because of Sylvan. I'd tell others to check it out.

Sylvan Learning is good for people who have a busy schedule and who need tutoring. Other tutoring options only offer certain times. If you call and talk to somebody at Sylvan for the place you’re going to, they’ll try to make it work for you. They were a lot more willing to meet with my schedule, where I have such a busy schedule with the kids in school and their extracurriculars, and myself in school. The tutor focused on Math and reading and my daughter had a good time. It’s a little long for her sometimes because she does it for two hours. But other than that, she likes it. I am very pleased with the service that we get through Sylvan with both the secretary and the person who has been helping us make all of the accommodations to get my daughter the times that she needs.

I’ve always seen the Sylvan advertisements over the years and I've always had a thought that tutoring was expensive. So I looked it up and got the specifics. The financing with Sylvan is convenient. The transparency was also very straightforward. The issue my child was having was math confidence and through practice, Sylvan helps him more with that. Apart from math, the robotics program has been amazing too. I would tell others to look into Sylvan.

My son progressed very well with Sylvan Learning. His Math is excellent and Sylvan helped him with his homework. He also knows how to read now a little better than before. He picks up well and quickly now. Julie, the center director, is awesome. I love this place. You should consider going there.

I have a very good experience with Sylvan Learning and I'm very happy to have my kids there. I feel like my kids developed and progressed. I love the environment and my kids feel very happy and comfortable there. When I spoke to the people at Sylvan Learning, my concerns for my kids were writing and building vocab to summarize for reading. If they don’t know vocab, that means they can't do a summary. If they can't summarize, that means it's gonna be hard for them to write. I talked to Rebecca about how I wanted my kids to start writing. She said to me it wasn’t time yet because the kids just started and there are some areas they have to build before they start writing. I sat with her and she gave me an explanation. She even gave me paperwork. I put in a file and took it to school yesterday because we had some issues in English, and I explained to the people at the school the way that I like Sylvan.

Sylvan was my daughter's first-grade teacher who suggested it the most. The other option was Kumon, but I associated it with more math so we went with Sylvan as she was struggling more in English. The location was convenient as well. Sylvan was able to identify the areas that my daughter was lacking in and they inspired her to wanna work harder at it. I felt like the tutor really helped her. She's definitely more improved this year. We did a lot of work at home, but Sylvan definitely had a positive impact on it. I would highly suggest them. They were great.

We liked Sylvan Learning. We interviewed it and it just made the most sense. My two kids did multiple subject areas there and Reading was mostly emphasized by the tutor. The kids got a lot of schedules and just getting them multiple times a week for tutoring came to a point where one kid was getting close to straight A’s and the other kid still needed a little work. We have to choose what we spend our time on, but there has been definitely a lot of improvement from them. Everything was positive and we would definitely go back, it was just a question of what my kids' needs are and timing, like my older one would have SAT if there were some specific areas he needed help with. The younger one might be in science.

My daughter is a high-performing child who goes to a very competitive private school and we use Sylvan to boost her performance. We've been doing it off and on for two years now and have worked on different subject areas at different times. With their help, my daughter's scores went up from 90 to 98. It's a tough environment and she had been an 88 in Math or Science at one point and then her tutoring with Sylvan has taken her above the 90s. Her personal goal is to be in the Headmaster's List and that requires very high performance. Kids have different needs but Dino and the instructors are patient. I like this guy. I also talked with a lot of people at Sylvan when we were waiting and they all seemed very happy. Sylvan is very solid and I'd suggest it to anyone.

I have heard good stories from other friends who have sent their kids to Sylvan and the outcome. Now that I have the time and I’m able to take my daughter, I wanted to try it for her. I am completely pleased with my experience with them. Everybody there is great. They are very welcoming and happy. My daughter loves going and she's excited every day that she gets to go. The tutors focus on my daughter's reading and now, she has a lot more confidence. She's now able to try without the hesitation of, “I’m not gonna be able to do it.”

I had a neighbor that was using Sylvan Learning mention it to me, and it sparked my curiosity so I checked it out. My child was behind two and a half grades and within six months, we narrowed the gap to a year. Now we're only three-quarters of a year behind, and that's only going twice a week. He's more interested in learning and comprehending better, and Sylvan really made it exciting and interesting for him, which was helpful. I also have a special needs student that's going there. I was told he wouldn't learn at all past a certain level and he's already exceeded expectations which has benefited me. They've worked hand-in-hand with me and the school to get him mainstreamed this year into some regular classes. They've gone above and beyond to help.

All the reviews for Sylvan Learning were great. Also, some of my clients are in the education field and they told me about their partnering with Sylvan for some of the students that they work with. So, I got a Sylvan tutor to help my son with math and reading, and he loves it. He's only been in it for 4 months but his math has improved greatly. They had told me that reading takes a little bit more time, so it is to be expected. Still, he is progressing and I like Sylvan Learning. Their price is a little steep for me but I recommend them. If you can scratch it out in your budget, give them a try because it's beneficial.

The lady that started the Sylvan franchise in Lincoln was a client of mine years ago. I really liked her when I met her and so I decided I was gonna go with them. They help with the general subject areas and it’s a work in progress but I’ve seen an improvement and I’m happy. I will continue to use them.

Both of my children were struggling in school and after I read a story about a father who used Sylvan with his son, it got me interested. So I looked into the school and it felt like a good option. I gave it a go for the summer and we’ve continued since. In the summertime, Sylvan provided help on the basics for school which were math, writing and reading comprehension. Now that school has started, the help Sylvan is providing is going to be flexible based on the needs of each child as it comes up.

My son was always timid about Mathematics and he was stressed about it too. He had tutoring in his school then I got him a tutor from Sylvan Learning. With Sylvan, he got a little bit more one-on-one versus being sat at the computer and left alone. Sylvan has very good staff and their Director always calls. They’ve reached out and communicated with me which is a good thing. Their tutors teach right and now my son went up one and a half grade level in Mathematics. I have recommended Sylvan to friends. Before I told them, I showed them what our son had started off grade-level wise. And now, our son is very confident.

I went to Sylvan when I was a kid and they did really well with me. Now they're helping my son with Algebra, and they've been pretty good with him so far. At first, he didn't wanna go, but he seems to be happy to go now and his grade has gone up a little bit. He told me he is starting to understand it better. I like Sylvan's set-up. There are only two or three kids sitting in front of the teachers, so they get a lot of good, first-hand help. Also, they’re willing to help out whenever my son has homework that he may not understand or if he had questions.

Sylvan Learning was the only system we had in Rapid and the kids enjoyed it. We focused on Math and the children enjoyed the tutor. They learned and Sylvan helped increase their knowledge.

My son came home on the last day of school with a two on his EOG. Five was the highest and three was passing, but they passed him on from fifth grade to sixth grade anyway. He also got two fours in third grade and another four in the fourth grade, so two was a substantial drop. I wanted to make sure if the two was due to lack of skill even if he tried his best and did not blow up the test. We started middle school this fall with some foundation and his Sunday school teacher at the church recommended Sylvan. We sought reading tutorial for my son during the summer and we are also using them right now exclusively for the reading tutorial.

My daughter failed her test at school twice and she needed to pass it the third time in order to go to the next grade. I was looking for tutoring for her. Then I googled Sylvan Learning and I liked how they did the assessment. They broke down the curriculum and then tested her on certain areas. They saw exactly what she was struggling with and they focused more on that instead of re-teaching her stuff that she already knew. She was switched around schools a lot and it was hard for her to understand the stuff she was getting into. So they took her back to the basic stuff, like multiplication and fractions, that she might have missed in between switching schools.

I committed two months with Sylvan Learning and the tutor focused on reading with my child. Their staff was very helpful and courteous. I really enjoy them. I also like their tasks and the way they have it arranged. My child improved and he tried more to sound out verbally where he wasn't before. But I just couldn't keep continuing to do it financially. Otherwise, I like Sylvan Learning and I would highly recommend them.

My oldest was way behind in grade level, but our school did not care. Then, we put him in Sylvan Learning over the summer and our experience with them has been wonderful. I ended up using it when I was a kid and my mom was very insistent that we do Sylvan. My child has autism, so sometimes he has days where he just doesn't want to cooperate, but Sylvan has been great with being able to reschedule, so he still gets all of his hours in. He went to middle school this year and he goes for reading and math. Yesterday, his math teacher emailed me his first quiz of the year and he got a 100%, so we were super proud of him for that.

A friend of mine had recommended Sylvan Learning and said that she had great success with her son, so we thought we would try it. Our Steph is a few grades behind because he didn't do so well last year in school, but he's still not doing well this year either. So, right now, we're still trying to play catch-up. We got his tutor to focus on Math and since then I think he's doing better. At least he says he is. He says he is enjoying it when he goes. So, I have recommended them to a couple of other moms as well.

Sylvan Learning is helping my child with reading, and his tutor is doing amazing. This is a kid who literally cannot pick up a book on his own merit and has absolutely no desire or drive to be a self-starter. He's a kind of kid that has to be pushed, and when he doesn't like something, he doesn't wanna do it. Then, my son begged me to take him there. Surprisingly enough, he asks me every day if he has reading today, and I'm like, "Yeah, you do." Or if I say he doesn't have it, he's like, "Oh, man!" And so, I'm really pleased about that. The confidence that my kid has gained from these people is unbelievable. It is, also, extremely important.

We've been to quite a few different tutoring, we've done Kumon, personal tutoring, and we were thinking about doing Mathnasium. Also, my son doesn't like the school tutoring because it's the seniors that tutor. Then, we ended up with Sylvan and it has been very positive for him. We started out with Math when we did the testing and it was Reading and Math for him. Reading is really helping him with comprehension. He moved from school to school and he missed a lot of things in between so, Sylvan is really helping him to fill those gaps. Everything can connect, and that's what my husband and I are happy about.

Sylvan Learning taught my child the English language and art and they did a good job overall. I liked the way my child had evolved over the last three years and I appreciated the efforts from Sylvan helping all together. Katy, the Sylvan owner, is very much involved and she takes good care of us. I would definitely recommend Sylvan Learning.

I had my granddaughter for the summer and she wanted to graduate early from high school. She wanted to get school behind her so she could have an opportunity to start studying art. But she also knew that her scholastics was important. So she wanted to do that and do it well. When she had met with her high school counselor, her counselor said that if she could take two particular subjects, she could get enough credits to graduate one year early. I told her if she would commit to put in the work, I would do what I could to get her through it.

I looked at a couple of other tutoring options but they didn't feel quite right. Sylvan seemed like they were competent educators and had good advice. Also, they were listening to my needs and they had a genuine concern of my child’s success. I have a seven-year old and a high schooler, so we focused on ACT, reading and math. Since working with Sylvan, my daughter got a full scholarship, and my seven-year old grandchild is reading about two grade levels ahead now.

Sylvan is close to my home so it’s convenient for me to get my child there. I have also heard good things about them and it was really the only place that I knew of where I could take my child to get one-on-one help. The tutors seem great too. They’re teachers so they have a background in education and many of them have been doing it for a long time. They’re really focusing on the needs of my child and they’re there for him. In fact, every person that I’ve encountered at Sylvan, from the people who helped us get registered and explained all the information, has been so great. I would highly recommend Sylvan and I’ve already recommended them to friends and co-workers.

If you see a problem, do not go by what the report card says. Take the student out to Sylvan, get an assessment done and see. The assessments Sylvan does are really in-depth. It breaks things down on what exactly is lacking. My granddaughter was a very sick child up until she had her tonsil and adenoids out. A lot of times, she would miss parts when she was sick. She could sort of catch up but she didn’t really have that foundation and that showed up in the assessments. When the teacher got the assessments and they worked with what the problem areas were, they focused on those foundational things.

I have been sending my kids to Sylvan for the last five years. I send them there so that they could talk and won't be embarrassed in front of people, as well as do presentations. It's good for the kids. While Sylvan is definitely expensive compared to going to a private teacher, I've been a loyal customer and we stay to keep up with what was going on and not to lose anything that they already had learned. Right now, I have two children that go there and they do reading and math. My kids love the teachers there and they like the interactions they get from them.

Different learning centers are popping up left and right out here, and I checked the cost. But when I checked into one, I didn’t really like their approach for a young person who is struggling at such an early age. It seemed a lot less hands-on. First off, I couldn’t understand why it was so cheap. Then I realized it was because you did most of the work yourself with packets they would send home. But we were already struggling with homework at home. I was also doing 20 minutes of math and reading with my grandson every night. For someone who has a little bit of a learning issue, that is a lot because they get frustrated or have lack of confidence. So why would I want packets sent home? That's ridiculous.

Sylvan Learning has been in the business long enough that they had a reputation and that they get good teachers. I have one child doing math and reading with them and she got an A+ on her mid-semester math. She's got all A’s except for a B. I have another child doing reading and comprehension and she’s still a work in progress. But she’s only been on it for about 4 weeks so she’s got a few more to go. Still, it should be good. My children seem to like Sylvan and they get more one-on-one so their minds can’t wander. So, I’m very satisfied.

We had known friends who had their kids in Sylvan and we also saw the advertising. We got a Sylvan tutor to help our twin boys focus on Math and Writing, and it has made a big difference. It helped the kids. So, we're very happy and we plan to continue using Sylvan.

My child is gonna be in calculus this year, so I was trying to prep him for that. He had skipped pre-algebra back in sixth or seventh grade and he never passed well on the pre-algebra section of the standardized test, so Sylvan Learning did a little evaluation of him and went back and taught him some of those things that he missed from six years ago. They focused on math -- calculus, algebra, and geometry, and according to what my son said, there has been a huge difference in terms of his improvement in the math area. I would definitely recommend Sylvan Learning. They did a great job, although the price of $50 an hour was high for a lot of people. But for our purposes where we don’t need to do it forever, it was fine. Maybe a lot of people wouldn’t be able to afford it, but the quality was great.

My son needed help with developing his writing skills, reading fluency, and being able to solve math problems, understanding the question that has been asked of him and being able to address it. A close friend's kid went to Sylvan Learning for a program. I had my son in there too. My son had to do two sessions per week, which was one hour per session and I've seen quite a bit of improvement in my son’s ability to understand some of the math problems and there was an increase in his fluency of speech for reading. It wasn't where I wanted it to be but he had some improvement and Sylvan Learning did their best. I would have loved to have my son stay in the program for a while but it was very expensive financially. Overall though, it was a good experience. I'll recommend Sylvan Learning. They have a wonderful service.

I did a lot of research on the different types of programs and I felt that Sylvan was a very good program for its kind. I also liked the convenience of it being at South Piedmont Community College because I live in Monroe. My daughter was in kindergarten and she wasn't grasping phonics. She needed reinforcement in that, and she was not gonna get through kindergarten unless I made arrangements with the school that I would go to Sylvan and Brain Balance and get her on board before first grade. Sylvan focused on reading and they're helping her very well. She's reading and she’s spelling out words better. They're also doing a little bit of math too, and she’s right at first grade level now. They have this positive reward thing where the kids work hard and then they get a little reward at the end. That’s a big thing at that age. Going with Sylvan is well worth the time and money spent.

I got Sylvan to tutor my granddaughter for her reading. They got the modules and had her get familiar with the subject and did a test out of it. My granddaughter feels more confident in reading now. She said she wouldn’t be the one hiding up under her desk when the teacher calls on her now, because kids make fun of you if you make a mistake or mess up. So, she said now she’s confident participating when her teacher calls on her. I would recommend Sylvan Learning.

My child was below level in the first grade. Since my niece had used Sylvan before, and it was a great experience for her, we decided to go with them as well. The tutor focused on reading and spelling, and by the time it came to us at the end of the year, my child was able to advance into the second grade. Not only did Sylvan help him tremendously, he also has a bit more confidence in himself now. If someone would ask about Sylvan, I'd tell them it would be the greatest move that they can make.

We're only using Sylvan Learning for the summer so that my daughter wouldn't fall behind. The only thing that was disappointing with Sylvan was when they tested my daughter's reading and math. We discussed that we were gonna do half of the time in reading and half of it in math. But then, I found out, after it was all done, that they only did reading so I felt like I wasn't heard. Still, reading was more of our concern even though my daughter was farther behind in math as well. I wanted my daughter to stay in the habit of being in school and doing work, so I guess it still works out that way. Also, Sylvan Learning is expensive, but I can't put a price on my kid's education. The tutor focused on reading for my child and Sylvan did as expected for what we needed it for.

Sylvan has a defined program and it seems to connect to the school curriculum. They also have grade-appropriate competency testing. I had used other tutors and thought that Sylvan was better. My child's tutor focuses on math and science subject areas and although her grades haven't quite yet improved, her engagement and ownership of her learning have improved. She's doing better and her tutor has helped her with study skills and independent learning. So, I'd definitely recommend Sylvan. Although they're expensive, they're not more than a private tutor.

I paid 89.00 to Tocco Hills in Atlanta Ga to have my son assessed at the Hiram location near my home. The company failed to disclose that the Hiram location was permanently closed. I revived no notification and was told they would not refund my money instead I was told I could use the 89.00 at the nearest location which was 1hour and 45 min away, what a rip off. Instead I contacted Varsity Tutors, my son made the honor roll and it was all done online, Please Be Aware before spending your hard earned money!!!

I wished I saw these reviews before I enrolled my son. We spent over $1000 and his grade point did not move at all. Most of the time they have him read. They give him homework time but why am I paying for that part?? He has Spanish homework and no one speaks Spanish. Their accounting system is all messed up. You need to keep track of all your dates and times with makeups. I even still did this and they claimed I still owed them money at their Grand Rapids Michigan location. This was just a waste of money. They give him iTune cards for coming. Why they should deduct that out of my money? A very frustrating experience.

We signed our kid for their services and signed a contract. Contract indicated that if we are to cancel we still have to pay 25% of the fees. However they did not provide us with a schedule. Therefore we could not even send our kid to classes without a schedule. Within less than 24 hours we called and notified them that we do not want to use their services. First they claimed that we can only get 75% of our money back as indicated in the contract. Then they kept the entire $4000 we paid them and not giving back. These guys (in Metairie Louisiana) are modern time thiefs. Never sign anything with them or give them money if you dont want to lose it. Anyone has any questions contact me. I have all the documents to prove it. Taking these guys to court now.

Before coming to Sylvan my son was struggling in math. He has learned so much since he started in December. This is definitely the place for any struggles with school. We would be lost without Sylvan.

My son was doing poorly in school and I went to Sylvan. We had been before and purchased lessons on a payment plan. This time there was a great sale and she encouraged me to purchase lessons outright instead of monthly payments. The lessons were less expensive this way so I purchased quite a few. My son is caught up in school and we are moving this summer and there is not a Sylvan in our new town. I requested a refund. She told me the payment is non-refundable. I am positive this is in the fine print but considering I gave them over $2000.00 I think they should have verbalized it as well. Buyer beware!

I am a retired teacher. I looked into Sylvan as a way to supplement my retirement income. They charge around $50 per hour but only pay tutors $13/hour. Someone's making a lot of money off these kids, and it's certainly not the tutor. My advice is to ask at your child's school about private tutors and look for ads. Make sure the tutor has a college degree in your field and, if possible, certification and teaching experience. You want someone who will communicate with your child's teachers and guidance counselors. Sylvan charges a lot of money for tests that school districts do for free, and these test results should be in your child's school file. Depending on the subject, you can get a private tutor for the same or less money than you're shelling out to Sylvan.

Sylvan provides a safe, nearly one-on-one learning environment to provide many different opportunities to truly learn a subject, learn to test better, and organize a students thoughts.

Sylvan is such a great name in learning that you don't expect to be tricked in your paperwork, but be warned. I choose the discount rate to pay a percentage up front, to the tune of about $2500 due before the first session. Well, my teenager refused to go after about 3 weeks. I'm not physically able to MAKE my teenager go. So I went to Sylvan and asked for a pro-rated refund. HA. That is not the way it works they say. You have a strict window to get that refund and I had missed it. When I was originally completing paperwork, they told me I could get a refund at a pro-rated amount, but when we decided to quit and I asked for it, they shoved paperwork in my face and said I had missed the refund window. So now I'm out $2,000. Beware... read everything... they only tell you half the truth. This was at the Overland Park, KS location. My teenager got ZERO out of this "learning" experience and I lost a lot of money.

When I inquired online I received a phone call right away so I decided to go there and check out the place and brought a coupon with me. As soon I showed the coupon she said the manager would call me so I can pay with the discount for the class but I never received the phone call back. I even emailed them again and nothing. Coupon expires in 5 days and I have been waiting for a week trying to make an appointment. Anyways I was even going to sign her up for camp but they told me that they don't have a class formed yet. I find strange because they are taking reservations online. I am no longer interested on that place! Bad experience from the start.

Sylvan tutoring seems expensive. It is not as expensive as college with no scholarship. I don't endorse companies ever, but really the difference is amazing. In one year Noelle has gone from needing to spend recess in an extra tutoring class - to being the top of her class. So worth it.

I sent my kid there for an year after trying with other places like Huntington and Mathnasium. Sylvan has no comparison, highly accurate and result oriented programs. Their Math and Reading/Writing are way better than Huntington (paper based) and Mathnasium is cheap and their teachers are not certified. My kid improved by two grades and their test results and tracking is so accurate. They talk to my child school teacher - Awesome! Five star rating.

My 7 year old son was taken to Sylvan under the impression he was going to play games and win prizes. He was evaluated on a Saturday and signed up on Monday. I am a single Mother and cannot get Sylvan to call me back or email me regarding how this could happen.

I agree with someone who wrote that if I could give them zero star, I would. They after money only. Child doesn't benefit anything. Center I went to was in Overland Park. 9165 W 133rd St Overland Park, Kansas 66213. Worst place ever. Staff are careless, don't respond to emails. Tutors just want to get the kids done. Don't challenge them. Owner doesn't care about quality of tutoring. Complete waste of time and money.

They are scammers. My child did not get proper tutoring. They just wanted money. I took a loan out for my child. He did not attend long because he was not learning anything from them. I took him out and they would not send the rest of the money to the loan provider. Please stay very far from this company!!! They overcharge for the services. Again please stay away!

If I can give a zero star, I would. They are scammer. My wife enrolled my daughter during the summer this year. I did not like prepaid policy but they kept saying we can cancel the program anytime. After summer, we decide to withdrawal from their program because my daughter was too busy and many other things going on. So we called and set up the meeting to cancel it. At the day of meeting, owner refused to refund the money because we are under their summer program which is nonrefundable. She showed copy of brochures which we never saw. My wife said she never saw this one and owner just said "TOO BAD." Is this kidding? I don't know what to do. Should I fight for this?

We eagerly signed our son up for individual tutoring after very clearly explaining that we have tried group tutoring before with no success. Our son attended his first session then let us know he was distracted by the other kids in the room. I then inquired about the possibility of he and the teacher working somewhere isolated. The director said that would be a possibility with a fee increase for one on one tutoring. I thought he was already supposed to be getting one on one tutoring? No, the director failed to mention my son would be working in a group. Surprise. Now I'm out $145 which they refuse to refund any part of. Disappointing educators can be deceitful. Most disheartening is the fact that the supervisor used the compare tactic by saying other students do just fine in the group setting. Sad.

This company seems more interested in making money than in tutoring kids. They are aggressive and even rude - promise the moon when you sign up and then after you have paid it is a different story. Also their assessment test for the kids seems absolutely useless. I really do not recommend this place at all.

Go somewhere else. A waste of $800, time and gas. My child had to help the instructor with the calculus which is on the new SAT. This is for kids who are way behind when it comes to taking the SAT. They are not prepared to tutor good students who are looking to excel and get better SAT scores. Sad. When we asked for a prorated refund, they got really mad and did not give us the correct refund... in their favor of course.

It is the worst play I have ever been to. They don't teach anything, but play on iPad and it is not one to one. It is one to three, and most of the time you are waiting for the teacher to check your answers. It is just a waste of money.

This place is the biggest RIP OFF... Get an educator to tutor your children because you will be misled by these people and your kid will end up learning nothing not to mention the high cost you will incur. I didn't do my homework on this place. Now I'm paying a very expensive price for it. I now have an educator she meets with twice a week and see huge results from it. Forgot to mention she was sent home several times with the wrong answers from Sylvan math tutors.

After a ton of promises and thousands of dollars to help our son get prepared for middle school, Math and Reading, along with organization skills. He walked away with zero advancement and zero organization skills. First report card and he was failing both Math and Literacy, and all his teachers reported poor organization skills. They were not at all concerned when I reported this to Sylvan. Just wanted me to sign him up for more hours and spend thousands more. No thank you.

I wish I had been more diligent in selecting a tutoring source for my niece. I had my niece evaluated in August 2015 to see how far she was behind in reading and math. I thought the assessment showed an accurate report of where she stood. I signed my niece up for 60 hours @ $50 per hour, four hours per week with two hours in each subject. I was given all types of promises of what the program could do for my niece including one on one tutoring and homework help. Not only did she not receive one on one tutoring, but she received no help with her homework. When she would ask for assistance with her homework, she was told she could figure it out for herself.

I took my 7-year-old son to the Sylvan in La Mesa. I prepaid for 200 hours / $99. When we had our first session I walked in the Sylvan center and found my child playing games on their TV that they said was for "learning." He was playing GTA V and Sylvan put him in the strip club. I turned off the tv and ordered Sylvan to give me a complete refund. They said no because my son liked the strip club.

I paid 2500 dollars to send my 6 year old twins to sylvan. The time was split between them, 25 hours a piece. We were assured one on one training. This is a lie. Its up to 3 children at a time, on a laptop a lot of the time! I have one son more behind than the other. After his sessions were complete, my son still can't even Recognize the letters in the alphabet and he's halfway through the first grade! When we confronted sylvan with this problem they tried to name the few letters he did know, which he already knew and was Adamant That we pay more to continue sessions! I could go on an on. Bottom line, don't send your kids to sylvan and pay high prices to get your kids help. They teach your kids nothing and guarantee nothing! This was at the sylvan in tulsa oklahoma, on memorial!

I enrolled my son in the SAT prep program in the spring after taking his PSAT. After completing the course he took his first SAT test and did horrible. Thinking this had something to do with nerves I had him retake the test a few weeks later yet there was no improvement! I am not sure what my $1000 paid for! I contacted the center and they offered no explanation. Seeing as how no one contacted me throughout the course saying he needed more help in any area I assumed he was right on track! The one answer of their definition of help was to go online and take the practice test! Don't waste your money. Look for another center!

I enrolled my daughter in Sylvan Learning center hoping they could help her with her math. Tutoring is very expensive but education is very important to me. Meanwhile, my daughter kept a steady "c" average until a month after enrollment her grade dropped to a "D". I panicked because her grades were getting worse. The last session was the final session. I asked my daughter how was her session she said it was fine the tutor kept having brain freeze and couldn't help me with 2/5 questions she had. I withdrew her and enrolled her in another program. Now I have a outstanding bill. I shouldn't have to pay.

Sign my son for 68 hrs/$50 per class. Took 52 hrs of 68 hr with no improvement. I cancel the remaining 16 hrs and requested a refund that was 5 months ago. Never receive it!

Love Sylvan! It has been nothing but a positive experience for my son. He loves going and it has been such a positive addition to his learning! Very friendly and positive environment for my son and myself!

My 10th grader went from public to private school this year. Private schools can be a nightmare with any type of disability and my son has VI/HI issues. Geometry showed signs of trouble right from the start of school and when he missed 3 weeks of school and by Oct he was failing. We contacted Sylvan, Kalamazoo, MI, office and my son was evaluated. My son learned best from one tutor/teacher and so we made every effort to make sure he stayed with her.

I tutored with Sylvan at Kahala Mall. They rely on iPads for teaching. The various lessons had numerous errors, some grammatical and some were just hugely incorrect. Example: they claimed that the word 'Dusk' meant sunrise. I was stunned, I refused to play along with this and told the student it means evening, before sunset. I brought several of these program errors to the attention of staff, who did absolutely nothing. I found a real dumb error in a math word problem. I asked the student to show it to our so-called math wizard, and he failed to detect it. There is no substitute for textbook reading. The development of the lessons is not accurate in many cases. Children are being told that they need to come back, at a huge cost to parents. Their "transition" time is bizarre. I found this location to be somewhat uncomfortable. I lost my part-time position, by bringing these things to the attention of the franchise owners.

We spent $12,000 at Sylvan for our grandson. He had learning issues and this place made guarantees that never happened. He to this day has trouble with math. It seems he was one of those children who were left behind. He is 21 now and is lost when it comes to math. It is a shame that this can happen. He is a great kid, who will struggle for a lifetime because the system let him down.

We had a very poor and quite disturbing experience with the Lake Mary, FL Sylvan Learning Center. The director, Dr. **, was very pushy and we should have trusted out initial instincts of him being dishonest. We have so many concerns and complaints and really don't know where to start. In summation, we were lied to in regards to every aspect of the program:

My wife took our 10 year old daughter to the Staten Island Location for a 50 dollar evaluation. While she was taking the test a representative named Rich insisted on getting a five thousand dollar line of credit from her besides the 240 dollars a month it would cost. She said the pressure was unreal. She ran out of the location and came to my car hysterically crying! I went inside and took our daughter out.

My husband and I met with a Center Director, reviewed my daughter's assessment and scheduled tutoring sessions. We specifically asked about certifications and criminal background checks. She said all were certified and background checks clear. We were shocked to see all FOUR of her mugshots on the internet. Within the past 5 years (most recently in September of 2013), she has been arrested for charges which include: DUI, driving with a revoked/suspended license, expired tags, driving without insurance, knowingly driving with suspended registration, deposit account fraud, and failure to appear in court.

Well we spent about 10 thousand $ for 130 hours or so. They failed to teach my daughter BASIC math skills, which at the end of completion they wanted me to pay more to keep sending her, but the first 10 grand wasn’t enough. I confronted them and they said on various occasions about her not knowing BASIC math skills. They still didn’t teach her. Our final meeting (raised her voice) they said it’s all her fault and I wasn’t allowed to get money back.

Paid too much money for what is was worth and still paying. No results and my child was still retained. Sylvan failed to tutor the subject matter in school. No communication with the level of books my child should have read, and often wondered if anything was taught when my child attended Sylvan class. Sometimes I felt it was just like an overpaid daycare. Would not recommend this place. Better off teaching your kid at home than the Sylvan hype.

I am truly shocked at some of these stories!!! I personally can't speak to the money aspect, except I knew it was expensive for parents, while the tutors made a fraction of that amount. I felt I had extensive and good preparation. It was explained why students needed a certain amount of time to show progress, and how the initial testing gives a good look at the skills from k on that were not up to par...their plan is written from that. If your 8th grader shows having trouble understanding vowel patterns, or simple comprehension, the material would definitely be at a lower level but it was NEVER made to appear babish or shameful. The skill is taught until the student can show 3 scores of 100% IN A ROW - it was effective. They then would move on to the next noted impediment.

I used to feel bad that I was let go from Sylvan, but now I don't. I was expected, every day, to come in and find out which 6-12 kids I had. At that point, I had about 30-45 minutes or less to get around all the teaching materials that they would need. Now, mind you, this is 3 kids at a time, all doing something different (ex. 7th grade math, 2nd grade math, 4th grade reading). This meant that my lesson planning essentially was about 10 minutes per kid. You use their tools (manipulatives, work books, wrap-ups, etc.) to prepare for these kids. Not knowing most of the kids that well, because you never have the same ones every hour or every day, I would prepare a decent amount and some would barely get through the first activity, and needed tons of help, while others flew through three assignments at a time.

I just read some of the latest experience reviews. Most of you had to prepay for their learning service. I tried it for a short period of time for my grade 7 then cancelled it. It cost around $500 for my kid. Then, I went to another franchise one with a "K" for the first letter of its name. No better than what I had experienced at Sylvan. We'll never be superficial again. We should learn a lesson now; brand doesn't necessary tell what's under it, especially those franchise ones.

Over the past month I have been traveling twice a week (approx. 75 mi/trip) to get tutoring services in reading for my grandson, a second grader. After the initial assessment the counselor identified his weaknesses and assured me that Sylvan could help. So far this has not happened. There has been little or no communication from the instructor about his plans for improvements. Every visit, the student is with a new and different instructor, who has no knowledge about him or his performance. It appears that he can spend the hour doing whatever, math, reading, etc. Presently I have ended my services with Sylvan. The director did not ask why, but informed me that I had to pay for the next 30 days. It is a total waste of my time and resources to continue this relationship.

My son started going to SYLVAN learning centre in Mississauga, ON. It was a prepaid ($6500) program. I bought a block of hours. My son used up some hours and some he missed due to snow and sick days. Due to circumstances I asked for a refund. They pro-rated with a different hourly rate and did not consider snow and sick days. I was expecting to see a cheque for $2200, I was shocked to see only $195. I called to complain and was told that's the policy. I am a single mom and this kind of unfair policies hurting me so much. Can anyone suggest me what to do? I have contacted the Business Bureau.

On Dec. 31, 2013, the Eugene Sylvan closed without notice... after I had prepaid over $4,000.00 for my daughter's tutoring. They were running a "special". Jill Nolan, the owner, will not return my calls nor give me an exact accounting nor my records. I have emailed corporate Sylvan for 8 months but all I get is a canned email response - they say they are not responsible. They won't even send me exact accounting. Sylvan took my daughter's education monies.

Sylvan Learning Center- Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. There aren't enough words to say how illegitimate and corrupt the Sylvan Learning Center is. After I terminated service (because they did less than nothing), my bill was paid in full. I was told by the director that I would receive a refund for the unused hours because I only used 66 hours and now they tampered with their records and say that we used 129 hours and I now owe them more than one thousand dollars. Sylvan is a sophisticated scam. They will steal your money and then will not speak with you. Any positive review was bribed by giving free hours in return. They told me I wasn't allowed to call them!! These people are crooks!!! Stay away!!

Lies - lies - lies - canned presentation - zip 32935. Child is age 09. We paid $50 for evaluation - then $200 for two hours of what I was promised would be only for 'phonics'. It was less than one hour of pretest in reading, the rest was with another student her age having free time using the computer. Fortunately I was able to predict the future with them and cancelled the next appointment. Please do not sign a contract and pay visit to visit (you'll save money) and question your child in detail about the **first**... visit.

What an incredible disappointment after all the hype about how effective they are. My High School student needed help in math. She had done very poorly in school because she has a major math anxiety issue. I very specifically told the Lakewood Center that I wanted them to help her address only her math so that she would have confidence in dealing with it in school. After several thousand dollars and three and a half months later she showed no improvement at all. She started the program with an "F" and ended with an "F". During her last month she told me "oh I don't do math while I'm there, I work on my English home work." I was furious. When I asked what the heck was going on the director said, "She said she didn't want to work on her math so we haven't been." Sylvan is a joke and worse, a complete waste of money.

It is with regret that I must say that my experience working for Sylvan of Greater Toronto was nothing short of an experience I could have done without. The business practices that took place behind the scenes were nothing but poor. I only hope that this is a realization the people that own run and manage the organization of 11 centres. The overall morale of those I worked with, was poor at best. The time that was needed to dedicate to the role was in no way properly compensated monetarily.

I enrolled my son in Sylvan on Watson in Crestwood MO because he was struggling with math and I was desperate to help him. I had to finance the program for $5000. I drove him to Sylvan three times a week, often having to leave work early to get there on time. They showed me nice charts showing how his math skills were improving and eventually telling me he had passed the program. He is not better at math now than the day I took him there and is still completely frustrated and lacks confidence. I believe this product is overly costly (ridiculously costly) and offers no return on your investment. Pay privately for a local college student to tutor your child. It will probably work best.

Absolutely the worst service ever, they know nothing about tutoring older students, the worst service and the worst leadership I have ever seen. My daughter went to them first, asked them if they tutor college students for Math 125. They said yes, absolutely they do and they tutor college students all the time. This was the first lie. Then they asked her to pay immediately $55. On Saturday she went, the tutor was slow. She finished only 6 questions in one hour. Now I am a high school math teacher and I have been tutoring high school students and college students. It requires a certain method to tutor for final exam. The time is limited, you need to skim through the questions fast, and give the student guide lines to solve problems and give them concepts and write formulas and send the student home to go over everything you covered in one hour. This way, the tutor can go over the study guide and not waste the student time and the parent's money.

We were promised a refund for unused services at the Little Rock, AR Sylvan Learning Centers. We issued a 2-week notice in writing as required and were told it would take "about 14 business days" for our refund to be received. Nearly 3 months later we still have not received our refund and have received no response from the director since our last email a week ago. I feel like we are now getting ignored and the run around. I was told the refund has been "processed" but when I tried to find out what "processed" means and whether or not the check has been mailed, my question was ignored. I am still waiting to hear something back from them or for a check to show up in my mailbox. I am a fair-minded person and want to give them the benefit of the doubt. However, my experience with the Little Rock Sylvan has not been positive, and I would strongly warn anyone from giving money upfront for Sylvan services since it is becoming clear from my experience and from the many other reviews I've read here that the company does not stand behind their promises. What a disappointment and sad example for the children they claim to serve.

My husband and I sent our 11yr old to Sylvan in 2012 to 2013 for reading and math. We were told that she would receive help in both. Reading was first, which there was no progress, tutoring was many time cut short and I would go pick her up and she was out 15 min. before scheduled time. Seems Sylvan was more interested in enticing prize rewards than actual teaching.

First of all, they lied to me on the phone about the pricing. I was told my child's tuition won't cost me more than $250 a month. What they omitted was that $250 is the monthly amount IF BROKEN INTO INSTALLMENTS. Then I faced the actual price - $72+ per hour, the minimum of 2 hours per week. If I bought less than $50 hours, it'd be $75 per hour. Compare this to about $50 for private tutoring in Brooklyn, NY. Throughout the 4 months of studying, my son has been complaining that it was a waste of time and that he was taught stuff a way below his actual level. There has been no improvement in his school grades. What pushed me to leave the appropriate reviews about Sylvan is that they refused to provide me with the tax id (EIN) number, so I've been unable to write off such a huge amount of money. You'll be better off finding a private tutor.

I was hopeful that the owner of the center would do as she said she would. However, I see that was not the case. It has been a month and a half since we withdrew our grandson from Sylvan, with prepaid unused hours left. He attended for a little over 1 year. We were told the request was sent to the Regional Director, who would approve it and send it to the owner, who would cut a check for the refund for unused hours.

Our 8 year old was struggling in math so we sought tutoring at Sylvan. The teaser is that the program will increase their competency a whole grade level. He was mid 2nd grade in math competency with a target grade of 3.9 at completion. The target was 100 hours at a cost of $4,250. We paid the initial deposits and all the subsequent payments over the course of the year. At the interval meetings the staff focused on how many more hours it would take to achieve the academic goals set forth at the beginning. At no time did they advise us that we would incur cost overruns to continue the program and meet the goals to which we agreed.

I have been trying to sign my son for the Lansing East location for ACT prep. The website is valueless - no info on the classes, times, prices. No opportunity to sign up online. You call the office during what are their business hours (repeatedly) and no one ever answers even though I tried about 30x per day. They eventually left a VM that said, "Didn't you get the email?" Hello, I am trying to spend $700 to sign my kid up for your class that starts in 5 days. How does anyone sign up for anything when they don't have any info on the website, don't pick up the phone and don't return calls? This is crazy. I want my kid to do well on the ACT, but apparently Sylvan is not interested in my business, so I need to explore other vendors of prep services.

When I was a grade 12 student, I went to Sylvan to help improve my study skills for a subject I was struggling in (University Biology). I was given several tests to see if my comprehension and learning was at the level it should be. The lady told me that my level was as low as a grade 7 student. Spending a very useless 4 months at this place I did not get anything out of it. Now being a second year Concurrent Education University student, I would not recommend this learning center to others. For being told I wouldn't have a bright future, I would like to let you know I am doing just fine for a student with learning skills of a "grade 7."

They had tested our son and we agreed that 69 hours will bring him to a grade level. They did not inform me about any problems at all. They did not keep appointments with me, like my time is not important. They "tested" my son after we spent $2000 and reported significant progress. When the kid returned to school, his math grades was 0 or "F". I still did not get the refund from them for unused lessons after cancellation. Please do not be that stupid to try to get their help. Waste of time and money.

After attending Sylvan for several months with zero achievement, we decided my son needed to go to a different school to get more one on one help. I contacted Sylvan in person & explained the situation. I was told I would be receiving a refund as I had paid a lot in advance. I have sent several emails to try to communicate "when should I be expecting a refund?" It has now been 9 months & just today received a call from them stating I wouldn't be getting a refund but I could use up the money at Sylvan. The refund should have been $450.00!! I was a great customer who always paid in advance. I am very disappointed with Sylvan! We don't need to use up the money/days at Sylvan as my son attends a great school where he gets the help he needs. My advise is to not use Sylvan!! Hire a private tutor!!

My daughter applied for a job at Sylvan Learning Center in Lubbock Texas. Mike Sullivan or Sylvan, lead her on and had her believing that she would be offered the job. She passed up many great jobs just to go to work with Sylvan so that she could help the children learn, in the best way that the child learns. She has taught around the world and has worked with every technique and was taught how to identify how a child best learns. The interview process was long and drawn out. She even had to interview with Mike's son. She had to take the personality profile test and many other things. ONLY today to be told that he could not offer her the job because she has a small tattoo on each wrist.

My grandson enrolled for a summer program to get him ahead in his Math. He had finished the 4th grade with a C so we knew he needed help. He went to Sylvan all summer, 5 days a week for two hours a day. It was EXTREMELY expensive. He entered 6th grade in Aug. Today is Sept. 12 and he has an F in Math. When I presented the problems to Sylvan, their reply to me was they needed another $2000 to change his program to "Homework" Helps. Their guarantee? They do not honor it because the last branch manager is not there any longer (transferred within reach of phone) and he did not credit the 36 hrs as promised. Sylvan may have started with a heart for the children, I do not know, but now their heart is sadly only for money.

My 7-year-old son was struggling with his reading skills. His school tested his reading and said he was at an I level. He needed to be at an M level for his grade. I enrolled him in Sylvan for about 70 hours (3 days a week). I wanted him to focus on reading so I didn't allow him to play any sports during his time at Sylvan. He just completed all of his hours in July. They recently tested his reading at school again and there has been absolutely no improvement. I am angry not only at the fact that we wasted our time but also that I had to take out a loan for his Sylvan tuition (of which I still owe more than $2000). My son is now further behind his peers and it is going to take a lot more work to help close that gap. I wasn't expecting a miracle, just an improvement.

Sylvan Learning Center promises the world and produces nothing...I enrolled my 9 year old grandson into Sylvan under the guise he would be 2 to 3 grades higher by the time he reached high school. He learned absolutely nothing except how to be quiet and get a toy at the end of each session…I am now in the hole to Sallie Mae for $24,000 because I was unable to keep up with the $200 monthly loan payments which I was encouraged to borrow by the Director…Since that time I've had to solicit tutors every year to try and get him through high school...Sylvan took the money and ran and is now out of business in Palm Coast, Florida.

My son needed help with algebra 1, before he starts the 9th grade. I thought it would be good if we start him of early on July before the school starts and get him ready. Therefore I enrolled him at Sylvan Studio City and the executive director talked to us and made all kind of promises about how he is going to improve and succeed, and convinced me to enroll him for 150 hours of class for $55 an hour. Even though it was a lot of money and really could not afford it but she convinced me to finance it through Tuition Solution credit company and pay it with no interest in 2 years. I had no idea this was just a lie for them to get this money, because not only my son did not improved that year, also he ended up failing.

After I spoke with my son's teacher I found out that my son did know the work. He was just too lazy to do it or put any real effort into it. Turns out the instructors DO know what they are doing. I've apparently been paying for summer school for no reason. Sylvan thank you for helping my son, I can kick myself for not catching this earlier, I guess I need to supervise my child more than I thought. Hopefully once I straighten my son out he will actually start to produce what he has picked up at Sylvan and stop wasting mine, his, and his teacher's time.

I would like to inform parents of my experience with Sylva Learning center in Lehi, Utah. My child had a large amount of hours set up for his program. I was given the option to pay at the start of the program, and I would get a discount on the cost of each hour. At this time, I asked if he didn’t need all the hours, would we get the extra hours refunded; they assured me I would. I also informed them that we had a long vacation planned for the summer, and they told me that if I just let them know in advance that it would be fine. When my son finished his program, he had 26 hours left and they told me that they would send me a refund and the gift card he had earned. Two months later, I had not received it so I got in contact with the center and found out that she had forgotten about the gift card and would send it out, which she did. The refund, she said, had to go to the director and board for approval.

Sylvan is NOT in it for the children. They are 100% in it for your money! All I was looking for was the study skills program, as my child gets excellent grades but was home schooled for 3 years and is re-entering private school next year. I do not want grades to suffer by going back into school so I thought a study skills program may be beneficial. They made me bring my child for an assessment at a non-refundable cost of $125.00!!! We were met at the door and the woman told us her name but not her credentials. Was she even a teacher??? I asked questions about the paperwork they were making MY MINOR CHILD fill out and she acted offended that I was asking and obviously didn't want to answer my questions.

Two sessions and we were fed up. First, they assess your child and take hundreds of dollars to tell you they are teaching the ENTIRE grade to them! All we wanted was math help. I mean, it's tutoring, not school. The first day, they called her by a completely wrong name. Second time was okay. Third time, my daughter puked as we were about to leave the house to go. I am literally cleaning up and they called me... I apologized profusely and they just scolded me. So we find an in-home tutor. They charge us $400 for leaving!!! My daughter has autism and this comes out of her autism funding. Nice.

I enrolled my 8-year-old daughter at a local Sylvan Learning Center to help improve her timed 2nd grade addition/subtraction scores. I was told that we could purchase a "homework block" of hours since she had a specific need or focus. The center allowed us to purchase a 5-hour block at the hefty price of $50.00 per hour. In total, $250.00 worth of tutoring. When we arrived at the very first session, the admissions person asked, "Where is your paperwork/practice documents?" Since I had not been told to bring anything, I did not know what she meant. However, since my partner and I had been working with our daughter at home nightly, I just happened to have a folder of sample test problems. So I went to my car to promptly retrieve them for the session.

My husband and I took our son to Sylvan Learning Center in Helena, Montana when he was 15 for tutoring in multiple subjects. He went a total of 3 months twice weekly. His grades did not improve. He stated that he felt like he was treated like a child and not like the teenager he was. We stopped the tutoring after 3 months as it was very costly and ineffective. We received a paper billing statement via mail for 4 months. We paid the amount asked ($50). After four months, we did not receive another statement. I called Sylvan and left a message with request for someone to call me back - no one did.

"Oh where, oh where have the directors gone? Oh where, oh where can they be?" That pretty much sums it up. Directors go in and out within every 6 months. I've been taking my child there for a while now and see the negative impact this has. I actually really like almost every director they've had, and believed them to be doing everything for my child they can, so it's not as if they keep finding incapable people. It makes me mad as I have spent so much money on a place that obviously has a problem with its operations and staffing. I think it's a joke! The owners have some changes to make. I will not be recommending this place to anyone ever again! I am pretty upset and frustrated by the situation.

I read a brochure that Sylvan Learning Center had programs designed for my son to receive the tools to master Algebra. I enrolled my son in Sylvan Learning on 08/04/12 and purchased 43 hours by applying for a tuition loan with NBT Bank for $2,413.92, for a program that guaranteed they would build a foundation for higher-level Math courses and enhance my son's critical thinking skills. I took my son to Sylvan Learning Center twice per week as recommended by the director.

I enrolled my 12-year old son at the Dyersburg, TN location for assistance in reading (he is in the 7th grade). His initial review placed him at the 5th grade level. Thirty-two hours of instruction later, he retested at 3rd grade level. After expressing my concerns, he was retested a couple weeks later and shazam! He tested at 10th grade level. When his midterm report card came out in January, his reading grade dropped to a low D. I unenrolled him, and as per the contract, I submitted a written notice. I sent it “return receipt" to document the satisfaction of the contractual requirement. Three weeks later, the letter was returned after three attempts to deliver. I wish I had researched this company better as I see that my experience is not uncommon. I am working on a refund of unused hours but do not hold out much hope. Save yourself the grief and look for private tutoring.

We enrolled our children in a Sylvan in Central Illinois in September. We spoke with the director about what our needs were. She was very professional, caring and knowledgeable. She had everything worked out for us. Things were going great for about 2 weeks when suddenly the lady we had been working with was no longer there one day and they had someone new. We had a progress report with this new lady who, of course, knew nothing about our child or her program. She then proceeded to try and sell us a different package when we just paid thousands of dollars 2 weeks prior. Really?!

Avoid Denville/Ceder Knolls New Jersey Location. The administrators are rude and worthless! They charge a ridiculous amount of money per hour. The owner talks about her son who is studying at the University of Chicago. However, you can't ask what college the tutor went to because according to her, that's personal information. What school your son goes to is not personal? If I am paying $50/hr, I need to know if this tutor is worth my son's time or not.

We signed up through Sylvan for an offer that seemed too good to be true: The tuition dollar amount needed was applied for through "SpringStone" and it was understood that if we made a regular payment of $**.00, then it would be paid off in two years, and there would be no interest charges. Later, Sylvan talked us into more classes - all of which could be put on the SpringStone account (increasing the balance). Now, of course, the "regular payment of $**.00" would not cover the payoff in two years (because of the added classes/tuition). But the realization is that the plan we signed up for is "interest deferment", meaning that if we don't pay off the entire amount by the payoff date, we will have to pay the full amount of accrued interest (over the last two years). We signed up for it. We got talked into it, even clear on what it meant. But in the desire to give our kids every advantage we could, we've lost the chance to enjoy the few "discretionary" things we could have done over the next few months. Like others, our son had "reviews", but his study skills haven't really improved and his grades certainly haven't.

Back in April, we took our then 7th grade son, who was a straight A 6th grader and has As in math, to Sylvan to get him prepped for Algebra 1 to take the entrance exams for two local STEM programs. Our expressed wishes were for him to focus on grade-appropriate Algebra concepts for these purposes. For 5 months he worked with Sylvan's tutors and would routinely come out afterwards and say that what he did today didn't involve algebra but was instead "review" based on what Sylvan's testing said he needed work on.

I am angry and very dissatisfied. I will not recommend... I enrolled my daughter to get help in reading comprehension when she was in 4th grade. She was supposed to be reading chapter books at 4th grade level, but they only gave her picture books for kindergarten students; of course, in the end, no results! Money wasted and I paid $4,000 dollars for it. Also, for the conferences with the administrator to see how she was doing, I had to pay extra - like it wasn't already enough with the $4,000 I had paid them.

During the latter part of my exam, the Sylvan Learning Center employees created copious amounts of noise with conversation and laughter outside the testing room. Even with headphones on, the employees' noise was extremely distracting, having detrimental effects on my concentration and was reflected in the scores of areas of my exam that took place during the noisy environment. These areas are areas where I consistently have scored higher than what I received on my test day.

I enrolled a child to get help with 8th grade Math and we told them he was not to use a calculator as it wasn't allowed in his school. We were tested and put on a twice weekly, two-hour program along with two other students. The child came home with work done for the week with no problems. All tests and seatwork were getting 30-40's due to child was using a calculator the entire time. I can pay a babysitter to watch him and two friends do math work at home. No results! Money wasted! I kept telling them regarding the calculator issues and they had no regard. We ended up hiring a private one-on-one tutor that comes into our house, less money and quality results.

We signed up to have my son tutored in Algebra, Writing and Study Skills to the tune of $6,000. I cannot believe we wasted that money. He was enrolled in an Honors Algebra II class and he failed the second half of the year, so now he must go to summer school. If I had it to do over, I would have gotten him a private tutor. He did have a bad break up with a girl during the first part of the year that affected his grades for one semester, but they assured me he was on track for what he was learning. When I brought to their attention that he failed the last semester, they suggested I get him counseling for his emotions. I am very disappointed and can't believe that I am still having to pay $3,000. That is college tuition + books for a community college. It is a ripoff. I would never go there again, even though they still owe me 20 hours.

Sylvan ELA and math standardized test camp: I signed up my granddaughter Gloria ** for what I thought would be a helpful review for the standardized tests. I was told there would be two groups of third to fifth graders and a second group of sixth to eighth graders. Instead, all of the children were housed on one room. My granddaughter was made to sit with third graders, because the 4 seventh graders were bullying her. Also, she was not provided materials, because they had not ordered enough.

I signed up to have my kids tested, prior to using the Sylvan Center. I was specifically told that I would have 3 days to cancel and have my $99 refunded. The next morning, I cancelled the testing and asked for them to process a refund. It's now 5 months later, and I still don't have the money. I've been told that they are processing it, then I was told they processed it. Now the story is that there is no refund on testing, and that they can't find the paperwork that shows that I signed for it.

We paid for the program ahead of time which required us to pay about $3,500 (we took out a loan). Before hand, I thoroughly explained the need of our son who suffered from ADD. They assured me that they were the right place with instructors that could help. We entered our son into the study program, however, I didn't realize until later that, not only do they have NO guarantee (ie: accountability) nor did they have ANY education with ADD students.

I pre-purchased 200 hours of tutoring. When I could not use a balance of 78 hours, I called for about six months to try to get the refund. Finally, the check came and it was considerably less than what I expected. Sylvan's reason is because I still have 40 hours of excused absences that can be used at anytime. The hours are non refundable per the policy statement. In other words, I scheduled my time in advance weekly. If I had a conflict and called to reschedule or cancel and those dates are not refundable.

I contacted American Fork Utah Sylan to see if they could help my daughter because she was behind in school and struggling with anxiety and PTSD which made it difficult to catch up with her homework and get back on track for graduation. They said they would be able to help but they would need to evaluate her first which would be $199 but that there was a coupon out that would reduce the price to $100. I did need to pay a $50 deposit "non-refundable" deposit which the non-refundable part was not made clear in the phone call. I've cancelled the evaluation and they won't refund the deposit without approval from the owner. The director mentioned that she could try to request a refund from the owner but he would probably say no. This just solidifies the complaints that have already been logged on this site. Definitely buyer beware.

My wife was employed at the Sylvan Learning Center in Bartonsville, PA when it closed down suddenly. Not only was there no warning of the closing, my wife was never paid for the last 2 1/2 weeks of work there. We are struggling just to put food on the table and take care of our child. Call, emails, and letter have led nowhere. My wife deserves to be paid. She gave an awful lot to that company. I would never recommend Sylvan to anyone, whether it is for their child or a job.

The Sylvan learning center in Bartonsville, PA abruptly closed on the 26th of October 2011. The franchise holder Joseph ** has not returned any phone calls or emails since the business ceased operation. They are holding $900.00 in unused tuition payments. Sylvan corporate refuses to take any action even though they have a contract in place with the franchisee that specifically states when shutting down they must transfer you to another center or refund your monies. Neither happened and the corporate entity refuses to hold the franchisee accountable to the contract they signed with Sylvan corporate. It is an absolute disgrace that in this difficult financial time, corporations willingly allow people to run off and take you money. I’m out $900.00 in unused tuition money that I want refunded.

I have the complete At-Home System for 8-12 years. Everything was fine until my daughter listened to disk three. In the story, it said that birds are related to crocodiles. That is evolution. That is a theory and should not be imposed on my child no more than religion. This was a gift to me so I cannot seek a refund.

Sylvan is sold out to franchisees. A lot of people don't know that. My daughter actually got a good education at the Longmont and Boulder, CO centers. She had a very good teacher. However, Sylvan, in general, doesn't keep their promises and don't trust them. My daughter took Algebra 1 for credit and it was approved by her school to do. At almost the end of her course in Longmont, CO, she was informed that the center would be closing and she would be moved to Boulder to finish. She went to Boulder and finished, and had the same teacher who moved there too and the director there said he would get the transcript to the school.

I paid $99 to have my daughter assessed in June 2011. I met with a Sylvan representative at the Metairie location to review the results. I paid $95 to register my daughter for the Slidell location, which I was told was owned by the same owner. I completed the necessary paperwork to enroll my daughter for the Slidell location to begin on August 16, 2011. At the end of July 2011, Rebecca from Sylvan called to change Anna's tutoring time from 5:30 P.M. to 5:00 P.M. I called Sylvan's Slidell location on August 11, 12 and 15 to ask a question about which date the tuition was due. I only got a voicemail from "Beth", who never returned any of my calls.

I enrolled my daughter, Karlee, in Sylvan. I paid right at $3000 up front. She went for four sessions (which was great). The teacher called on Monday evening at 3:30 stating that Baldwin Management who operates the school came in and told her she could not accept any more children and they were closing the center. I have my contract. I also have the letter they sent out to the parents. But I do not have a refund for my money. They wanted their money up front, a contract signed. Where is my money? I would not refer anyone to this center. I'm now going to have to get attorney to collect my money. Sad that all education is going downhill and taking parents' money. This have put me in a very financial bind. My daughter is very upset mentally. She was very saddened that she couldn't go back. Now, I can't afford to go hire another tutor due to no refund.

I enrolled my 8-year-old daughter in Sylvan Learning Center in Las Vegas in June 2007 to bring her up to grade level in reading comprehension. I paid almost $4,000 for the program. My daughter never made any improvement, every time I picked her up from Sylvan I asked her what she did that day and she will tell me she only read kindergarten books when she was supposed to be reading chapter books for 3rd grader students, so I went inside and checked the books they had and most of them were really picture books for little kids, not to mention that they didn't have many to choose from anyway. No wonder she never got any better. Not only that, but you had to pay extra money when they scheduled conferences to tell you how the student was doing. I can only describe my experience with the services I received at Sylvan Learning Center as very bad since my daughter never accomplished anything with them. I would not recommend Sylvan to any parent that needs help with their children's education.

I signed up for my granddaughter for 88 hours of reading help with Sylvan and paid $4048.00 upfront to get the hourly discount. After two months of instruction, it closed without warning, then I found out that the owner had filed bankruptcy after 30 days of instruction.

I enrolled my 14-year-old grandson and paid $3000.00 to bring him up to Algebra 1 level. Not only are the directors and teachers condescending and rude to me, my son, and most importantly, my grandson, but after many hours of tutoring, we find out they don't have any tutors who know Algebra! They tell us they used to, but don't anymore. No refund, no credit, just more bull, and now my grandson is way behind in math.

We had to move due to military orders and I expected to receive a refund for the hours not used from Sylvan in 2007. I contacted Sylvan and they told me I had to deal with the franchise owner Debbie **. Mrs. ** emailed me in July 2010 that she had mailed a check for the refund. This never happened. I responded to her that I never received the check. She emailed me again stating that she was placing a stop payment on that check and sending out another check. This never happened. It is now November 2010 and I never received any other response from Mrs. **. I would advise everyone not to get any type of loan with this company to pay for services. They will not cooperate in refunding any amounts that they owe you.

My son was enrolled in Sylvan Learning in November 2008. The school automatically closed down without any warning. I paid them $4000+ upfront (** me, right). I have tried to contact the center owner, but no response. I've tried to contact her lawyer, but no response. I'm still fighting this issue. I'm not rich and can not afford a lawyer at this moment. I'm currently stationed in Africa and still trying to resolve this. I have contacted the center, but they told me they need my son's records from that branch that he was at. When I told them that I can't get in any contact with them, they said they will also try as well. So I've contacted the Civil Affairs, State Affairs and the police. I feel like I've been robbed and more importantly, my son and the other kids and parents who went through this ordeal.

Panama City Sylvan Learning Center closed without warning, they owe us and probably others money. I have gotten absolutely no satisfaction or even acknowledgment of the debt owed to me by Sylvan Learning Center. Mr. ** has not bothered to return even one of my telephone messages. I was contacted by the Fort Walton office, never spoke to anyone, but I no longer desire any tutoring. I want a refund of the $250 paid to Sylvan Learning Center, but never used. My account number is **. I had a consultation with Jennifer ** on 4/19/2010. During that consultation, I hand wrote a note suspending his tutoring until the summer. I had paid for the month of April in full, so I am due month's tuition. I would love for Mr. ** to do the right thing if he is the franchise owner, but ultimately, my checks were made out to Sylvan Learning Center.

I enrolled my daughter at my local Sylvan Learning Center here in McAllen, TX. She was taking the SAT courses and I even went ahead and paid for the another month not sure she would need to go that long. The staff at Sylvan assured me I would get my refund if she did not need to continue the lessons. I wanted my daughter to start the a new ACT course at the end of April but the staff at Sylvan was to call me back regarding the start date for the upcoming ACT course.

My son went to Sylvan under pressure from the teachers at school. For 92 sessions, I "paid" approximately $3,000. I am still paying through Sallie Mae years later. It will end up being more like $13,000.00 because of the interest. I think they take advantage of parents who want to help their child. But my child learned nothing. They said they would give him help with his homework. They would get upset with him if he brought his homework. They insisted he do whatever they wanted. He didn't learn a thing. In fact years later, he is not graduating high school. Because after paying for them and not getting help, I couldn't afford anything else.

We had previously enrolled my son in the study skills program in Grade 9. In this program, the math instructor was very good and helped my son attain a passing grade in Grade 9 math. For Grade 10, we enrolled my son in a homework support program to help him with his Grade 10 math. Unfortunately the Math instructor that was there for Grade 9 had left and a new one was hired.

I had both my children assessed by Sylvan for challenges that they were experiencing in school mainly surrounding reading. My daughter is 10 years old, in fourth grade. She has been on an IEP (Individual Education Plan) since she started school for speech and language delay. This delay continues to create challenges for reading comprehension for her. We were spending hours on homework with her. We wanted to get her additional support for the homework and had a goal of getting her to a point where she would not require an IEP. We enrolled her in the "unlimited" program that Sylvan offered for $2995. She went 12 hours per week, 4 of the 12 hours were homework support; the other 8 hours were for Sylvan's reading program. She went all of March, April, and May. She accumulated over 120 hours of reading support (this doesn't include the homework support hours). Sylvan's initial assessment said that she would require 65-77 hours to master skills in her grade level. At the end of May, by Sylvan's own report she had not mastered the skills. In addition, at her IEP meeting at her school, no noticeable difference had been seen by her team of teachers.

I used to be a Director of Education for Sylvan (prior to that I was a high school English and History teacher for 5 years, I have 3 degrees including a masters in curriculum development). First of all, it doesn't matter which one you go to every single program is the same. The Math and Reading programs are sent from corporate to every Sylvan and as the Director, you cannot change the program in anyway, or else they cannot offer the one grade level improvement guarantee. They claim to tailor the program to your child, but they can't. They can omit certain skills that your child may not need to learn, but other than that, every child will learn the same things with the same books at the same time.

1. This woman feels parents out, let them talk on and on about their kids and how they were struggling with grades, study habits, self-control, self-esteem, and many more factors that contributed to the bad grades. Then, she uses that information and throws it back in the parent's face... making them feel guilty that they, as parents, aren't doing their job by any means necessary as a parent.

I signed my daughter up for Sylvan Learning Center in Sioux City Iowa on 7/28/09. My mother took out a loan to pay her tuition with their loan company Your Tuition Solution - Springstone Financial in Southborough MA 1-800-920-9777. Frank **, the Center Director from Omaha who was tested my daughter Bailey and said she would need 144-168 hours of tutoring. He said, if we paid for 100-143 hours up front, we would get a discount to only pay $40.50 per hour.

I trained to work at Sylvan for a part-time job. I am an experienced teacher with an M.Ed. After a few weeks there, I decided that their program does not provide a quality experience for the students, and parents could spend less money and get better results simply by hiring a 1-to-1 tutor for their child. Because Sylvan makes money by enrolling as many students as possible (and underpaying teachers), their set-up is usually about 3 students per teacher at a table. Since all of the students are at different levels, it is virtually impossible to deliver good instruction.