Summers are always bummers for people who work in any educational job… but June 2017 and June 2018 were actually pretty decent to me. I had a small pool of students to work with, enough to tide me over through an approximately two-week patch of nothingness, before picking up again roughly as June turned to July. Still slower than the school year, but enough to keep my head above water.
But June 2019 was a different story. Only five new opportunities showed up in my inbox for the entire month of June. Of those, I got matched with one. Who wanted to wait to start till July 9th— and who has since rescheduled again, to the beginning of August.
I don’t know what was in the water this year, but people really wanted to wipe their minds clean of anything to do with school. Calls to current and former clients met with a lot of voicemails. Nobody could tell me any reason for the difference between this summer and the previous two summers.
I earned less than $250 for the entire month of June. I’ve earned less than $100 in July so far.
I had to pay my May bills at the end of June, so I’m needing to pay my past-due June bills in July. I am behind on USAA, Wells Fargo, and my car insurance.
My dad helped me out the last month, but this month he is only willing to help me with the July bills, to get me current— he said I am on my own as far as the past-due ones. I have also gotten a second job as a private contractor at another tutoring company… but they only pay once a month. (!!!) I didn’t think once-monthly pay existed anymore.
Meanwhile, I am also working the job hunt, so far to fruitless results. I have submitted documents to Kelly Services Educational to become a substitute teacher, and I have an orientation next week.
I do have a few new students, so at least there’s that; but the date they want to start will leave me with pay after those bills are due. My August 1st paycheck with New Tutoring Company is already spoken for my health insurance bill.
So, to break down:
$135 to car insurance + $205 to Wells Fargo + $160 to USAA = $500. My Paypal account is at lucymontrose@gmail.com.
As I’m writing this, I just got a call from a old client who wants to pick things up again… in September or October. They said their child is too busy right now,and even in August, with work and sports. I’ve heard that more high-schoolers are working this summer than the previous summer (despite an overall trend of fewer teens working summer jobs than before the Great Recession) and that could account for less interest in tutoring this time around. One of the many “benefits from the improved economy thanks to Trump” according to Fox News. Some “benefit”. Just like most of anything that comes from 45.
I’ve had a pretty successful run as a tutor— working with, when I last checked, over 200 students in the past two years and three months. During the school year, the pay is pretty good. It’s also been a wonderful job in terms of using my brain, meeting new people, and making a difference.
But my success hasn’t been enough to overcome the dry spells. I spent a good deal of this last month, the June From Hell, feeling rejected and ignored and emotionally raw. A lot of my old fears and memories started coming back. It’s frightening how little it takes to send you back.
And there’s good reason to believe that this summer, not the previous two summers, is the harbinger of things to come in the tutoring business. Even not being in a “Trump recession” has resulted in me getting nearly no work for an entire six weeks; a recession would make things worse. Plus, I found out that this year, my own school district finalized its transition from a year-round schedule to a conventional, summer-off school schedule. My school district is a large, influential one in suburban Denver, and I wonder how many other districts have followed their lead and switched off completely during the summer.
It may be time to close the chapter on tutoring as a career, at least as a primary job. I have loved doing it and have relied on it for income during a time I’m dealing with chronic pain. It has kept me from having a gap in my employment history and kept me active in the world. I am already on a path towards substituting; I’m also researching how to become a fully licensed teacher since I already have my BS. The part that’s getting to me is taking education courses “from an approved institution”. I wonder if community colleges would count as such an approved institution, or if I have to go to CU or CSU?
So… anyway. It may be time to move on sooner than I think from the job I have loved. I will still continue to tutor, it’ll just become a smaller part of my life in the future. Wish me luck!
And thank you!