Sylvan Learning
Reviews and Complaints

I was trying to help my 3rd grade son get better in reading. I, foolishly, got swindled into getting a loan for $2500 to pay for my sons tutoring. He went for a few weeks with no improvement to his reading grade whatsoever! So, I pulled him out and they told me that my other son can go whenever he wants with the money I loaned out! Now I’m paying for something I AM NOT EVEN USING! I tried contacting corporate office with no luck at all. I don’t want to pay for something I am not going to use. And, I am also going through a financial hardship right now, and that monthly payment would be helpful for things I actually use!

I am writing because my daughter received services over the summer in Topeka, Kansas. We paid thousands of dollars for her to attend. I told them I wanted to stop services in August as it was becoming too difficult for my daughter to keep up with school and tutoring. I was told I was not allowed to do this even though, as I said I paid thousands of dollars for her to attend. Since that time, I have asked how to get a refund for my money or how she can get those hours. I have reached out several times to Shay Nelson, Kimberly Mattox. I sent Kirstin Palemo an email today. I have been sending emails since 10/12/22.

My daughter who is 8 that has issues with Math and other subjects. Due to be on a autism spectrum. She has issues with comprehension and understanding what she is learning. When her father brought her in for her evaluation at Sylvan Learning Center. These things were spoke about to the lady in charge there. And she was also told that we were waiting on her school to test her for IEP. My daughter was going 5 days a week for 1 hour a day for math. Which I feel like an idiot for continuing after the 1st week. They work on laptops and the things she was working on were not things she was struggling on at school.

We were told that they (sylvan) would reach out to her teacher and that never happened.

I ended up just not taking her anymore even though she had 2 weeks left. In short at the end of her school year at IEP meeting her teacher stated that she seen how by going to sylvan set her back more. And she will now get the accommodations In school to get help. She has what they say is short term memory, and Auditory processing. Myself and her father are from from rich people..and now we are stuck with 4,800 dollars $115 dollars a month to pay off. With no help at all. I feel Sylvan just trys to lear you in for your money.

To Whom It May Concern.

My daughter (9th grader) has been taking tutoring classes at Sylvan Learning Center of South San Antonio for the past 6 months. She is coming up on the end of her hours without any improvement in the areas of concern. We are very disappointed with Sylvan, as we have spent close to $4,500.00 and it’s been a complete waste of time and money. The center is on their fourth educational director since we started. So, needless to say we can’t ever get anything done. Every time we discuss our concerns with the educational director and they agree to help us, they end up leaving and we are again left in the same boat that we started in. We recently had a meeting with the new educational director and we expressed our dissatisfaction and all she could say was sorry and that they would do their best with the time they had left. She did add six additional hours since my daughter is not showing much improvement, but how is that really going to help when they had 100 hours to work with and have not accomplished anything in the areas of concern. Of course, she did offer to sell us additional hours, which is great for Sylvan, but what about all the money we have spent up to now with no results. How is that fair to us and mostly how is that fair to my daughter. I just don’t understand how this company can be so careless with how they handled the needs of my daughter to the point of making her lose all confidence in herself. We are struggling on just one income and it just not fair that they took advantage of us by making promises that they couldn’t keep.

At Sylvan they say that they believe “Education is Everything” well If that were so, then why don’t they keep their promises? I feel like all they want is your money and once they have it, they don’t really care if your child is learning or not. Also, we were told by a Sylvan employee that they do not agree on how Sylvan makes promises to parents without fully understanding the needs of each child.

In conclusion, all we would like is for Sylvan to honor the promises they made and keep my child in the program at no additional cost, until she gets to grade level in reading/comprehension and writing skills. If that is not possible, then we would like a full refund. Unfortunately, I was unable to attach receipts, a copy of a recent Algebra test (failed due to not being able to read and comprehend the word problems), a book report, essay and journal (poorly written). All unattached Items available upon request. Thank you in advance for your prompt attention to this serious matter.

I have received numerous illegal robocalls from your "center" while I have no children and do not intend to enroll anyone. The last call was before 8am; do something about the criminal activity taking place in your name.

This is completely unacceptable and attempting to call back only gets an automated system "Thank you for calling Sylvan". The number in question was [protected]

Whatever you do don't pay in full! We started our services at the Shawnee Ks location a week before the 15th of the month which is when you have to give notice if you are not going to continue. After 10 hours were used we determined it was not a good fit for our son. Unfortunately we didn't give notice by the 15th (which was a week before we started) and they took an entire month of our upfront payment which was ~$1000. Huge mistake on our part for thinking the owners (out of the Overland Park, KS office) would give us some grace and refund us 2 months back.

I would really consider a private tutor you can pay as you go vs. signing your life away at Sylvan. We (nor any of our friends) will recommend any of the greater KC area Sylvan Learning Centers EVER!

Thanks

I wanted to really like this place for tutoring of my child. I found out that all the students do is work on iPads during their sessions without much guidance. Not even all of the problems are assigned in each section. Mastery my foot. Poor kids think that they're learning something. And then I found out that the parents send them there with homework worksheets in hand so that the teachers can do their homework for them. This place is a rip off. Get someone to tutor your child one on one and save you and your child the money and the heart ache.

On Dec 31, 2013, Eugene Sylvan closed their doors without notice - after I had paid over $4, 000.00 for tutoring for my daughter. For over 8 months I have tried to contact the local owner, Jill Nolan, and also corporate office to get an exact accounting of what I paid - also to get my daughters educational records. Jill won't respond and corporate sends out a canned email. Of course corporate claims they aren't responsible and they also refuse to send me an accounting. How is it that corporate does not know how much Ms. Nolan made as she had to pay them each month based on her client take?! Sylvan may provide good tutoring but they took my daughter's funds for education and won't help me to get them back.

Sylvan is sold out to franchisees. A lot of people don't know that. I didn't know people were paying for a reputable name, whether they themselves were reputable or not.

My daughter actually got a good education at the Longmont and Boulder, CO centers, even though we suspect she unnecessarily repeated things. She had a very good teacher.

However, Sylvan, in general, doesn't keep their promises and please 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 that moved there, too, and the director there said he would get the transcript to the school.

At that time, the Boulder center was closing down, too, and all the people there were upset at losing their jobs.

My daughter went on to school and they allowed her to take Algebra 2 the following year. It wasn't until now that she is a senior that they informed us that Sylvan never gave them the paperwork. I do fault the school for waiting so long to let us know, because if we knew the year before, we could have enrolled her in different classes to make up for it. We had no way of knowing they didn't receive the transcript, because they allowed her into Algebra 2, and she finished it.

We contacted Sylvan's head office in Baltimore because the franchisee of this area completely closed down all his centers. The four centers had been owned by H&S Educational Enterprises, Inc., which is owned Bruce Hassan, Sherry Hassan, and Kristin Smith of St. Augustine, FL. I do not know if they own Sylvans in Florida, but they owned the ones here in Colorado, and will not acknowledge my emails.

The head office said they only recieved the progress reports as far as Longmont, but none of the Boulder paperwork. Last week, they agreed to send the transcript with a lower grade taking into account the part of math they didn't have credit for. So basically, they were averaging the 0% into the 100%s.

We didn't like that, but if she doesn't get some type of credit, she doesn't graduate.

Today, Nina at the information desk contacted us to tell us they changed their minds and couldn't in good consciousness give her a transcript based on something they didn't have, even though the director of this frachise area gave them a call and told them what happened. They want to do testing on Sarah (at my cost) and if she doesn't do well on material she studied back in 2009, I am fully confident they are going to offer their services, for more money, of course. I don't trust them; I don't trust their test to be honest and I refuse to have her take more hours from them. Fat chance of us paying them even more money.

In addition to to the principle of it, we've been affected by the recession greatly and cannot afford to pay them more money. They know our daughter is in a bad situation and feel we'll pay to get her out of it.

I don't trust their testing because every time my daughter took a test, they decided she didn't do well enough and that she needed to repeat almost everything at least once, and sometimes twice. That's how our bill got so elevated. We bought into it because she has never been strong in Math and thought maybe she WAS doing badly. Yet she went on to high school Algebra 2 in a highly rated school, did well and never had to repeat anything.

Apparently, according to a woman named Glenda at the main office in Baltimore, they needed three or four days to sift through paperwork the franchisee 'might' have sent in when they closed, and it 'depended on what condition they sent it in'. It totally flabbergasted me that there isn't a requirement for submitting paperwork regularly and in a certain order, or when a franchise closes.

They didn't locate any paperwork, and would only go with the numbers that had been entered into the computer system, which was only the work through the end of the Longmont center.

So...basically I paid over $8, 000 for a product I didn't recieve and my daughter gets to pay for the mistake by not graduating with her friends and being embarassed. She is devastated and she worked the hardest of all on this. Three days a week for two hours at a time for almost a whole year.

The main office blames the franchisee, and the franchisee won't speak to us. It is the main offices' issue, though, in my opinion. It was their Sylvan name we trusted...and no longer trust. They want to sell their franchises, but they don't want to be responsible for them. If your franchisee screws you over...tough luck.

Even getting my money back for a product I did'nt recieve won't take the pain away from my daughter not being able to graduate. They have even refused to do that; they only refer us to 'Legal'.

My daughter is sweet and kind to everyone, shy and sensitive, and she works so hard at everything, even things she finds especially difficult. I've been blessed to have such an usual child who didn't take me through the teenage trauma of most girls...and I am more angry than I can ever convey.

Don't buy the lie that they care about you or their students. You are just money to them, and if you aren't paying at the moment, you don't mattter.

I am posting this everywhere I can because I think people should be warned. You are putting your child in the hands of a franchisee that you know NOTHING about. It isn't the same thing as eating a burger at a McDonald's franchise or playing a game at at Laser Tag franchise. It is much more important than that. Unfortunately, Sylvan doesn't run franchises and keep records with the same diligence and responsibility McDonald's does.

Ask the teachers at school for recommendations for a tutor that other kids have worked with and had good experiences with, or ask other parents. It'll be cheaper and more reliable, and since the teachers and parents aren't usually making a living off selling the product, it will be more honest.

And it should be a lot cheaper to find a tutor that way. We began by being told this was going to cost us $4, 500 for the school credit, and it kept elevating to almost $9, 000. They knew we needed it as a credit, and took advantage of that, and are still trying to.

I am posting this everywhere a review is possible, just to warn people. The reason you read good reviews in one place, and bad ones in others is because the franchisees are all different people and the company as a whole is not cohesive or discerning.

The owners of this Sylvan are greedy and treat their employees like crap. They get as much out of them for the least amount of money and take advantage of California labor law loop holes to use and abuse everyone. Beware before applying for a position here! They charge families $41-52 per hour plus a skills assessment fee and registration but only pay their tutors $8-11 per hour! Their salaried employees get paid according to their closeness with the boss and by how much ### they kiss! Beware!

Sylvan Learning Center is a ripoff. They play off of parents' complaints and have them enthusiastically sign on for tutoring, which is what happened to us at the San Antonio, TX office. Well, once they get your money, the directors you spoke to could care less the quality of tutoring received or the guarantees they broke. We decided not to go for their loan, pay cash, but half up front. Well, that was the best thing we did because our daughter's reading skills never increased because the tutors were reading to her, instead of allowing her to practice reading. We stopped going after 28 hours since it's basically a waste of time. When I asked my daughter what she did, she would say they just read to her or finished her homework. Our daughter's reading and math skills developed when we spent more time with her every night. Therefore, we're not paying for a service never received, now we have the tasteless San Antonio Director calling us demanding payment.

Parents: Take the time to work with your children or pay their existing teacher to do some one-on-one tutoring. Sylvan is just another shady corporation trying to make a dime off of concerned parents.

When we called to make an appointment for an assessment, they asked for a credit card number. We had no papers, nothing in writing, we certainly never signed or agreed to anything with our quick phone call to make an appointment. We called back the next day to cancel and they told us that they "may have forgotten to mention" that the fee was not refundable. They are refusing to refund the assessment fee when we called to cancel withing 24 hours of making the appointment and weeks before the scheduled appointment. The woman on the phone insists that only "corporate" can issue a refund. She has offered some free hours "when you sign up" for tutoring as if this is some kind of reasonable offer to us. We have no intention of ever going there! Free hours on top of a big contract is hardly a solution to this. Sylvan is a scam.

Sylvan learning center did not do what they contracted to do in my daughter's ACT preparation. At least one of the two or three teachers who were signed up to come to Sylvan to teach her did not show up. Also about half of them were poorly qualified to teach the subjects they were supposed to know. The "practice tests" they gave her were nothing like what the actual exam was, so she had a lot of surprises to deal with on the actual test day. In summary, the ACT prep class was nowhere near worth the 700 dollars we paid for it. DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY THERE!

We are very disappointed in the administrative staff at the Hilliard Oh location. Please beware. Their hours are very limited making it difficult to take class 2/3 times per week. Our child rarely had the same teacher and when we saw no improvement in grades they did not honor their agreement. We did find a tutor for half the price and we are now seeing a great improvement in alegbra. You would be better off finding a tutor via the classified section then trusting either Sharon at that location.

The attitude of the administrative staff was very negative and indifferent.

Not what children should ever be exposed to.

Can not get anyone to talk about refunding the unused sessions as was stated in a email. I am paying a loan that will take 8 years and I won't be able to pay for eduacation after high school. If they would just refund what wasn't used I wouldn't fill so angry . Even though they failed teach him .He tested lower after a full summer of work, 2hrs a day 5 days a week .After they said they couldn't tutor him in his classes when school started. He needed the time to do his homework. ANGRY!

My son failed 8th grade miserably so my husband and I decided to hold him back, change schools and get him a tutor and someone suggested Sylvan Learning Center. It was just down the street from his school so we figured it would work perfectly. Sylvan does not allow you to pay as you go, you have to get a student loan that is NOT tax-deductible at 10% paying $105 every month for the next 10 years. They figure out how many hours it will take for your kid to catch up to his grade level and they tell you that they will give him the skills needed to succeed in school. I asked the center’s manager, “What if he doesn’t succeed, what if he still fails?” She told me he wouldn’t and again I asked, “But what if he does?” She assured me that he wouldn’t because they would give him the tools to succeed. BULLPUCKY! Twelve thousand dollars and six months later, he was skating by with D’s in classes he had already taken the year before so I pulled him out of Sylvan with some 50 hours left on my account because they hadn’t taught him anything except how to get reward points for junk toys. I figured we’d get about a $1000 back and I’d put a balloon payment on the loan. I was getting the lowest price per hour that they offered, combining the fact that we were military and that my parents co-signed for the loan making it a “grandparents” special they took off some $20 or $30 per hour but because we stopped his learning early they pushed it back up to the full price and we only got some $100 back.

Bottom-Line, Sylvan Learning Center’s are not worth your children or your money. Find a local tutor that won’t soak you for every penny you have and will actually teach your child.