Back to School: Franchise Business Opportunities in the Children's Education Industry

For nine months out of the year, most children attend school. They are learning to read and write. With our fast-moving technological ad scientific advances, there are other skills that are becoming increasingly important for our kids to master. They are science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also known as STEM.

“In an ever-changing, increasingly complex world, it's more important than ever that our nation's youth are prepared to bring knowledge and skills to solve problems, make sense of information, and know how to gather and evaluate evidence to make decisions.” – The Department of Education

Some of our children do well in STEM subjects and some do not. For those who don't, extra help is needed. Did you know there are franchise businesses that specialize in tutoring children who are struggling with STEM subjects in addition to reading?

Market Size

The private tutoring industry is massive. According to a report* published by Global Industry Analysts Inc., the global private tutoring market is forecast to reach $193 billion by the year 2020. If you've been thinking about becoming the owner of a franchise, the children's education industry may be worth a look.

Types of Franchise Business Opportunities In Education

There are dozens of different franchise opportunities in the children's education industry. While there are distinct differences in the methods of instruction used, all of them are focused on one thing; helping students get their grades up. I'm going to go through the most popular types of franchise opportunities in this space, so you can understand what is available these days.

Tutoring Centers

These are the franchise businesses you see in strip centers.

Franchisees offer tutoring either individually or in combination with 2-5 other students. Their businesses are usually open from early afternoon through the evening. Most of them are also open on Saturdays during the school year. Staff-wise, there's usually a director along with several part-time teachers. In most cases, the franchisees handle business development along with the actual selling of the tutoring packages to parents.

Investments in a storefront tutoring operation ranges anywhere from $100,000 to $300,000 or more.

In-Home Tutoring Franchises

In this tutoring franchise model, students (and parents) never have to leave the comfort of their own homes because tutors come to them.

Franchisees who own this type of tutoring franchise hire the teachers and manage the business.

Important: You won't find many teachers who own franchises in this sector of franchising. You will find businesspeople who like the idea of being their own bosses and know how to manage teams.

The investment range for franchises that provide in-home tutoring range from $50,000 to around $100,00.

Specialty Tutoring

Children's tutoring is starting to become more specialized.

For example, you can find tutoring franchises that offer specialized curriculum and exercises for students with ADHD/ADD.

Some franchisors are even attempting to tackle a few forms of autism by using specific brain-training techniques.

Another specialty that most of the major tutoring franchises offer; college test preparation. Colleges focus heavily on SAT and ACT scores. A good deal of today's college entrants take these exams more than once to see if they can increase their test scores. Those extra points can make a big difference. That's one of the reasons why the test prep industry is now a multi billion-dollar industry. It's also why more and more tutoring franchises are adding college test prep courses to their offerings.

Newer Offerings

Some of the newer tutoring offerings in the industry include:

  • Tutoring for military veterans
  • Tutoring for children who want to learn computer coding
  • Tutoring for children who are interested in engineering

I predict that tutoring will start becoming even more specialized in the coming years. Can you see yourself owning a franchise in the children's education industry?

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