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Huntington Learning Center

Is This Your Business?
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2.0

Overall Score

Author: Kaitlyn Short

LAST UPDATED: November 21st, 2024

For close to 40 years, Huntington Learning Center has been working to help students achieve academic success. They have curated their own unique method to help their students. Huntington Learning Center is an accredited institution with certified tutors for students. However, accreditation and unique methods aren't always enough to compete with our high standards for tutoring companies. We recommend Huntington Learning Center for students looking for in-person tutoring, but if you want any additional features, we recommend looking at other top tutoring companies.

Top Ranked Companies

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The Good

  • In-person tutoring
  • Certified tutors

In-person Tutoring

Since Huntington Learning Center has brick-and-mortar stores, students are able to meet with tutors in person. This can be beneficial for students who want a more personal lesson instead of just an online experience. This sets Huntington Learning Center apart from other tutoring platforms available. We like that students have the option to meet in person if they are located near a center.

Certified Tutors

Huntington Learning Center provides certified teachers for their students. All of their teachers are certified by the same organization that the local schools are accredited by. Huntington Learning Center holds all of teachers to the highest standard to ensure their students' success. Not all tutoring platforms have certified teachers, so we like that it sets Huntington Learning Center apart.
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The Bad

  • Unclear pricing
  • No chat, video, whiteboard, file sharing
  • Limited subjects

Unclear Pricing

Huntington Learning Center does not give any information regarding their pricing for tutoring services. We think it is important to see some information about prices so those interested get have a better idea of what tutoring costs at Huntington Learning Center.

Limited Resources

Since Huntington Learning Center is a brick and mortar platform, they do not have online option for students. An online presences allows students to study at their own convenience and in their own home. We believe students are missing out on the ability to converse with tutors and even other students with an online option. Many other tutoring platforms offer chat features with tutors and a learning space to collaborate with other students. We'd like to see Huntington Learning platform make some of these online advances.

Limited Subjects

While Huntington Learning Center offers the basic subjects, they lack other additional subjects that many of the top platforms offer. Huntington Learning Center could benefit from adding other subjects and expand their student cliental.
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The Bottom Line

Huntington Learning Center offers one-on-one tutoring for students K-12. They have certified teachers helping students achieve academic success. While Huntington Learning Center offers great tutoring, we had too many concerns to look past. Since their pricing is unclear, we can only assume that tutoring with them can get pricey. We also didn't like that they have no online presence for students to continue to learn from home. Overall, we believe other top recommended companies would be a better fit for students.
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Star Rating

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1.6

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25 Reviews

Review Breakdown

5 grade

4%

4 grade

8%

3 grade

4%

2 grade

12%

1 grade

72%

Sentiment Criteria

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Quality

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Laura Trier

Awful experience. They guaranteed my daughter would increase her SAT scores by 200 points. Unfortunately that did not happen. She said that what they covered wasn’t even on the test. It is a complete waste of money. We spent over $1,600.00 for nothing.

2 weeks ago

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Emily Blankinship

The Huntington Learning Center in Fort Collins is good for SAT/ACT prep, but is very overpriced. In many cases, you can do just as well, if not better, with a private tutor at a fraction of the cost. And in at least one instance, I know for a fact that they do not treat their teachers well.

3 months ago

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Eileen B

Hope this helps. Read the reviews before you sign up, especially if a company is asking you to put a lot of $ up front. Everyone gets some bad reviews sometimes, but if there’s a pattern, watch out. Beware companies that offer “private tutoring” but basically give you a 1-1 version of the lessons everyone else gets. Private tutoring should be personalized, and not a march through standard worksheets and cookie-cutter lessons. Instruction should be based on your needs, so if they want to schedule you for lots of private tutoring that you may not even need, stay away. Don’t put a lot of money down until you know that it’s working for you. Watch out if they have complicated and punishing cancellation fees and policies. Be skeptical if they ask for a lot of money and then tell you that you can get it back if you’re not happy. Chances are, you won’t. As soon as they have your money, they have the power. --

6 months ago Edited June 5, 2024

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Lori Collins Taichung, TXG

We feel that Huntington Learning Center has its pros and cons like any other learning center. They provide really great assessment and feedback which is really helpful when targeting specific items that need to be practiced. The kids did find the learning center a bit tedious and we were hoping for a more well rounded approach to learning. We landed on Beestar and have really found the structure and helpfulness of the site. They provide a good solid curriculum that helps the kids learn a variety of skills.

10 months ago

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Matt Winslow Valley Springs, CA

Don't know what everyone else saying, but now they do have great online and or personal options whatever you want! They also will give you the pricing per hour and targeted area tutoring so will take far less time and will be cheaper in the end than other shot-in-the-dark services who do not test consistently to know where student at.

1 year ago

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Rick Stewart

Huntington were very good at the sales pitch and provided services for 3 months. Then the HCL closed its doors suddenly and communication dried up. They continued to bill us. Corporate did not respond to our repeated pleas to help us. Customers do not come first and you will be ignored if there are any problems. If you value your sanity avoid this company.

8 months ago

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C. Phillips

We sent our two elementary-aged students to Huntington in Johns Creek, Georgia. We used the location off of Medlock Bridge Road. Pros: It was very easy to sign up. My daughters liked all of the teachers. The location sponsored many events at their elementary school, so they would see the staff at their school on occasion. There was some academic benefit. Cons: The promises the salesperson made at the corporate level were not what was delivered at the local franchise. My daughters are great students, and Huntington was for enrichment with a focus on writing skills. I didn’t see any improvement in that area for the 3 to 4 months we were there. The plan was that they would use Huntington during the summer and focus on writing and spelling. Hours Used I paid for the services upfront so that I could get a minor discount. I was never sure how many hours were used and what was left. When I would meet with them to discuss the hours, I was never clear. My husband and I arrived for a scheduled check-point on their progress, and they tried to cancel the meeting once we arrived at the site. Scheduling The scheduling process is terrible if you are a busy family. There is no computer application for scheduling. If I needed to change an appointment, I have to send an email and wait for a response. The phone was not answered often. I was very disappointed, considering how much money we spent and being very clear about the things I wanted them to focus on. They would come home and state that they were working on subjects that were not the focus. I scheduled a close-out meeting to get an update on their status and cancel the services, and no one showed up for the virtual call. I ended up hiring a tutor from another company. There are many options in our area for academic enrichment and support. I suggest researching other options, and if you use Huntington DO NOT pay them upfront. We have used several other learning centers over the years. We had the worst experience with Huntington from an administrative perspective.

1 year ago Edited June 14, 2023

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Allison Mooney Bay Shore, NY

Honestly, when I started here I kinda enjoyed it. I loved working with the kids. I still do for the most part. There are some that melt my heart. However, this management of my location is absolutely bonkers. Unorganized, paranoid and secretive. They want everything to appear alright, peachy and organized for the parents but they just do not have it together. The main director of my location I don't believes sleeps, because you will hear from her at every hour of the day. The schedule goes out Thursday anytime from 12 am - 5am. She would text me all the time changing my schedule, changing it back, asking if I can stay longer this week. The amount of times that I was "asked" to stay longer than I was supposed to either because someone of else was even scheduled when they should have been or called out is out of this world. On top of that, I've been scheduled for the wrong times, out of my availability and given the wrong information before and they didn't even apologize for wasting my time. They said "well you can go get a cup of coffee and come back". They are stingy with pay as well. When I started, you would only be paid for the hours you were working with students (including a break between two students). They do not pay you for the time that you get there early, even if they schedule you 15 minutes early, and they do not pay you for the time that you are cleaning up and disinfecting afterwards. Now, they tend to me for about 15 minutes of extra time if I stay for a total of 30 minutes extra during a week. They also had a tendency of scheduling you with students who need help in a certain topic/area that you have already discussed previously with them that you know NOTHING about. Which makes it incredibly difficult to help tutor a student when you are trying to learn it for the first time as well. Huntington is also out of date. The materials are old and overused and not particularly helpful, especially for older students. We are also missing half of the books that the program calls for. This jobs is filled with so much red tape. You've go to follow their program, you can't differentiate for different students without the the director saying that's what needs to be done. You can't change curriculum material. The director and day-to-day manager are always watching over your shoulder. The day-to-day manager is always interfering in lessons that I have with students. Students who are easily distracted should not have someone keep going back up to them and distracting them more with questions that do not pertain to anything I'm teaching them. It makes it incredibly hard to gain back their focus over and over again. He also seemed to struggled to let them be kids. This might be a personal thing to me, but I believe that in order to get kids to be as focused and comfortable as they can, as long as their doing the work I need them to, they can kinda sit, stand or do whatever makes them comfortable. On multiple occasions, though, I've had him interrupt my lessons to walk to a student and say "sit down" or something else that really isn't important enough. They are also incredibly secretive with material and practices at the center. For instance, every session with a student we are supposed to write up session notes. These are in the program and generally, the director is supposed to read them but I don't know if she really does. I had a parent request to see my notes once after I brought them up in conversation with her. I thought that was a perfectly reasonable request. It's her child. She's paying a lot of money for this service. She should see my notes. I was told that that was not possible and that the director "had spoke with [this parent] before about this" and would "need to have a conversation with her again". Which is a little ridiculous. Likewise, they don't trust their employees. On Sundays, its just the employees. No director, although she hasn't been in the center consistently for the last 6 months, and no day-to- day manager. One day she text me saying "where are you. I see [another teacher] in the little room but where are you?" Meanwhile, I was in the office which does not have a camera because I did not have a student at that time. She was apparently watching us from the cameras in the main room and didn't trust us enough to make sure we were there, even though both me and the other employee there that day have been longtime employees working basically every Sunday for the last 5 months together.

2 years ago

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Momof3

My child’s experience at this learning center has been terrible. The director is uncooperative, uneducated, and unprofessional. The program and learning materials are outdated and the teachers are terrible! My child knew more than the instructors did. By far the worst experience we have ever had with an establishment.

6 months ago

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Stephanie Hymes Waxhaw, NC

I am a teacher with a Masters degree, two undergrad degrees, and 21 years of teaching experience including special education. I have worked with various ages and levels. I was recently hired and trained to work at Huntington as a Managing Director under the leadership of a Regional Director who stated she didn't have prior educational experience. Is that ok... I don't know, but her lack of professionalism and pushiness to grab money was not. There was one instance amongst many that really bothered me. There was a child being tested who had ASD/ADD that required special/more attention and rather than recognize the child's educational needs and the lack of specialized training tutors are given, the regional director saw dollar signs and chose not to think of the child first. Additionally, the regional director was VERY unprofessional in a learning environment/work setting and lax in her word choice, making it feel like we were at a birthday party for a 21 year old.

1 year ago

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Amanda George IL

I had tutoring through Huntington about 3 years ago and it was wonderful. The lady they paired me with was very nice, professional, and she genuinely cared. They were easy to work with and the prices were always reasonable.

1 year ago

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Lauren Bayer Massapequa, NY

I wish I could give 0 stars. Awful! My son’s grades went down while attending! They did not seem to know what they were doing. I was told that credentialed teachers and experienced professionals were on staff. Not the case. I spent $12,500.00 for less than 10 months with terrible results in the Massapequa Park, NY location. I sat in for a few minutes one day, just to see the teachers sitting around and the kids playing for 20 minutes. I had to intervene to ask them to start actually doing work, as these were 60 minute lessons. When I asked my son afterwards, he said that was what they usually do every time he is there. Extremely disturbed and disappointed. What an unproductive financial drain. My son also goes to private school and is on two swim teams. We did what we could to make these “tutoring” sessions work. What it must be like to not do your job and get paid well for it!!! They said there was no credit check and it would not reflect on my credit report. Lies!!! It reduced my credit score by several points and showed up on my credit as a “Student Loan”. DO NOT RECOMMEND!!

2 years ago

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Annette Tapper Prairie Home, MO

Felt like a con. Came to them for writing help for my 4th grader with ADHD. They tried to pressure us into 70 hours of reading tutoring in addition to the recommended 25 hours of writing. They said his reading was below grade level and tried to pit my husband and I against one another to convince us to buy the reading. When we confronted them with the private extensive neuropsych testing that we’ve had done that showed he is consistently far above grade level in reading, they balked saying their assessment was valid and they “had been doing this for over 40 years.” Initially they said they would tutor him just in writing. Then they came back saying it would be a waste of our time and money “to do things backwards.” It’s gaslighting and a hard sell on almost $6000 in tutoring. I feel like we dodged a bullet and that they only got the $100 assessment fee out of us before we wised up. They obviously carefully massage their online reputation and reviews which made it harder to determine their schtick. Run don’t walk away.

2 years ago

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Seth Bellmore, NY

Zero stars should be an option. They are all about the money and how many sessions they can con you into. They provide a diagnostic and then tell you they will need 80 sessions with your child, at $70-$85 per hour. I contracted for 20 sessions to see how it went before committing to more, then I was told they still need to "learn" my child. Ridiculous! My daughter was bored after 10 sessions, we stopped after 13 and I asked for a credit for the unused hours. They have been blowing me off for months, including the corporate office. My next phone call goes the NYS Attorney General. I could go on about all the other nonsense we went through and the things they never followed-up on, but I have have already wasted too much energy on them. I am not done, still plan on getting my credit. Thieves!! Stay away, at least from the Massapequa, NY location.

2 years ago

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L Rock Hill, SC

My daughter has been attending Hunting Learning Center for several months now. We had a monthly payment planned arranged with the learning center and were over charged over $700+ last month and then proceeded to charge us another $1100 for the month of March. We spoke with Julie and she placed us on the calendar to meet with DaShana the following Wednesday. We received a call on Monday because they were trying to process the month of march (another $1100 when we clearly said we wanted to have a meeting before anything else came out of our pocket) On Wednesday we waited in the waiting room and to DaShana's surprise we had a meeting with her concerning the over charges. We brought in our original paperwork that Julie had provided to us when we first started the program and provided all of the payments off of my bank account. That day DaShana confirmed with us that we were actually over charged the amount ($756) and that she would not need to charge for the month of March, along with most of the month of March is make-up classes. The following week Julie R came to us and informed us that they will not be issuing a re-payment back to us but that we have ALSO used the $700+ towards classes that have already been taken. With that being said when did they feel the consideration to stop charging us monthly and using it towards classes that were no longer part of the "program" she set my daughter up to take? I was initially quoted $6566.00 and over paid that amount. Considering the lack or organization and the fact that not a single person could tell me where my daughter stood with her payments vs. classes is very unprofessional. If I would have allowed them to bill me for the month of March would she still be taking classes without me noticing? Let's also roll back to when I had my child enrolled and Julie provided me with the paperwork showing what areas my daughter was lacking as well as the cost. Serval weeks later when we decided to sign the paper work it had a different total. (a higher total) Without me paying attention would that have been noticed or just paid? and no one could explain how or why the total was different. Did I feel they were trying to bait and switch me? Yes, I certainly did and still do. Furthermore 2-3 months ago I had a meeting to discuss my daughters progress and was informed during that meeting that they believe that she would benefit more from my child being in a group session instead of the 1 on 1 with the teacher as she has done throughout the program as well as one of the biggest reasons why we chose Huntington is because we wanted her to have the 1 on 1. Do I think it would have been beneficial for my child to change to the group when I have almost fully paid for a program in full at that point or would it be more financially beneficial for your company? We came into this program excited to see the difference and growth in my daughter, not to mention my husband attended and was in some of the local radio commercials as a child. We are sadly leaving as a horrible reference, we made that very clear and I feel that the Pineville-Matthews office (Julie R) could careless. Christopher is an amazing tutor, however I would be weary of the financials and what is ACTUALLY beneficial for your child…..

2 years ago

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Tasha Time! Sumter, SC

I thought Huntington was a dream come true for me, but it was just a fairytale. I was fired during the training phase of my employment with this company on Valentine's day (2/14/2022). If you do not meet sales goals as an Enrollment Director, you will be quickly terminated. I have not been working for this company a month and I was fired. The pay is good, but if you are unable to have at least 75% enrollment rate, you will be let go instantly. During my hiring call, I was informed that I would have the opportunity to work over and if I was not meeting enrollment goals that I will be place back in the training environment to be re-trained on my duties. This was in fact a lie! I was fired and told by HR and my supervisor "Unfortunately, this is not working out." There is so much verbiage they want you to say to convince parents to purchase $5000 , $10,000 and even higher amounts for their tutoring service programs. Some parents just prefer their subject tutoring options, but they are so eager to get the highest sale, that they save those options as "last resort." I was frustrated last Friday (2/11/2022) with staff. I felt like I was being set up. I received a tough conference that I was not confident about after having two CNE (Conference Not Enrolled). I felt like I was not prepared despite the training I was receiving. I went into conference and the parents completely called me out from my previous recruiter experience and how they heard enough of my sales pitch. My co-worker was nice enough to call and check on me to make sure I was okay. You would think out of all people my supervisor would call to ask me if I am okay. Unfortunately, she did not check on me. Instead, she asked me to meet with her this morning via Zoom. I was blind sided because she failed to inform me that HR would be present in our meeting. I knew at that moment I was fired. Do not trust this company if you are seeking a permanent full-time position. If you do not meet their expectations or sales goals, you will be fired. On top of that, you wear several hats in this position. You collect the payment from the parents, you present the evaluation test results, you call the parents to confirm the Zoom conference, you set up the Zoom conference, you email the center updates etc. If you are not a great salesman, do not work for this company. Pros Remote, Training Pay $25.64 an hour, Great Co-workers Cons Disloyalty, Demanding, Time Consuming, Not receiving over time, Money hungry company

2 years ago

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Estela Vega Chicago, IL

I brought my son here last June for help with math so he could get a head start in 6th grade. He was prescribed 1 1/2 hours in reading and 30 minutes in math twice a week. They said that focusing on reading would lead to improvements in math but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. Nine months later and there was a slight improvement in reading but nothing in math. My advice if you don’t have money to burn, hire a private tutor and pay along the way. Huntington makes you pay up front and there is no refund even if their program isn’t successful. If your child has an IEP like mine, I read an educational therapist who specializes in learning disabilities is recommended. Huntington is way too expensive not to guarantee some type of positive result. I asked for a partial refund but the owner refused. He offered additional tutoring free of charge instead. Why would I continue with a program that didn’t work after nine months? Never again.

4 years ago

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Emmaus PA Macungie, PA

I spoke w/ someone at the call center inquiring about SAT tutoring. I explained my concern that my child had limited availability for tutoring for the test that was only a few weeks. They informed me there was a 16 hour program available. When I informed them I didn’t think we could complete the full 16 hours and inquired about a shorter tutoring option, I was told they would customize a program that would fit my child’s schedule. They informed me it would cost $125 for my child to take the evaluation SAT test to assess their tutoring needs and then we would come up with a program at the Bethlehem PA office that fit my child’s schedule . We paid for the test, my child took the 4 hour test, and returned a few days later for her test results. They tried to sell us a 50 hour program at $85 an hour! I again explained our time limitations and I was told the shortest program they offer is 18 hours. They would not offer us a shorter program to meet our needs as I was told by the call center! Total waste of my time! Total waste of my child’s time! Total waste of my money! I spoke with Bob Smith (manager with Huntington???) , told him my experience, even gave the name of the person at the call center. He said he would look into it and call me back. Never received a call back!!!

5 years ago

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NaomiA Stephenville, TX

knowledgeable and enthusiastic educators make learning a joy for kids, and parents can rest easy knowing their little ones are gaining valuable skills

1 year ago

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julia summer Orlando, FL

I go here and when I was on call with them assessing my score all the lady did was say how low my score was and my only hope to raise it was then. Because my dad doesn’t want to pay 8,000k for a tutor, I asked politely to lower the hours they recommended and the lady got defensive and upset. They only want your money the tutoring is pointless all they do is reuse the same ok and practice questions

1 year ago

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Momof4 Landing, NJ

Basically the program is just having your child practice test problems. The same as they would do if a book was bought. They do not go over test taking strategies or time management. They are very unorganized. It takes several days to respond to emails/phone calls. They do not meet with parents in person about results or targets. Very expensive. Very disappointed in the whole process

1 year ago

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Marc Uhlig Redmond, WA

My daughter graduated from high school in 2004. It is now 2023. I am getting mail advertisements for my daughter from Issaquah WA Huntington Learning Center to improve her grades and test scores. I have told them to take her off their mailing lists. If they are too stupid to fix a mailing list that is 20 years old... You can finish the sentence

1 year ago

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THOMAS JOHN KIRBY Alpharetta, GA

Instead of purchasing professional advertising, the management of this company constantly litters our city of Johns Creek with his obnoxious yard signs. We will be writing to the city manager to request action to be taken to stop this practice.

1 year ago

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Charles Murray Columbus, OH

I worked for Huntington learning Center as a tutor, and they didn't tell me in the interview that they don't pay you a nickel until after you work there for 60 days! The management got rude with me when I asked why they kept this a secret. Management is very rude and condescending, and they don't want to pay their employees.

2 years ago

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Susan

Dishonest personnel and EEOC violations rampant.

3 months ago