Homework Hotline Celebrates 25 Years
Tutors are available to middle and high school students Sundays through Thursdays from 7:00 - 10:00 p.m.
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowRose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s popular Homework Hotline is celebrating its 25th anniversary. The school says, over the past 25 years, the tutoring service has conducted more than 600,000 help sessions through calls, emails and chats.
The service began in 1991 with students answering three telephones in a former basement closet at the campus library. At first, it only served schoolchildren in Terre Haute and neighboring communities. In 1999, a $1 million Lilly Endowment Inc. grant allowed Rose-Hulman to extend the hotline’s reach to the Indianapolis area. A $2.6 million grant in 2001 enabled a statewide expansion, allowing 35 or more tutors to work each evening from a high-tech communications center on campus.
What started with a few students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology answering three telephones from a room that had been a closet in the basement of the campus library has developed into a Homework Hotline program that has become an important educational resource for students throughout Indiana.
Tutors are available to middle and high school students Sundays through Thursdays from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m., answering questions through the 1-877-ASK-ROSE hotline or through texts, emails and online chats at www.AskRose.org. The model has been replicated at the University of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, three Penn State branch campuses and California’s Harvey Mudd College.
Over the past 25 years, Rose-Hulman says 80 percent of hotline requests have been for math assistance, while 15 percent have been for science. The busiest evenings are Tuesdays, with the busiest time being between 7:00-7:29 p.m.