Cottage Industry

High school summers used to be for listless days at the beach, humid drive-in movies, and maybe a few stolen swigs of Wild Turkey chased with a gulp from the garden hose. But today's students, faced with looming SATs and stiff college competition, are increasingly missing out on those lazy-day luxuries. And a new breed of itinerant test tutors are seizing the opportunity to help the progeny of the well-to-do.

As summer sets in, top-notch tutors are shuttling between beach spots on the Cape and Islands. And vacationers are booking their services faster than spots on the Hy-Line ferry—in spite of the $250 to $350 hourly price tag. “There can be sticker shock,” admits Rebecca Trainor, one of Princeton Review’s top tutors. But look at the bright side: no canceling that family vacation, and no stationing your student for weeks in a stuffy classroom next to the sniffly kid with hay fever.

For the past couple of years, Trainor has been schlepping in and out of leisure spots to meet with kids. But demand for the vacation service is booming, and the Princeton Review brass are eying their own beach pad. Don’t picture a posh party house, says program director Jed Smith—just something practical to keep up with demand. “I’m not talking waterfront views and a swimming pool,” he says. No worries; the tutors get their fill of opulence on the job, pulling their hours in well-appointed oceanfront mansions. “These places take your breath away,” Trainor says. “I’m pulling my Mazda between the Porsche and the Maserati. It’s so common now that it’s no longer shocking.”

The gig may sound cushy, but the work gets tougher when the locale gets nicer. So to keep the kids hitting the books while they’re also hitting the beach, Trainor says, a tutor’s gotta be just as conversant in American Idol as in algorithms. And be willing to get a healthy tan in the line of duty. “We try to make it fun for them,” she says. “Or at least not terrible.” After all, it is summer vacation.