Homework Hotline

Who are we?

The Harvey Mudd College Homework Hotline is a free over-the-phone math and science tutoring service for students in grades 4 through 12. We’re open four nights per week, Monday through Thursday, from 3 to 9 p.m. PST. We’ve always been a free service, and we always will be.

Our tutors are all students at Harvey Mudd College, one of the top-ranked STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) schools in the nation, and they’re all selected for their technical expertise AND their superior communication skills. They get extra training to make sure they give you the best possible service!

How did we get here?

We launched in 2010 with the help of the Homework Hotline at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. We provide free, over-the-phone tutoring to students in the greater Los Angeles region, Inland Empire and beyond. Since then, we’ve helped thousands of students learn math and science, one call at a time!

How does it work?

A Homework Hotline tutor will assist the student caller with guiding questions and encourage the student to be an active participant in their learning. The tutor will use the student’s prior knowledge and encourage the student to use all available resources first. The tutor will also invite the student to write down procedural steps in their own words to help the student solve similar problems on their own.

The goal of the tutor is to help the student caller with one homework question, and then encourage the student to try solving similar problems on their own. The student caller is invited to call the Homework Hotline again if they get stuck on another problem (similar or different to the current question).

Student privacy matters to us. We don’t ask for names or phone numbers, though we do ask callers to share their school and grade level for our reporting purposes. We are funded by the Simons Foundation and Harvey Mudd College.

For a more effective call, please be prepared with the following:

Homework assignment

Textbook

Paper

Pencil/pen

Calculator

Calendar

We are committed to guiding student callers through their math and science homework questions, Monday through Thursday, from 6 to 9 p.m. There are certain days of the academic year when we will be closed. These include national holidays and Harvey Mudd College semester breaks and finals week.