The University of St. Thomas has been providing tutors to inner-city schools since 1989. The purpose of the Tutor/Mentor Program is two-fold:

1. To provide quality, consistent tutoring by University of St. Thomas students with elementary and secondary students, specifically with students of color and those who come from low-income families. The role of the tutor is to act as educator, listener, friend, and mentor, adding to the learning process and to their tutee's self-esteem.
   
2. To provide an experiential learning experience for University of St. Thomas students through community service. By linking with academic programs at the University, the Tutor/Mentor Program seeks to complement, enhance, and deepen what is learned in the classroom. Students are provided the opportunity to learn more about themselves and the world around them through the experience of serving and being served, of educating and being educated.

Each semester over 300 UST students provide a approximately 20 hours of one-on-one and small- group tutoring, totaling more than 12,000 hours of service to area schools. UST Tutor/Mentors come from all majors at the university. Many UST faculty find creative educational methods to integrate the tutors’ experiences into the learning taking place in their classrooms, including cultural and diversity curricula, math, social work, and, of course, education.