This article was updated on November 14, 2025.
Temple has so much to offer students: lunches at the Wall, weekends adventuring in Center City, sunny days lying on Beury Beach and fall football games at the Linc. It also means having a multitude of resources at your disposal—some you may not even be aware of. One of the most comprehensive and useful of these resources is the Student Success Center, a free academic support system available to all students, regardless of year, academic standing or status.
Whether you’ve been to the Student Success Center or never heard of it before, don’t worry! We’ve crafted this guide to everything they offer as well as how to access it.
What is the Student Success Center?
Temple’s Student Success Center, located on the second floor of Charles Library, is a place to seek peer-led academic support. This means it offers one-on-one tutoring and group sessions, all led by fellow Temple students who have been in your shoes. Plus, it’s completely covered by your tuition.
“Undergraduate tutors have experienced similar situations,” explained Assistant Director of Writing Services Stephen D. Kelly. “Sometimes they’ve taken the same classes and have grappled with the same material and assignments. They know best the rigors and dynamics of life at Temple and how to successfully navigate them.”
Who can access it, and how?
The Student Success Center is available free of charge to all students: undergraduates and graduate students, any year, any academic standing. So, whether you’re striving for a passing grade on an upcoming exam or aiming for an A on your next paper, this is the place for you. Plus, if you’re struggling with a class (or a few classes), you can tell your tutor that you’re not sure where to begin; it’s ok to not know what you don’t know!
“All Temple students are welcome at the Student Success Center. We want the Student Success Center to be a resource for students when they need some extra support or they want to practice a new skill,” said Moira Kirby, assistant director for educational programs at the center. “If you have a question about how the Student Success Center can help you, we can assist you in figuring that out as well.”
What do they offer?
The center has you covered with a variety of peer support options, depending on your needs. Its resources fall under five main categories.
Academic coaching, which develops skills like study strategies, time management and organization;
peer-assisted study sessions (PASS), which are group study sessions for specific, widely taken courses;
the STEM Learning Lab, which specializes in tutoring and exam reviews specific to students in math and science courses throughout the university; and
the Writing Center, the hub for any writing project you can think of: research papers, homework assignments, cover letters, resumes, scholarship essays, creative writing and more.
language tutoring and the conversation partners program, which provides one-on-one and group sessions for language study and conversation practice;
Read on for more details about how these offerings can help you make the most of your education, and how to access them.
Put me in coach: academic coaching
First things first. Sometimes it’s not so much the course material that you need help with, but rather the tools you use to absorb it. If you’ve ever had difficulty studying, managing time or getting organized, you may want to look into the Student Success Center’s academic coaching.
When you fill out the interest form and get paired with a peer coach, you can schedule weekly 25-minute appointments to discuss your academic concerns. This service is a secret weapon for students who are looking to further develop their academic success skills at any and all points in their academic career, whether you’re new to college coursework, prepping for upper-level courses or could simply use an adjustment to your habits.
Don’t just PASS it, ace it with peer-assisted study sessions
The Student Success Center also holds weekly group study sessions for certain courses with high enrollment: Introduction to Organismal Biology, General Chemistry I, Macroeconomic Principles, Intermediate Algebra and other popular courses. The 50-minute sessions are held twice a week for each course: once in person in Charles Library, and once virtually on Zoom.
The PASS sessions are led by students who have excelled in the course before and are actively reattending it every week as well to keep the material fresh. You don’t have to RSVP to attend, and all sections of a course attend the same PASS session.
STEM without the thorns: the STEM Learning Lab
For more focused study time on STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering and math), you’ll want to check out the STEM Learning Lab. From STEM-specific tutoring to pre-exam study sessions and math foundations, the lab has everything you need to stay on track.
Get it write: the Writing Center
Whether you’re an English major or you avoid essays like the plague, everyone could use some writing help every now and then. The Writing Center offers help with every step of the writing process on an individualized basis, because everyone is different. This means help with essays, outlines, creative writing, cover letters, thesis statements and even reading skills. Writing and language peer tutors also offer presentation support, so you can practice any presentation in front of a tutor and receive feedback.
Buon giorno: language tutoring and conversation partners
Whether you’re learning English, Spanish, Mandarin, ASL or any number of other languages, the language tutoring and conversation partner service has someone for you to talk to. And yes, they have tutors for every language offered at Temple! Not only are you able to access formal language tutoring, but the tutors also double as conversation partners, which are just that: peers who you can speak informally with in your language of choice. Not to mention that speaking with a conversation partner is one of the most effective ways to learn a new language!
So, can I work there?
You absolutely can, and it’s a great opportunity! Because the Student Success Center’s support is entirely peer-based, student employees are what makes the center so helpful. Positions are available as academic coaches, language tutors, conversation partners, office assistants, PASS leaders, STEM tutors and writing tutors.