Tent for tuition
British woman lets Montreal student camp in her yard in exchange for lessons
A Canadian student’s unorthodox pitch to save money on his university education is helping a British woman to obtain her high school credentials.
Evan Eames’s master’s studies at the University of Manchester were set to cost the Montreal resident more than $30,000 in tuition fees alone, sending him on the hunt for frugal accommodations.
The avid camper thought pitching a tent in someone’s backyard would solve his problem, and so he took to the Internet in search of a landlord.
He found one in Charley Man- tack, a Manchester resident who offered to let him pitch his tent on her property in exchange for tutoring in math and science.
Eames spent about three hours a week helping her with her high school equivalency course work. Final exam results are due next month, but Mantack was posting A’s in her classes and expects to graduate.
He said a bit of damp or cold conditions was balanced by the fresh air and fun of doing something a little out of the ordinary.
“It started out as mainly an economic function, but very quickly it turned into something that I was genuinely enjoying,” he said.
“I was genuinely curious as to whether I could make the year.”
Twice a week, Eames would take a break from graduate school physics to help the 34-year-old attain the math and science skills she sacrificed as a teenager in order to care for her siblings.
“Even if it was just a spot on their lawn, I think that doing a gesture of that magnitude and allowing someone to stay on your property for a year deserves some reciprocity,” he said.
Mantack said she received that reciprocity in spades.
“I always felt when he taught me, I was slightly ahead of what we were about to do,” she said.