Serwitz's distaste for finding a tutor sparked a business plan to start his own in-home tutoring company, Make the Grade LLC. Serwitz guarantees that within 24 hours of a client's phone call to his mobile phone, he'll find the client a tutor in the subject the client needs a tutor for—math, chemistry, physics, biology, economics, statistics, accounting, computer science, foreign language, and many more.

"What I found is that students don't use tutoring as a supplement, they use it as a remedy," he said.

Serwitz also created part-time jobs for students, with the tutors generally being upperclassmen. He employs a handful of quality tutors every term, paying them higher wages than those that Cal Poly pays its endorsed tutors. And instead of offering open tutoring hours as Cal Poly does for students to drop in for group assistance, clients who come to Make the Grade receive individual attention at their convenience and their specified location.

"There's always a tutor to match their schedule," said Serwitz, now a junior majoring in business. "I also always give the student a call after their first appointment, and there's no charge for the first session if it doesn't go well."

While business usually picks up by the end of every term, Serwitz said the biggest problem is that after his clients finish their finals, they no longer need tutors and he has to start from scratch to find new clients. About half of his clients genuinely want to improve in their studies, Serwitz said, and the other half seek tutoring by parent requirement. One plus to the business is that Serwitz accepts credit cards from parents for payment, instead of only cash.

Serwitz rarely meets his clients face to face, and doesn't tell them he owns the business to maintain its credibility, since some of his clients are his peers. Ironically, Serwitz isn't an enthusiast when it comes to studying.

"I've never been a big fan of academics," he said. "This is so much more intriguing to me, and I'm learning so much more doing this."

His mom, Jewel Safren of New Jersey, said she's pleased to see how much her son enjoys his work, creating something of value in the world. She said his business is also constantly changing and growing and is a perfect expression for his personality.

"David would hate doing the same thing over and over again in an office," Safren said. "He likes the challenge, the excitement of meeting new people and being his own boss."

Since Serwitz's business also caters to post-college and K­12 students in San Luis Obispo, he is putting 5 percent of proceeds from his transactions with high school clients into a local scholarship fund for a graduating senior at Los Gatos High School this June.

School secretary Mariellen Furia, who has been working with Serwitz to establish the scholarship, said his distinctive business is one of those things that begs the question, why didn't anyone think of that sooner? She praised the former Los Gatos student for his efforts and commitment to give back to his alma mater.

"David is an intelligent and charismatic man who touched everyone here with his generous gift," Furia said.

His dad, Marshall Serwitz of Los Gatos, said his son is learning valuable, practical business operations from Make the Grade, more so than in business school classes or textbooks.

"Success in business is to a large degree about judgment calls and comes from an accumulation of experience," Marshall said. "In this microcosm of a business, David has had personal experience with marketing, sales, administration, management of people, cash flow, budgeting and critical skill sets."

For more information, visit www.makethegradellc.com.