Ah, fall — the season that conjures up images of crunching leaves, baking apple pies… and for many people under the age of 18, preparing to take the SAT or other standardized tests.

With the increasing competitiveness of getting in to college — not to mention the looming job market four years down the line — America’s tutoring industry is booming.

We reached out to Missy Sullivan, senior editor for Smart Money magazine, about America’s “tutoring-industrial complex.”

She explains that tutoring is a very different world today than it was years ago, when a recommendation might come from a fellow parent on the sidelines of the soccer field. Today, tutoring is big business — not just to help students catch up, but to help them get way ahead.