To help students make it through difficult coursework, big classroom settings and inaccessible teachers, two young entrepreneurs have expanded their tutoring company, Far From Standard, to a new Ann Arbor location near the University of Michigan campus.

Co-founders of the company, University of Michigan Ph.D. Student in Mathematics Education Rohen Shah and U-M alum Neel Chheda, decided to move from their East University Ave. location above Mia Za’s Café in June in order to keep up with their growing clientele.

The tutoring company, which has branches in East Lansing, Ann Arbor, Farmington Hills and Los Angeles, opened on East University in 2008. Shah said they moved into two suites at 514 E. William St. this summer because the East University location was no longer a big enough space.

“The one room we had before was definitely not enough because the students were starting to realize our product was much better than the competition,” Shah said. “It’s almost as if this place was meant for us because it was already broken up into separate rooms that we can use for tutoring.”

Senior U-M student and Far From Standard tutor Michael Defranceschi said this new location is also great because of the close proximity to campus.

“We’re right across the street from Tower Plaza [Condominium] where a lot of students live, we’re close to a lot of central campus classes and we’re right by the Student Union,” Defranceschi said.

Although the company has four branches now, Shah said he and Chheda started the company years ago when they were “just two guys who went door-to-door with whiteboard.” In 2007, Shah said they decided to open their first location in East Lansing, and then opened one in Ann Arbor six months later.

With a three-year lease on the property, fifteen tutors and a customer base of about 50 to 60 students per semester, Shah said the business is “here to stay” and he hopes to eventually expand nationwide.

Despite competing with big tutoring companies like The Princeton Review and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions, Defranceschi said he thinks Far From Standard exceeds the competition by offering more personalized sessions.

“Other tutoring classes have 20 or 30 students at a time,” Defranceschi said. “We only have sessions with a maximum of three students so that the tutor can get to know the students’ strengths and weaknesses personally.”

Shah agreed but said Far From Standard does not compete directly with The Princeton Review and Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions because his company tutors mostly for staple university classes rather than for standardized tests.

“About 80 percent of our clients are U-M students in calculus, physics, chemistry, economics, and statistics,” Shah said. “The other 20 percent is for miscellaneous classes or standardized tests.”

Lizzy Alfs is a freelance reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach the news desk at news@annarbor.com or 734-623-2530.